The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #9

#9

2009 - The Killer and The Star - Living With Musicians

Album: The Killer and The Star

In between Cold's second breakup and their most recent album, singer Scooter Ward decided to do his own solo project - a keyboard and drum driven outfit that, after 2 name changes, eventually became The Killer and The Star. It's a great record and like Cold's most recent disc was worth the delays. When the initial demos dropped, almost every fan was transfixed by two songs; "Symphony for a Mad World" and "My Heart", the latter of which eventually became "Living With Musicians". When you pop the disc in and Scooter starts singing, you know you're in for something special. I'm almost certain the project was a one-off, which in hindsight makes the disc even more special. I got to see TKATS perform with Cold on their reunion tour and it was really something cool to behold with Rocky Gray playing drums. 

2010 - Dan Black - Symphonies

Album: ((UN))

The curious case of Dan Black. "Symphonies" was such a wonderful breath of fresh air with its splashy cymbal and snare combination, Black's wailing voice and the violins playing throughout in the background. Great song, catchy lyrics, loads of potential. Since then he's mostly laid low until finally releasing a new record last year. The other singles off of ((UN)) were fun and snappy and exciting, despite their lack of airplay, and I thought for sure there would be a lot more of Black in the world. The most intriguing part is that there isn't much record of what he was doing on that long hiatus, and his newer material really hasn't caught on anywhere else either. A curious case indeed.

2011 - The Limousines - Internet Killed the Video Star

Album: Get Sharp

The other day my wife was asking me "What's the most embarrassing song you have on your countdowns?" The answer to that is quite easy. There are other songs that are bad and there are other songs that are just forgettable outside of the year they were released. And then there's The Limousines. The thing is, I cannot hiccup this song away as a simple mistake - it's #9. That's serious territory. It was apparently a better and more important song than Power Quest or The Knux this year. I remember singing along and dancing a little to this one, but then I listened to the record. It's atrocious. Arguably the world actual album to feature a song on the countdown. You can feel the pretense in every single song... if you can get through each of them. It's such a badly put together record that I'm not even sure who greenlighted it to be released.

The most interesting part of this band is that they came to Columbus while touring for this record, and a friend of my sister tweeted that they were unaware the band was in town. The band replied with a snarky comment and went on the offensive toward her friend, much to the bewilderment of he and my sister. She showed me the back-and-forth and I was blown away that a small band trying to sell tickets in an unfamiliar area would go out of their way to alienate themselves with their fans. Well, the band has fallen flat since then, and if I'm being honest, it really couldn't happen to a better group of guys. Unfortunately, 2011 got stuck with a couple of doozies but it's all hammers from 8 to 1. 

2012 - Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

Album: My Head Is An Animal

This is one of those curious occasions where I actually enjoyed the demo version of the song better than the final product on the record. I can feel the extra polish and it doesn't detract from all of its goodness, but there was something special to hearing the first version in its folksy glory that really sold the band to me. And it wasn't just me - like Mumford and Sons a few years before, OMAM blew up on a massive level once people started hearing their hits. "Mountain Sound", "Dirty Paws", and "King and Lionheart" were everywhere for a year and a half, with "Little Talks" leading the charge. We actually got to see the band perform before the record dropped and they were quite quirky, but you could tell they had captured something fantastic for this record. I wasn't as sold on their next offering but I'm excited to see what new stuff they have in their back pockets.

2013 - Deadlock - The Arsonist
Album: The Arsonist

Talk about a comeback - Deadlock parted ways with their first writer/vocalist and came back with The Arsonist, a humongous and heavy disc packed with crushing tracks. Sabine Scherer was still on-board with her clean vocals but something in the songwriting really elevated this record above their previous two records. Deadlock always know how to rock it hard and I'm kind of sad that Scherer left the band after this record, although I can't blame her for wanting to spend more time with her newborn child. The band's most recent record was pretty good but did not spawn any songs on the 2016 Countdown. 

2014 - Aurelio Voltaire - Captains All

Album: Raised by Bats

When all is said and done, I think I will be able to look back on my life and say that Aurelio Voltaire was truly one of the most special musical parts. I met my wife at one of his shows, and we've seen him almost every year since then. He tends to tour on an annual basis and has come to Columbus every year but twice since we've known each other. Despite being one of my favorite human beings and one of the best live performers I've ever seen, he's released 4 albums since the inception of J1 and this is the only time he's graced the countdown. I actually got giddy when I realized this song would make it aboard. He played this song live around the release of the record and it was stuck in my head for days. Raised by Bats ended up being a wonderful addition to his catalogue, with songs like "Oh My Goth", "Raised by Bats" and "The Devil and Mr Jones" being standouts for me. His most recent record was released late last year and you might just see it pop up on the 2018 edition... Stay tuned!

2015 - TV on the Radio - Careful You

Album: Seeds

Here's another case of a band I didn't like releasing some music that I really enjoyed. The first single off of Seeds was titled "Happy Idiot", and the usual alternative crowd was going gaga for it. I enjoy Tunde Adebimpe's voice but their music just kind of turned my head. I was driving in 2015 when the buzzy opening of this song played and I was immediately hooked. I knew who I was listening to and I was shocked at how much I loved this song. I immediately went out and got the record, and my wife and I listened to it while we were driving to Michigan that summer. It's really, really good and deals a lot with death, loss, and recovering. This is one where you can just absolutely feel what the band was trying to lay onto you. It's got me thirsting for more of the band and wishing I had really listened to them earlier, even though I'm still not entirely sold on their early material. Music is curious like that.

2016 - Bleached - Wednesday Night Melody

Album: Welcome the Worms

The sing-a-long chorus. The "ba ba ba ba, ba ba" opening. The unmistakable opening riff. "Wednesday Night Melody" was everywhere from the first time I heard it until the end of the year. I remember hearing it on my way to work in the morning one day and then finding that it was playing again on my drive home. I guess if you really need to find a song, that's a good way to do it. It's almost the world's way of saying that you've arrived. It's such a simple 3 chord progression that I'm surprised no one else had really captured it like that before.  So good. More music, ladies!

