New Countdown: 200 Countdowns, Still Reaching For the Stars

Bear Hands

Well, here we are! The 200th episode. It's a big deal! And I'd like to thank you all for making this journey with me. It's coming out a little late, but that's just a facet of the podcast occasionally, so it feels a little appropriate.

Lots and lots of bonus songs on this one, so strap in! (I'll do a separate blog post to tag all the bonus songs. They wouldn't fit!)

Countdown #200

***Featuring***
AC/DC
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Bear Hands
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Bobby Goldsboro
Bush
Cage the Elephant
Coldplay
Elvis Presley
Fitz & the Tantrums
KONGOS
Lana Del Rey
Linkin Park
Muse
Pearl Jam
Phoenix
Volbeat

New Countdown: Memorial Day 4!!!!

Coldplay

Another Memorial Day weekend podcast. It's amazing that I've done 4 of these now. And that the first one was a Flashback Countdown. Nuts.

We're driving to Rehoboth Beach tomorrow and I'm worried that I'm going to be a zombie, so I'll make this short (I'm always typing some variation of that tune on these, aren't I?) and sweet.

It's a good episode this week. Especially if you like cheeky young British lads. :) Hope you enjoy it!


Countdown #199

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Bear Hands
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
KONGOS
Phoenix

New Countdown: Fences v. Bleachers

Coldplay

I am always finishing these up so late, that I never feel like anything I write in the blog posts for these podcasts is worthwhile. All I do is talk about how late it is or how tired I am.

While both of those are true, I'm going to try to figure out something else to talk about. Hmmmm. Nope. Not coming up with anything.

Chris Martin was in a sketch on SNL a couple of weeks go and he was funny! Good for him. I always love it when some members of the band get to be in sketches. Or even star in them!

Countdown #198

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
Kings of Leon
KONGOS
Me First & the Gimme Gimmes
Phantogram
Phoenix

New Countdown: It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Podcastin'

Phoenix

So it's hella late and I need to be up to make eggs and bacon with my 3 year old for Mother's Day probably pretty early, so I'll keep this short.

Happy Mother's Day to all applicable recipients of that greeting!

Enjoy this greeting card in podcast form! (PS Non-moms are totally also allowed to enjoy it. BUT NOT AS A GREETING CARD IN PODCAST FORM)

Countdown #197

***Featuring***
Alanis Morissette
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Bear Hands
Big Country
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
KONGOS
Phantogram
Phoenix
R.E.M.

New Countdown: Cursing Sir Walter Raleigh, He Was Such a Stupid Get

Bleachers

Gonna keep this short and sweet this week. So tired, but I finished the podcast ALMOST  still in Saturday, so that's something, right?

Have a great week guys! :)

Countdown #196

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Bear Hands
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
KONGOS
Phantogram
Phoenix

New Countdown: There's a Reason For the Parallel Structure of My Other Regularly Scheduled Blog Posts (or, I Can't Think of a Title!!!!)

Imagine Dragons

This one was a fun one. It was the first time I've ever kind of teased something from next week. It's the first time I've talked about a completely different song for a song's entire intro. And it's the first time I've gotten into the deepest most interesting discussion with myself (I'm insane.) in the very last intro of the show. So I hope you'll inaugurate October 2013 with me and enjoy this episode!

Countdown #168

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz and the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Phoenix
Tame Impala

Festive Fifty 2009 Top Ten

Each day this week, in anticipation of the deadline for voting on the Festive Fifty 2012 Shortlist, I'll be listening to the Contrast Podcast Festive Fifties of yore (2012's will be the 6th!) and trying to track down the videos of the Top 5!

The 3rd year was the first year where I had a guess for what would be #1. My pick made it to #4 and I got to introduce it! This was also the beginning of the several years where there were lots of songs from 1 or 2 albums. Oh! And my wife made her CP debut introducing #10!

You can listen to the 2009 Festive Fifty here: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

10. Lily Allen - The Fear
9. Phoenix - 1901
8. Morrissey - Something Is Squeezing My Skull
7. Fanfarlo - I'm a Pilot
6. Meursault - William Henry Miller, Part 1

5. Camera Obscura - French Navy

4. The Decemberists - The Rake's Song

3. Withered Hand - Religious Songs

2. Animal Collective - My Girls

1. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

New Countdown! With a new #1!

