New Countdown: Still Lucky

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Believe it or not, Spring is sorta kinda starting to be somewhat in the air as of the completion of this recording. I, for one, am excited to get to Spring and Summer :)

We've got two pretty big pieces of news in the countdown this week, so i celebrated with an additional Bonus Song!

Enjoy!!


Countdown #323

***Featuring***
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Catfish & the Bottlemen
The Cranberries
Green Day
Imagine Dragons
Judah and the Lion
Kings of Leon
The Lumineers
Plastic Animals
Rag'n'Bone Man
St. Vincent
twenty one pilots
The 1975

New Countdown: Someone's Favorite Band?

Cage the Elephant

It's time for another countdown of the hottest Alternative Songs in the country according to Billboard! There's only one more regular countdown before the Year-End countdown! Can you believe it??




Countdown #274

***Featuring***
Cage the Elephant
Cold War Kids
Coldplay 
Coleman Hell
Death Cab For Cutie
Elle King
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Silversun Pickups
St. Vincent
twenty one pilots
The Weeknd
X Ambassadors

New Countdown: Shakin' It Up

Cage the Elephant

Here we are with another countdown. Man, I love doing these things.

Enjoy!



Countdown #236

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Dawes
Hozier
Imagine Dragons
Milky Chance
Modest Mouse
Robert DeLong
St. Vincent
Vance Joy
Walk the Moon

New Countdown: Snowflakes and Guitars

Royal Blood

Look, this thing is coming out on Sunday, you know? So we're all going to celebrate that!

It's a winter "wonderland" where I am, but the sun is melting all this vicious white stuff and we're all walking around with hopes of spring! And what better way to do that than with great Alternative music.

Enjoy!



Countdown #235

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Hozier
Imagine Dragons
Milky Chance
Modest Mouse
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Royal Blood
St. Vincent
Walk the Moon

New Countdown: Presidential Pardon My Lateness

Modest Mouse

My fellow Americans...and everyone in other countries, too. This one's late, but I think if I stop pointing out the ones that are late, it'll stop seeming to matter so much. Does that make sense?

We have some fantastic songs on the countdown and some great bonus songs, too, so I think you'll enjoy it a lot!



Countdown #234

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Hozier
Imagine Dragons
Milky Chance
The Presidents of the United States of America
Royal Blood
St. Vincent
Walk the Moon

New Countdown: Secret Handshake

Cage the Elephant

Another week, another countdown coming out on Monday. I like to think that, with the subscription option and the enhanced playability that we've gotten on the podcast in the past couple of weeks, maybe a couple of late podcasts aren't that big a deal. I hope you've all been enjoying them!

I recorded the majority of this while watching the Grammys so if you are trying to avoid spoilers, then maybe watch what you need to watch before listening past #9 or so.

Have a great week guys!



Countdown #233

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bleachers
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Hozier
Imagine Dragons
Milky Chance
Modest Mouse
Royal Blood
St. Vincent
Walk the Moon

2014 Artists of the Year Countdown

St. Vincent

Just as the Year End Countdown (which went up last week) closes out the year, the Artists of the Year Countdown kicks off the new one.

Sometimes it feels like it's the same artists every year, but I think there's enough variety and variance to still make it a fun listen. Hopefully you agree!!


2014 Artists of the Year Countdown

***Featuring***
The Beatles
blink-182
Dessa
Doomtree
Idina Menzel
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
New Found Glory
Paramore
P.O.S
Smashing Pumpkins
St. Vincent

Festive Fifty 2014 (Part 3)

We did it! We got all three episodes published before the new year and I couldn't be more stoked. Thank you to everyone that contributed and voted and made all of this possible. I hope you've enjoyed these episodes and will decide to participate next year, too!

Hooray!