2017 - Bebe Rexha - The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)

Album: The Way I Are Single 

And... we're here again. Bebe Rexha is a dumb name for a musician. Bebe Rexha has an annoying voice. "let's let our hearts bleed til they turn to rost"... something about that accent really scrapes the inside of my ear. Bebe Rexha is also one of those wannabe Kardashian girls trying to leech off of the baffling popularity of America's #1 family. And for goodness sake - ripping Whitney Houston? Musicians are killing me.

But, I really enjoyed dancing to this song, which apparently goes to show how easy I am to win over. The real downside is that Spotify really thinks I want to listen to her many awful remixes now that I played the hell out of one of her songs. The version without the awful Lil Wayne verse. Yeah. The end. Don't make me say more.

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #10

#10

2009 - Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company

Album: War is the Answer

Oh, if we only knew then what we know now. Bad Company is one of two cover songs to ever make the countdown, and easily the most popular between original and cover.  At the time I was still quite in love with Ivan Moody from his Motograter and Ghost Machine days. These days FFDP are the butt of most rock jokes, with their unabashed "kick your ass" attitude and Moody's whiny, jackass behavior. In listening to this song in hindsight I'm almost kind of disappointed, because the chorus is great but the rest of the song is fairly mediocre. Bad Company's original version is 10 times this and maybe a little more. I still try to listen to FFDP's new music because they're actually making rock music still, even if it is poppish and ridiculous.

2010 - Muse - Resistance

Album: The Resistance

The Resistance was everywhere in 2010. With how big Black Holes and Revelations was, it seemed that Muse would settle for nothing less than world domination with their next record. Matthew Bellamy is obviously insane but he makes really wonderful music. "Uprising" was the huge single but the driving piano notes in "Resistance" were what drove it up my chart in 2010. This song paired perfectly with #8 ("Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars) and helped me fight off bad thoughts at the beginning of my relationship with my wife. It's a great song and even though I find Muse mostly annoying, I am grateful to have lived through this era.

2011 - FM Static - F.M.S.T.A.T.I.C.

Album: My Brain Says Stop, But My Heart Says Go

Jeez, we're laying on the heavy cheese now, aren't we? Sometimes a song catches you off-guard and you're suddenly stuck with it. The cheerleader chant, the "throw up your hands like oh" lyric... really all of it. FM Static was the off-shoot of Thousand Foot Krutch for their less serious material, which progressively devolved into just cheesy pop-rock while TFK tried to reach new heights in the secular music scene. Amusingly, the Krutch has never actually made it to the countdown, despite being one of my all-time favorite bands back in high school. 2011 is such an inconsistent year for the countdown and while it features the best 1-2 punch at the top in chart history, it also has a massive lapse at 10 and 9 that you'll have to wait until Monday to read about in detail.

2012 - Animal Kingdom - Strange Attractor

Album: The Looking Away

File Animal Kingdom as one of those bands who has done literally nothing since releasing their album that made the chart. It's kind of surprising because "Strange Attractor" spawned a ton of remixes, got a buttload of radio play and launched the band into playing several huge festivals. There isn't much I enjoy from this band outside of this song and its subsequent jewel-barfing video, but man it's a great one. Nevermind the high pitched voice from the singer, or the fact that once someone says "Stranger Tractor" you'll never be able to hear it the same again. Just listen, enjoy, and dance!

2013 - The 1975 - The City

Album: The 1975

See, this one fooled me. It fooled everyone. When The 1975 dropped their Music for Cars EP in 2013 featuring the single "Chocolate", the entire music world was throw into a fray trying to find out more from this band. They had a few small EPs they had been releasing and were writing a new album, but it wasn't until their new single "The City" came out that I really took notice. I was so captured by the power of the song that I didn't notice the extensive over-production that was put into making it sound like it did. In hearing live versions and earlier recordings, it's mostly a lame song with a poignant message, but it took this album's release for it really to shine.

As it stands, it IS a great song that still gets a ton of spins, but it really made me think this was going to be some fantastic British band that was going to make waves in modern music. Instead, all of their music is over-produced and kind of dull, if not even ripping off other great artists. 

2014 - Cut Copy - We Are Explorers

Album: Free Your Mind

Cut Copy are a lot of fun, with a sound ranging from synth-pop to dance house and electronica. There's a lot of good synth love going on in this song and it's one that never ceases to make me want to dance. Their lyrics are never overly deep but their music is good enough to overcome that, at least for 1 or 2 songs per album. Again we find a great video, shot entirely in stop motion with characters printed from a 3D printer. It was a cool concept for a really cool song.

2015 - The Wombats - Give Me A Try

Album: Glitterbug

It took The Wombats FOREVER to release Glitterbug. The first single ("Your Body Is A Weapon") dropped in late 2013 and the band announced the record would be out in early 2014... which became "sometime in 2014" and finally "2015, but here's a song for your troubles". I wouldn't say it was such a long time except that they kept teasing how soon it would be and especially because ...the Modern Glitch was such a wonderful record. It was well worth the wait with standout tracks like "This Is Not A Party", "Greek Tragedy", "Emoticons", and of course "Give Me A Try".  For a minute I was trying to figure out just what song was going to make it from this record. Obviously I have to be impartial and cannot just include a band because I love them, but there were 3 or 4 songs that I liked just enough without one really jumping out. I can't really remember what it was that propelled "Give Me A Try" into the spotlight, but when it reached its detestation there was no stopping it. Their newest record is a little too ridiculous for me, even for The Wombats, but they did great things this year.

2016 - Miike Snow - Genghis Khan

Album: iii

Apparently to land at #10 you have to tick off a few specific boxes: dancy, synth heavy, higher vocals, simple yet confusing lyrics. Unlike the last 4, Miike Snow are actually from Sweden, but similar to the others they have earlier releases that I like more than their Countdown release. Funny how that seems to work out. This one also had a really great video, too. Man, #10 you're an interesting spot for me.

I don't have a lot more to say about this one though. I didn't care for the album, I'm tired of people using "Trigger" as a laughing matter, and I think they're completely club-pop now. But this is a really good one and I'm willing to bet that they'll have at least 1 good song on any record they put out, simply because they are masters at production and catchiness.