Here's the latest episode of the countdown!

I'm enjoying publishing it on Wednesday nights/Thursday mornings. It means practically zero wait time before i can see next week's list!

Countdown #27

Countdown #26 and a bit of accidental (though maybe not entirely inappropriate) irreverence

So, before I get my comments section flooded with hate mail (which would still be preferable to the nothing i get usually), I didn't mean to pick the very least appropriate John Lennon song to play in honor of his birthday. Although, I think maybe he might have gotten a dark chuckle out of it?

Countdown #26

25 countdowns in and still going strong!

Well, here it is: That highly anticipated 25th episode of the countdown! Lots of change. Listen and love it!

Countdown #25

23/Book Club!

Hey Everyone! Here's the latest episode of the countdown for your listening enjoyment!

Countdown #23

In other news, Dessa, who I played on the countdown a couple of weeks ago, is starting a book club! The first book is Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the reading starts on Saturday (9/18). Check out the Doomtree website for more information!

22 and the Boss

Hey everyone! First of all:

Countdown #22!

Second, I've been listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen recently. I'm really enjoying the imagery in his lyrics and the stories he has to tell. Someone enjoying Bruce is not news, of course, but I was wondering if anyone out there has a favorite song of his. Leave me some comments :)

Countdown #21

What? 10:47 and i'm publishing the podcast? Fantastic! Of course it's wednesday night.... oh well. We're always improving, aren't we? hopefully.

Here it is!

Countdown #21

Unsinkable 17

Well here it is. Having survived power outages and A/C turmoil and everything, I finally got #17 together. I hope you enjoy. It's a fun one!

Countdown #17

Sweet Sixteen

Well, here it is. Countdown #16. Got some new stuff on there and some old stuff. And I'll get around to writing my Smashing Pumpkins experience soon.

Quick managerial note: I'm going to be taking something like the first 3-5 episodes down. If, for some reason, one of those is your favorite, but you don't have a copy, get it soon!

Countdown #16

#15 (but really #16, if you think about it...)

I suppose that I will have to update the numbering system to include the Flashback countdowns. Maybe I'll do it like the comic books and, for #24, skip right to the SPECIAL 25th EPISODE! (-sode, -sode-, -sode) (That was supposed to be an echo.)

For now, here's #15! Stay tuned for my post about the Smashing Pumpkins concert I'm going to tomorrow night...wait...it's 1:59 am. It's TONIGHT! Woohoo!!!

Countdown #15

Early morning posting!

Well, it's bright and early on Wednesday and here I am posting the new countdown. It's a pretty good one, in my opinion.

Couple of other things:

- I now have a twitter account. I realized that there were some people (Contrast Podcast alums, mostly) that didn't have Facebook, but DID have Twitter. And so, to better keep in touch with them, I have a Twitter account. Its @james80d (I think that's how you tell people what your Twitter username is. That's how I've always seen it done, anyways)

- My good friend Andy is treating me to tickets to the Smashing Pumpkins (Playing the National in Richmond, July 13th) for my birthday. So look forward to a post on that as it will DEFINITELY be a lifelong (or at least "since-I-was-16-long") dream come true. I'm so so stoked.

- The Smashing Pumpkins are still going strong with their mission to release 11 4-song EP's, one song at a time, for free. They released the first song of the second EP yesterday. It's at smashingpumpkins.com. I haven't heard it yet, but the other songs from this project have been pretty damn impressive.

And finally, here's the countdown!

Countdown #14

See you later guys!

Number 10!

Here's the newest Appetite For Distraction Alternative Top 10 Countdown!

Countdown #10

Stoked!

I'm really excited about this one. I think it's pretty cool. As always, I'd love feedback!

Countdown #8

Lucky 7!

An exciting week for the charts, people! Woohoo! Also, I'll be posting my thoughts and experiences from the Frightened Rabbit show soon. I promise!

Countdown #7