Festive Fifty 2014 (Part 3)

17. King Creosote - Something to Believe In (Shaun)
16. The Amazing Snakeheads - Here It Comes Again (Kathy)
15. War on Drugs - The Ocean In Between the Waves (Nat)
14. Big Data featuring Joywave - Dangerous (Alan (Big Data))
13. FKA Twigs - Two Weeks (Rachel)
12. Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting on You) (Kev/Bella)
11. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Andrew)
10. Tiny Ruins - Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens (Tim via James)
9. Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed (Marc)
8. St. Vincent - Prince Johnny (Katy)
7. Johnny Marr - Easy Money (Rob G)
6. War on Drugs - Red Eyes (Mad Mackerel)
5. First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining (Stuart)
4. Elbow - My Sad Captains (Robert Todd)
3. Jenny Lewis - Just One of the Guys (Rick)
2. Hozier - Take Me to Church (Jason)
1. St. Vincent - Digital Witness (Rob G)

2015 Best Alternative Music Album Nominees Announced

So the Grammy announcements are going on today and they just announced the 5 nominees for Best Alternative Music Album (the award that we just spent a couple years going through every winner on the podcast). The nominees are:

• This Is All Yours – alt-J
• Reflektor – Arcade Fire
• Melophobia – Cage the Elephant
• St. Vincent – St. Vincent
• Lazaretto – Jack White

I'm pulling for St. Vincent to win this one, but really, I'd be ok with Jack White or Cage the Elephant to win, as well. The other two are contenders, but I can't say I'm really pulling for them.

In any case, we'll see what album we're looking at for the month when the Grammy Awards happen on February 8th on CBS

New Countdown: Danny DeVito

Weezer

A chilly November morning with some hot tunes!...would be my synopsis of this song if I were advertising it in a newspaper, or posting it on iTunes. :)

It's a good one this week. Short, but good. Like Danny DeVito.

Countdown #222

***Featuring***
alt-J
Bastille
Big Data featuring Joywave
The Black Keys
Fall Out Boy
Foo Fighters
Hozier
Milky Chance
St. Vincent
Vance Joy
Weezer

Guitar Moves: Annie Clark (St. Vincent)

I just watched this 13 minute video of this guy Matt Sweeney (oh WHOA he was in Zwan!) interviewing Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent). Well, it's less of an interview than you might think.

The show is called Guitar Moves and what I gather from this one episode is that he sits down with his guest and they show him cool/weird things they do with their guitars.

I will readily admit my huge crush on Annie Clark, but this is above and beyond. First, her hair, which she recently dyed blonde (to shocking, wonderful effect, if you ask me) is all over the place and I love it. But then you see her making these noises come out of her guitar and it's just...just fantastic.

Enjoy. And watch more Guitar Moves. I saw he did one with Dan from the Black Keys and Josh from Queens of the Stone Age.

St. Vincent: Coachella 2012 Set

Man, oh, man. I watched the majority of this set on the live stream and let me tell you: Annie Clark can wail. And I mean both on vocals and on the guitar. I want you to especially rock out to the new song she plays near the end. It is apparently spelled "Krokodil" but no matter how you spell it, it has ROCK at the heart of it.

Stay tuned to Appetite For Distraction. I have a new countdown posting at 10 and I may be mining YouTube for more sets to post!

Setlist:

1. Northern Lights
2. Cheerleader
3. Chloe in the Afternoon
4. Actor Out of Work
5. Black Rainbow
6. Surgeon
7. Marrow
8. Cruel
9. Year of the Tiger
10. Krokodil
11. She Is Beyond Good and Evil (The Pop Group Cover)

An Unprecedented New Countdown.

This is not the longest Countdown of all time. Countdown #47 and Flashback Countdown #2 were longer. The unprecedented part comes from the number of bonus songs on this episode. Here's a hint: It's more than one!

This is what happens when you let rappers influence your programming via Twitter (And Astronautalis, if you're reading this, Hi! Leave a comment and let folks know I'm not crazy!)

Countdown #71

***Featuring***
311
Astronautalis
AWOLNATION
Blink 182
Bush
Foo Fighters
Foster the People
Jane's Addiction
The Joy Formidable
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rise Against
St. Vincent