2017 - The National - Carin at the Liquor Store

Album: Sleep Well Beast

Speaking of bands and albums that I love, here's The National. Most of the songs on this record took a minute to grow on me, but "Carin..." was an instant melancholy hit. It strikes along the veins of songs like "I Need My Girl" and "Exile Vilify" in that it is piano driven and sung in almost a drowsy state. "So blame it on me, I really don't care - it's a foregone conclusion" was the line of lines for me last year. The album ended up being phenomenal and the song ended up climbing to #10, surprisingly low for The National. I didn't think this would be #1 at any point but I thought it would end up higher. There were just a lot of other songs that could have been higher that ended up ahead of it. What a fun year it was.

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #11

#11

2009 - Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

Album: Only By The Night

I can't say there's ever been a time that I really, really liked Kings of Leon. And in 2008/09 you couldn't go anywhere on the planet without hearing "Use Somebody" or "Sex Is On Fire". I remember at the same time that Cage the Elephant was exploding on to the scene, giving me two "alt-rock" bands that were essentially just pop with guitars and bad voices. Well, "Use Somebody" is inescapable for the lonely and I honestly haven't been able to stand the band as they've risen to meteoric levels in recent years. But this song speaks to me, and 11 was definitely the right place for it to land that year.

2010 - Taio Cruz - Dynamite

Album: Rokstarr

Confession time. Back in 2010 the Countdown was a baby. The rules weren't fully formed, the amount of music I listened to was overwhelming, and I honestly had the entire thing written down in a notepad file. I was posting the songs to my Xanga blog a few at a time every couple of days, which was an idea that I have no idea where I came up with. I wrote small blurbs about each song and then it was on to the next. Initially, I had "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap in at #11, until I realized that the song had been released way back in 2008, and I had just been obsessing over it because it was getting newfound love on the radio due to being in a movie soundtrack.

Whoops. I was already a week into the Countdown so I couldn't just go back and put something in at 20 and move the previous songs up. So I had to scramble and find a song I might have overlooked or else find some sort of chaotic solution for my own egregious error. "Dynamite" was a song that had caught on later in the year for me, and looking back I probably would have had it at 18, pushing Rammstein's Fruhling in Paris up to 17, and so on. BUT, as it stands, "Dynamite" became the number 11 hit of 2010, sight unseen to all but myself. I told myself that I would have to be much more aware of what I was doing in the Countdown after this snafu.

2011 - Power Quest - Glorious
Album: Blood Alliance

There are usually two things that happen to songs after they are featured in the Countdown. They either fall off my radar, usually due to overexposure and my own need to find new music, or else they keep climbing and get stronger as years pass. The latter surprisingly happened for me with "Glorious", a song that I loved in 2011 but only loved more than all but 10 other songs. Amusingly, several of the songs ahead of this in 2011 are songs that I really haven't listened to much since then, but "Glorious" continues to be an all-time banger for J1. The band broke up after this album was released but have recently reformed and put out a new album at the end of last year. Will it be on the 2018 edition? Only time will tell. 

2012 - Swimming With Dolphins - Sleep to Dream
Album: Water Colours

The "OMG" factor of 2012 continues on with "Sleep to Dream", a song born from a friendship behind mega-celeb Adam Young and his friend Austin Tofte. The band hasn't done much of anything since then because, you know, Owl City, but "Sleep to Dream" is still a gem of a song with one of my favorite lines from 2012. "I had a strange dream the other night, everything was better than I knew. The roads were gold, water was wine and when we kissed the magic grew". The band is essentially drawn along the same lines as Owl City's earlier work, just with a different singer. This song pushed me through some difficult times I was having with my then-girlfriend (now wife) and helped me realize how real love can be.  These guys haven't released more than a handful of songs since 2011, sadly.

2013 - Vampire Weekend - Diane Young

Album: Modern Vampires in the City

Speaking of bands that haven't released anything since their featured album, Vampire Weekend have been on a LONG hiatus since releasing the vividly successful Modern Vampires in the City in 2013. Granted, they've always been a band who do things exactly how they want to do it with no substitutions, but the band stopped touring a few years ago, and until just recently haven't done much to signify they're even still around. They've been touring a little this year and for the 2nd year in a row they're "slated to release a new album". I heard it was going to be late 2016, all throughout 2017 and now 7 months into 2018, so I'll believe it when, oh I dunno, a song is released? "Diane Young" is the jam, though. It's a clever play on words and certainly the most fun song on a solid record that includes hits like "Ya Hey" and "Step". Hurry up and get us a new record, Ezra!

2014 - Meg Myers - Desire

Album: Make A Shadow EP

Meg Myers, whew. She plays bass, has a sultry voice, and is equally beautiful to boot. She writes exciting music and draws it back to earth with her simplistic styles. She's kind of an interesting story because she was signed to Atlantic Records when Make A Shadow came out but it took quite a while before she was really noticed by the rest of the musical world. Still, Desire was all over Cd102.5 in 2014 and you better believe I was all over that jam. It's such a hot song, my goodness.  Every line in this song is dripping with passionate lust. "Desire, I'm hungry. And I hope you'll feed me. How do you want me?" What a chorus. I'm not usually swept up by sexually charged lyrics because they're generally so boring and adolescent that I can overlook them without blinking. Meg is my girl, though. Her new record is a little difference, but you might be seeing a piece on it in a few months!

2015 - Catfish and the Bottlemen - Cocoon

Album: The Balcony

Catfish and the Bottlemen are what alternative rock should sound like in 2018. Whether I like the music or not, as least they're still trying to stay true to the roots of music and, hell, at least they still play their instruments. Their first single "Kathleen" made waves throughout the alternative landscape in 2015 and "Cocoon" especially caught my ear. It's fast-paced, catchy and has a scream-along bridge that catches every ear. There are a few new hands here and there that are still keeping rock music going, but I fear that the rise of editing software and the ease of keyboards and dead lyrics might been digging the final graves for what I used to love.

2016 - Circle of Dust - Contagion

Album: Machines of our Disgrace

The year is 1998. Circle of Dust have just released Disengage, a fantastic industrial bastion of heavy and chaotic reverb. The band encounters many issues with their quickly dissolving record label and is barely able to even put the record out, which ends up being a mash-up of a single record and a remix EP. It would be 5 years before Klayton, the genius behind Circle of Dust resurfaced with Celldweller. In the years that followed, ol Jesse Jester spent hours and hours listening to the 3 Circle of Dust record, pining for their rebirth and trying to find ANYONE who had ever even heard of them. The reception was few and far between, and I had essentially given up hope for years when Klayton came out and announced that he had re-acquired all of his original material and was going to make NEW CoD music.

