#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.
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