Needless to say, Machines of our Disgrace was the most anticipated album release for me that I can remember in my lifetime. What was the band going to sound like after almost 20 years of decay? Celldweller was a unique project that morphed between electronic genres and honestly everyone who I mentioned it to had no idea that Circle of Dust had ever even existed.  Thusly, no one really cared that this new record was happening. But Klayton promised to re-release his original 3 records, and each of them featured a new track off of the upcoming release. The 2nd track released was Contagion, and it was enough to get me catapulted into obsession mode. The rest, of course, is in the 2017 Countdown.... and I'll write about that in a few days!

2017 - Haim - Want You Back 
Album: Something to Tell You

Haim, sisters, catchy music. There's no escaping "Want You Back" but after having a year to sit on it, there really isn't much else on this record that really piqued my interest. It's a solid disc and the girls do a great job making music together, but I think they're going to end up being a group that just releases great singles without much to go along with it. That's fine by me, especially if they sound like this song or "The Wire" or "Forever", or what have you.  I still love this video to death and I love their harmonies on this track.

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #12

#12

2009 - Breathe Carolina - Show Me Yours

Album: It's Classy, Not Classic

Breathe Carolina is one of those weird instances where I don't actually remember where I picked up on them from. They're not really a style I care for, with vocals that I really don't enjoy much, but for what ever reason they always hover around on my radar and make a song here and there that I really enjoy. It might have been their appearance on Punk Goes Pop 2 that turned me towards them, but "Show Me Yours"  shows their talented approach to electronic music that immediately gets wired into your brain... provided you can ignore the vocals. The band is absolutely massive on the club scene and has essentially just been doing remixes for the last several years, without really even coming close to re-joining the countdown except for in 2010 with "Dressed Up To Undress".

2010 - Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man

Album: Sigh No More

It's weird to think that, like Imagine Dragons, there was a time when Mumford & Sons were a small, largely unknown band with a massive debut single playing literally everywhere. No one knew what to do with them. All at once, you had Edward Sharpe, Mumford, The Head and the Heart and Of Monsters and Men catapulting folksy music back into the mainstream eye. You honestly could not go anywhere in 2010 without hearing "Little Lion Man" or "The Cave". Suddenly everyone was a huge fan of that style, but there was a catch. Marcus Mumford just didn't have the depth as a songwriter as his contemporaries, and so they threw and overwhelming banjo into every song and made their lead single one that coined the line "I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear?". Inabilities be damned - the band sells like crazy even if I haven't been able to listen to them outside of this album. 

2011 - Fitz and the Tantrums - Don't Gotta Work It Out

Album: Pickin' Up The Pieces

Speaking of bands bringing back a tremendous sound and making it their own, Fitz and the Tantrums exploded in 2011 meshing some sort of neo-soul sound with jazzy, danceable beats and a perfect male/female vocal dynamic. I thought for sure after playing the hell out of Pickin' Up The Pieces that I had found a new favorite band. Looking back on it, I'm actually kind of surprised that "Don't Gotta Work It Out" beat our "MoneyGrabber" for the #12 spot, but they're both fantastically nostalgic. Especially considering that it only took F+TT half of their second album to completely abandon their fun sound for straight up pop.  Now, "Out Of My League" just missed out in 2013, and from tracks 1-6 More Than Just A Dream was a fantastic album, but you could feel the band leaning away from it and trying to be more accessible. What a shame.

2012 - Florence + The Machine - (A.) What The Water Gave Me; (B.) Shake It Out

Album: Ceremonials

Life, death, and Florence + The Machine just flat out killing it with every record. You can set your watch to it. Florence Welch just doesn't make bad music. In fact, in 2012 I was faced with a conundrum. 

See, the Countdown was young then. 2012 was a year of massive hits and Flo had two that I played non-stop off of Ceremonials. What could I do? I couldn't decide how to separate the two, and I couldn't really put one above the other, or above the #11 spot. And so, we had ourselves a twofer; something that ended up happening in the next 3 years as well. Even listening to the two right now, I cannot truly distinguish feelings towards one or the other. They're both equally fantastic and perfect for so many moods. Thank you, Florence. See you in a few months...

2013 - Shining - I Won't Forget

Album: One One One

Haha, surprise! A little Blackjazz, anyone? You wanna talk about one of the more intriguing acts in the history of the countdown, here is Norway's Shining, with their extreme metal sound mixed with... well, blackjazz. You can call them whatever you want, but worth telling that I love this disc and the song "I Won't Forget" shines brighter than anything else they've put out for me. You kind of have to be in the right mood to really appreciate how avant-garde they are in their methods. Jørgen Munkeby's vocals will always have a place on this countdown, and I am eagerly awaiting their new material building off of their last record, International Blackjazz Society.  

2014 - Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance

Album: Talking is Hard

The most interesting thing about Shut Up And Dance is that the song was released in September of 2014. As in, 3 months before the year ended. Two months before the Countdown premiered. You want a rocket to the moon? Hot damn. The band didn't even release the album until the 2014 Countdown had premiered. It's not just because the boys are based out of Cincinnati, no, this is a band that is legitimately fun. They've also worked towards a more poppy sound but still embrace their new-wave, synth-rock styles while just having a great time. For a moment there in 2015, this song almost had a chance to be the first song to appear on two countdowns, but it just wasn't meant to me.

2015 - Fear Factory - Expiration Date

Album: Genexus

Look man, Fear Factory is the truth. As long as Burton and Dino are making music together, I'm pretty sure they're going to slay. Mechanize was an outstanding comeback record, and while The Industrialist failed to yield any songs on the 2012 edition, 2015 was given a jolt of darkness in the form of another fantastically slowed down track in "Expiration Date", which as I said at the time is essentially a part 2 for their song "Final Exit". It is equal parts beautiful and brutal, despite not being what you might expect from the fellas. The album had a couple other solid tunes, including "Dielectric" and "Protomech", which gives me hope for the future. There's talks that they might even bring back the original lineup for the group.  Keep on keeping on, Burton.

2016 - 3 Doors Down - The Broken

Album: Us And The Night

Speaking of surprises, I had no idea 3 Doors Down was even still a thing when they popped up in my Spotify release radar. Obviously I listened to their first two albums like nothing else, but ever since then they faded away and got less and less edgy. Suddenly, out of nowhere, here's a new in your face record from a band you had forgotten about! What's that all about? Haha. I don't know what to say. I'm still surprised it's here and it's this good. Lol

2017 - Incubus - No Fun

Album: 8

2017's album of the year for me was 8, Incubus' first record in 6 years. "No Fun" is the opening track, which kicks you into the mood and keeps you going all the way through. I was surprised at how tight Incubus were still, and overly excited that a band from my younger days was actually still great... kind of like Fear Factory from two years before. This record was packed with solid hits, including "Glitterbomb", "Loneliest", "Undefeated", "Nimble Bastard", "State of the Art"... I could go on.
Here's to more great Incubus going forward!

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #13

#13

2009 - Gorilla Zoe - Echo
Album: Don't Feed Da Animals

There was a time where I listened to a lot of rap music. Somewhere along the way, things like Nelly, Three 6 Mafia and Soulja Boy happened, and it became less about the message and more about the... well, whatever it is about now. There are still plenty of good rappers with good flow, but the market is so saturated with auto-tune, collaborations and songs about legitimately nothing/the same things that it's difficult to weed through the BS to find goodness. In 2009 the pendulum was swinging and Gorilla Zoe had the right voice and message to really reach out and smack me in the face when I needed it the most. I listened to a lot of T.I. and Slim Thug at the time as well, but Zoe was the one to climb the countdown and drop in at #13. You don't see a lot of rap/r&B/hip hop in my wheelhouse any more, but it doesn't cheapen the fact that this is still a fantastic song and Michele Andereck can eat it.


2010 - Haste the Day - White as Snow
Album: Attack of the Wolf King
 2010 was such an interestingly eclectic mix of songs (as usual) but when the metal came, it came with a vengeance. "White as Snow" is more of a ballad than anything else that Haste the Day has written, which makes it even more of a special song. The preposterously heavy breakdown almost seems out of place as it drives hammers into your skull, but it makes the song complete in ways that I never could have imagined for HtD. This album got so much play with songs like "Wake Up The Sun" and "The Quiet, Deadly Ticking" that I thought Haste was a band that could do just about anything. Sadly, they broke up after this record and spent several years in hiding before crowdfunding their 2015 record (i)Coward(/i). As far as I'm concerned, they're still one of the best ever to lace it up in the metalcore world, and this record is further proof that they could do just about whatever they wanted and make it great.

2011 - Red - Feed the Machine
Album: Until We Have Faces
Hey, it's Red again. The band was about to reach their transitional phase with guitarist Jasen Rauch leaving the band, but Until We Have Faces opened up with 4 straight crushers, led by "Feed the Machine". The record came out early in the year and fortunately I had headphones, because I was babysitting a toddler at the time. There's only so much headbanging you can do around a 4 month old. "Faceless" and "Lie To Me" were my other favorite songs, but the band has slid backwards since this in my opinion. Seems like this is a good part of the countdown for catchy metal tracks though, huh?


2012 - Veil of Maya - Punisher
Album: Eclipse

Speaking of which... here's Veil of Maya. I've never thought of them as the greatest djent act on the planet, but every record they put out has a song or two that really bangs. "Punisher" isn't the greatest song in the world, and it probably would've been a little lower on the countdown if not for the little spoken word part before the breakdown kicks in. If you can take someone mocking metal music and turn it into PART OF THE SONG, that's pretty freaking metal in my book. I feel like the band is somewhat shackled by Marc Okubo's need to be the alpha and omega in guitar work, but he's a damned fine guitarist and can do whatever he wants in that regard. The boys haven't made it back to the countdown now that they've started leaning on cleaner vocals, but I'm sure there's a place for them if they ever want to really kick it again.


2013 - The Mowgli's - San Francisco
Album: Waiting for the Dawn
Oh, The Mowgli's. As far as debut singles go, you can't do it much better than "San Francisco". It's catchy, upbeat and fun, has sing-a-long vocals and a lovely message weaved throughout. Unfortunately the band is only as deep as this song, and therefor hasn't really done a ton to build off of its success. They're really nothing but marshmallows and fluff otherwise, which is nice but only in so many doses. I distinctly remember dancing around the kitchen with my mom while we were cooking dinner one night to this one, which is a great memory.


2014 - Beartooth - Beaten In Lips
Album: Disgusting
Beartooth very quickly went from Caleb Shomo's new project to a king in the metal scene. They have a distinctly more hardcore oriented sound than Attack Attack did, and Shomo himself pours every ounce of himself and his angst into their songs. "Beaten In Lips", "In Between", "The Lines", "Sick and Disgusting"... it just goes on and on with this record. As a child who had a difficult childhood and holds a lot of hurt feelings into adulthood, "Beaten In Lips" was the natural jam for me to latch onto. Beartooth just barely missed out in 2015 but are poised for another run whenever they get to finshing their next record. Columbus, represent!


2015 - Passion Pit - Lifted Up (1985)
Album: Kindred

A surprising choice for one of my favorite records of 2015, Kindred showed that Passion Pit still knows how to make catchy music and still continues to confuse me as to why I love his music so much. His first two records did not end up making it onto the countdown (although "Take a Walk" just missed in 2012), but when he finally touched down it was all the way up at #13. The line "I'm so tired, I fight so hard and come back beaten" had a massive resonance with me, especially in a song that sounds so frilly and fun if you're not paying attention. Maybe that's what I like about Passion Pit so much. Anyways, his most recent album didn't quite percolate like I thought it would, similar to a lot of great J1 artists who released music in 2017.



2016 - Mad Anthony - Sad Songs (ft Steve Wethington)
Album: Mad Anthology, Pt 2

Speaking of surprises, I had never even heard of or listened to Mad Anthony (the band) before I was on my honeymoon in 2016. We were flipping through the radio stations and landed on a station playing newer rock, and the DJ announced that the next song was from Mad Anthony. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be interesting if that was something local, considering we were staying at a state park that is centered around the original General "Mad" Anthony Wayne? Sure enough, it was a local band from Cincinnati, who were a) fantastic and b) in the middle of the most prolific recording project I had ever encountered. A song per week for an entire year, culminating in the band's great "Anthology". The band followed through and have been releasing the Anthology part by part this year, and man they did a fantastic job.

Of course the ultimate irony is that I was obviously not sad and had no reason to listen to sad songs, but this just happened to be the song that caught me at the time. Music it just that sometimes. Lol


2017 - Greeley Estates - Calling All The Hopeless
Album: Calling All The Hopeless

I don't listen to 88.7 Radio U as much as I did when I was younger or even as much as I did 4 or 5 years ago, but if I ever go a long period without listening, I always tune back in and find a song like "Calling All The Hopeless". The message is obviously relevant to someone who has had suicidal thoughts most of his life, and I am ever grateful to find another song to battle those feelings with. What a great crusher of a tune. It seems like 13 is just a hard rock and metal number for J1. Haha.

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #14

#14

2009 - Red - Out From Under
Album: Innocence & Instinct
Red had a great start in terms of making waves on the countdown, but they've cooled significantly since their last entry in 2011. At the time of the countdown in 2009, "Out From Under" was absolutely the song that I loved the most, but by the next year I was jamming harder to "Mystery of You" than any Red song other than "Breathe Into Me". Innocence & Instinct is a pretty solid record with tracks like "Death of Me", "Shadows", and their cover of "Ordinary World". The band is constantly trying to "re-invent" themselves despite sounding pretty similar from their third album forward. They're still good, it's just kind of tiring anymore. I still play their first record quite a bit, though.


2010 - Nevermore - Moonrise (Through Mirrors of Death)
Album: The Obsidian Conspiracy
It's an absolute shame that this was the last Nevermore record. The boys were still at the top of their game, but in-fighting and ego ended up splintering them and just last year Warrel Dane passed away suddenly, making it certain that Nevermore was finally done. Fortunately they went out with a true metal classic, with other hit songs being "The Termination Proclamation" and "Without Morals". "Moonrise" featured one of my all-time favorite lines - "is this soliloqy or psychosis... or self-hypnosis?" as well as one of Jeff Loomis' signature solos piercing the night. Sadly, his talent is wasted on Arch Enemy, but he and Dane left an eternal stamp on the world of metal music in Nevermore.


2011 - Crystal Castles - Not In Love (ft Robert Smith)
Album: (II)

This one is all sorts of weird. "Not In Love" of course was originally recorded by Platinum Blonde in the 80s, and was rather dully covered by Crystal Castles for their sophmore record. Somewhere along the line the band enlisted the help of the legendary Robert Smith (who has been known to give his voice to many interesting styles of music outside of the gothic scene) and amped the song up to another level. In 2011 I was fully invested in a relationship with my future wife, and therefor was very much in love, in spite of how much we BOTH listened to this song. I've never actually asked her about it but I always figured she would listen to it to try and seperate her mind from her ex who she had been dating since high school (they had broken up the year before).

Regardless of all of the back-story, a good sad song can always find its way into your hearts, even when you are happy. I think it's because we just always anticipate sadness and have to have something at the ready. So, "Not In Love" is here at #14. I think the only reason it wasn't any higher (because I still LOVE this song and have it in most rotations) is because I WAS trying to be in love. Haha. Also probably because Crystal Castles are just a bizarre group, on the fringe of what I like in electronica.


2012 - Metric - Clone
Album: Synthetica
It's weird to think that there was a time where I wasn't a HUGE Metric fan. In fact, they were barely on my radar until somewhere in 2010 or 2011 when "Gimme Sympathy" hit me in the right spot and I became obsessed with the album Fantasies. The first single off of Synthetica was "Youth Without Youth", which isn't a terrible song but it's not even one of the 5 best songs on the record. I picked up the album just the same and "Clone" immediately stood out and wedged its way inside of me. Looking back, I'm kind of surprised it wasn't "Breathing Underwater", but that song was slow building for me and took over for "Clone" in 2013 and beyond. Metric has made their way onto the countdown again since then and, like I said before, I'm hoping that they can rebound and give us at least one more terrific record.


2013 - Atlas Genius - If So
Album: When It Was Now

Speaking of bands I really don't enjoy, Atlas Genius set the alternative world on fire with their debut disc and with the single "Trojans". It was boring, slow, whiny, and honestly caught me surprise that I kept hearing it over and over again. I really had no intention of picking up this record until I heard the upbeat, catchy opening riff of "If So", and the rest as they say is history. In listening to the record, I didn't find much else to my liking, and everything else they've released since then has tried to capture the colorless formula of "Trojans" (which works, btw). But "If So" is a great bouncer to get your mood rolling in the right direction, and deserving of the spot it landed in back in 2013.


2014 - "Weird Al" Yankovic - A)Foil; B)Handy
Album: Mandatory Fun
The fact that Weird Al made it into one of my countdowns was absolutely joyous for me. I mean, the fact that Weird Al was accepted as good, worthwhile mainstream music in 2014 still sort of bugs me... the whole things I was picked on for liking as a kid are popular now thing... but it was still pretty great. Mandatory Fun is nothing but good songs, a rarity for someone who makes their living off of doing parodies. Weird Al was on fire with releasing videos off this record, and I found myself falling in love with two different parodies - "Foil" (Lorde's "Royals") and "Handy" (Iggy Azalea's "Fancy"). The amusing thing about those two is that "Royals" is a song I greatly enjoyed, while I cannot stand anything Iggy Azalea's voice touches. Both videos are top notch, and even in looking back there really isn't anything that sets either of the songs apart in terms of excellence.

At the time of this release, Weird Al said that this was probably going to be his last traditional record, as his material is immediately dated once he writes it and he has to scramble to put a record together when he has enough songs to make it click. He said he would probably just do online singles and EPs going forward, but since then he's just released one silly polka. He's been touring for the last year or so, and I hope that once he's done with all that he'll release some more great songs. Until then... Mandatory Fun!


2015 - Spoon - New York Kiss
Album: They Want Your Soul

Back in 2015, I kind of thought that Spoon, a band that I barely tolerated, was going to make the transition based off of this record into a band I would enjoy. Something like Airborne Toxic Event, or something like that. This record had a few tracks that I enjoyed, including "Rainy Taxi" and "Knock Knock Knock", but it was still just a little too strange to be taken as one of my absolute favorites. "New York Kiss" was one that I kept hearing driving to work in the morning that had just the right mellow driving beat to kick me where it counts. Well, surprise, they're back to making odd-ball alternative music, except that they've essentially eliminated guitars and catchy hooks from their music... hey, kind of like Airborne Toxic Event! Fancy that. That's music though, right?


2016 - Chvrches - Leave a Trace
Album: Every Open Eye
The first two songs on Every Open Eye) are so good that you'd swear you were going to have a riot on your hands. Unfortunately, the Chvrches train starts to derail there and they really haven't picked themselves off the ground since then. The newest record that came out this year as not hitting any spots for me, and honestly Lauren Mayberry's always play the victim schtick is tired and worn out as much as pop contemporary Taylor Swift. "Leave a Trace" is good enough musically and lyrically to keep the ball rolling, and this album has some catchy musical tunes, I've just reached the point where it's too much of the same. They do sound pretty good live, though.


2017 - DREAMCAR - Kill For Candy
Album: DREAMCAR
I'm still kind of surprised that the union of AFI singer Davey Havok and the rest of the group No Doubt worked, but "Kill For Candy" is a legitimate smash and shows that given time and good production, the band could have a decent future for themselves. I'm grateful that the guys in No Doubt were actually able to put their talents to good use again, since their former band was essentially a backing band for Gwen Stefani for their last two records. And any time Davey Havok is singing, I am definitely listening. DREAMCAR is less strange and more upbeat than his other side projects, and definitely a far cry from AFI, which is why I think it worked out like it did.

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #15

#15

2009 - Silversun Pickups - It's Nice To Know You Work Alone

Album: Swoon

Here we go. Swoon is such a fantastically massive album, it kind of surprises me that "Panic Switch" ended up being the major single. Actually, it's the most pop radio-friendly song on the disc, so I suppose it isn't all that surprising. But this is a phenomenal disc, with tracks like "Substitution", "The Royal We", "Growing Old Is Getting Old", etc. "It's Nice To Know You Work Alone" had the perfect bassline, the best group of lines, and just the right SSPU touch to make it at #15. Knowing how much I loved their first two albums, I kind of figured they'd be a band trending upwards, but sometimes you just don't get what you want. Still, this is a hell of a record.

2010 - Day of Fire - Lately

Album: Losing All

Day of Fire is an interesting one. They were a band that I listened to a little back in 2004 but had all but forgotten about before seeing them on tour. They were opening for my all-time favorite band, Cold, along with Edisun and Nonpoint. After seeing them live I got to chatting with them after the show and picked up their newest CD, Losing All. It had a couple of hits that jumped out at me, but "Lately" was the one that really kicked into my head. I really haven't listened to them a ton since 2010 and they've since disbanded and gone about their ways, but that was one hell of a show. I ended up buying merch from 3 of the 4 and coming home with a treasure trove of memories.

2011 - Texas in July - Magnolia

Album: One Reality

2011 has the ignominy of having the two most embarrassing songs in Countdown history. In hindsight, of course. I've listened to this song a dozen times over in the past few years and for the life of me I have no idea how it ended up on here, much less at #15. I remember enjoying the first two verses of the song, but outside of that it's a decent yet unremarkable metalcore song from a band that just doesn't have a lot of appeal to me. This one is actually more embarrassing that most on the Countdown because I cannot figure out how I let it be this high. I guess it's just an interesting story at the end of the day, and it'll always be here.

2012 - A Plea for Purging - Heart of a Child 

Album: The Life & Death of A Plea For Purging

On the flip side, A Plea For Purging are one of my all-time favorites in the genre, and I was deeply saddened when they announced they were breaking up after this record. "Heart of a Child" is a crusher through and through, with a great opening riff, great chorus, fantastic bridge, and so on.  While "The Life and Death..." isn't my favorite album from them, it's still chock full of metal-y goodness, and a fitting sendoff to a fantastic group. This was one of my absolute favorite workout tracks when hitting the treadmill or elliptical.  The 2012 machine rolls on!

2013 - The Features - This Disorder

Album: The Features

The Features are one of those "I only ever like 1 or 2 songs per album, but they're always great songs" groups. "This Disorder" was a fun bouncy one that played all the time on Cd102.5 and therefor got stuck in my head all the time. The whole "ring the bell" part still gets me to this day. I haven't spent a lot of time with this band since then, and it took them a while before releasing their next record, which was mostly unspectacular. It seems to me that a lot of alternative J1 bands either break up after releasing a record or end up unsigned and self-producing a meager offering after making it on the countdown.

2014 - Five Iron Frenzy - I Am Jack's Smirking Revenge

Album: Engine of a Million Plots

Five Iron Frenzy broke up my senior year of highschool after a solid 8 year run of releasing new music almost every year and just being flat-out fantastic in the world of 3rd wave ska. Their fanbase is rabid and loyal, and when it was announced that they were getting back together to put out a new record (and TOURING), we all relished the opportunity for more FIF. It ended up being one of those records that just keeps getting better with each passing listen, and "I Am Jack's Smirking Revenge" has ended up at the song I enjoyed the most. It took me a few listens to get into it, but I delighted in the opportunity to have one of my old favorite bands in the countdown. It's one of the strongest songs FIF has ever released from a horn section standpoint, and if we're lucky we might even get more new FIF in the future. Maybe. Hopefully.

2015 - Foo Fighters - Something from Nothing

Album: Sonic Highways

Sonic Highways is such an interesting record. It's like a record full of non-single singles; not even b-sides but a-sides that are just a little off. Because of its ambitious nature, I think that it gets buried underneath all of the other amazing records that the Foos put out. "Something from Nothing", even with its Stevie Wonder influenced sound and Rick Nielsen guitar solo, should stand alone as a great Foo Fighters song when its all said and done. They almost made is the next year with "Saint Cecilia" and also just missed out last year with "The Sky is a Neighborhood". I'm sure they'll be back.

2016 - Brian Fallon - A Wonderful Life

Album: Painkillers

Look, "The '59 Sound" is an all-time classic, but I just can't get around Brian Fallon. I tried to like this record more than I should have, simply because that is one of my favorite songs, but it really just falls back to "A Wonderful Life", which is a great and uplifting song but really the only thing for me worth hearing on there. I haven't listened to his new album yet, and I'm not sure if I'm mentally conditioned for it right now. It's weird following artists who go solo like that, especially when you're not a fan of their regular project. You just have to find something you do enjoy, I suppose.

2017 - Ex-Nihilo - Enemy

Album: Enemy

Whew. This song was stuck in my head for weeks (and all the way home) after seeing them live last February. It was one of my first assignments for Music in Motion and ended up being a phenomenal one, with meeting Jocef Michael as well as The New Schematics. It's always cool when a local artist can make it on the Countdown, and obviously 2017 marked a new direction with the #1 song being from a Columbus artist as well. What will 2018 bring? We will see.

The Jester One Music Countdown By The Numbers - #16

#16

2009 - Chris Isaak - We Let Her Down

Album: Mr Lucky

Look, every year there's at least one surprise. Everyone knows Chris Isaak from his 1990 hit "Wicked Game", but there in 2009 he had a song that was played a lot on our work muzak and caught my ear. It's spent its time on my vaunted Sad Songs playlist since then and continues to get occasional play from year to year. It's a good song for tugging at the heartstrings, especially in terms of being a disappointing human being. I can all but guarantee I haven't listened to another Isaak song since then and I'm pretty sure I don't plan on giving him any spins elsewhere. There's just... this. Lol

2010 - Gorillaz - Superfast Jellyfish (feat Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)

Album: Plastic Beach

Speaking of things that everyone knows, Gorillaz were about as high as they could get at the time of Plastic Beach. "Stylo" and "On Melancholy Hill" were the big hits from this record, and there were a couple other big singles at the time, but it was "Superfast Jellyfish" that caught my ear and spent the most time on my MP3 player. It's mostly rap with a little of Damon Albarn sprinkled in, which works just as well as when it's just him doing all of the work.  All hail King Nepture and his water-breathers! It's a silly song that's fun and fantastic all together. I'm really liking what I'm hearing from 2018 Gorillaz, and hope they make it onto this years edition.

2011 - Amaranthe - Hunger

Album: Amaranthe 

I don't even remember where I first heard Amaranthe, but holy cow, they hit me like a stack of bricks. Elize Ryd is a monster and the whole male-female clean vocalist, male unclean vocalist dynamic mixed with pop-metal guitars made for something almost transcendent in music. They haven't released anything on this level since their first album, but they've steadily gained steam and popularity over the last few years. The opening keys on this song immediately hook you in and leave you wanting more. I wish they were able to better build off of this model rather than just releasing the same album with different lyrics, but that's life I suppose. Listening to this song as I write is making me fall in love with this record all over again.

2012 - Imagine Dragons - It's Time

Album: Night Visions

Here's an intriguing one. Imagine Dragons initially blew up on their EP Continued Silence, which also featured their massive hits "Radioactive" and "Demons". The EP had two different sounds to it... the softer, less abrasive and more realistic version featured on things like "Demons" and "It's Time", and the modded vocal, utterly irritating sound of literally every single they've released since "Radioactive". I mean, it works, but I absolutely HATE it. What was initially a promising band with a real chance to change the rock scene (for the better) ended up going in the opposite direction and just Nickleback-ing it in the worst possible way. What a shame. However... this is still a great song, and worth revisiting. For a few minutes, at least...

2013 - Colossus - Beacons

Album: Time & Eternal

"All I am is a broken promise, don't let me disappoint you again. Every sin is another nail in the cross. Why do I do this to you, why do I do this to myself?"

Holy cow. It might have been that line alone that catapulted Colossus all the way up to #16 in 2013. Initially I had heard their song "Transgressor" on Radio U's Battle of the Buzz, and immediately went out and grabbed the record. It's a solid crusher in the metal-core genre, and the band put together their second record in less than a year. Since then they've been largely quiet while contemporaries like For Today and Plea for Purging broke up and disappeared. Hopefully there is more time and music for this group in the future, and they had hinted at the end of 2016 that new music was coming. But after 5 years of almost non-existence online, I don't hold a lot of hope for it.

2014 -  Winds of Plague - Say Hello To The Undertaker

Album: Resistance

In 2014 there was a massive deathcore battle going on at J1 between Winds of Plague, Impending Doom and Whitechapel. All three had several hits in rotation with their most recent records, and while Whitechapel just missed the cut, Impending Doom shot up to #7 and WoP landed at #16. 2014 had a lot of good metal and Winds of Plague just recently released another solid record that is making waves for me this year. I don't love deathcore as much as I did these days (even though that was only 4 years ago; I suppose I just don't love the new direction of metal) but "Say Hello..." is a thunderous hit with the line "I am relentless!" being repeated during the Blue Jackets playoff runs in recent years.

2015 - Ghost Ship Octavius - Silence

Album: Ghost Ship Octavius

One of my favorite records from 2015 was Ghost Ship Octavius' self-titled debut record. The name of the group is what initially drew me to them, and when I saw that they had Nevermore's drummer Van Williams helping lead the project, I knew it was worth my time. "Silence" has a driving drum and guitar part that forces itself upon you and wrenches your neck around. It's catchy, cathartic, and keeps you hooked from start to finish. The guitar solo at the bridge is truly a treat as well. I can't wait til their next record drops!!

2016 - van Canto - Time and Time Again

Album:  Voices of Fire

For 3 consecutive albums, van Canto's epic blend of "heroic a cappella metal" finished just outside of the Top 20 before finally breaking through in 2016. They're one of those bands that you really have to be in the right mood for, but they made great and fascinating music with every passing record. In 2016 I was stuck between "The Bardcall" and "The Oracle" before finally settling on "Time and Time Again". These guys are definitely a band that belong on the Countdown every time they release a disc.

2017 - Demon Hunter - Raining Down

Album: Outlive

Pardon my surprise, but here's Demon Hunter! The group are legends of the countdown and it should come as no surprise that they made it once again in 2017. But for several months I wasn't really feeling this record, and it's first single "Cold Winter Sun". Somewhere midway through the year I picked up the record again and immediately started jamming to "Jesus Wept" and especially "Raining Down", which is once again another one of those less harsh, still heavy and kicking DH songs that keeps you coming back for more. 

Amusingly, after starting with Chris Isaak, the #16 has proved itself to be big on the metal. I wonder if that tridition will continue into 2018? Stay tuned!!