I've decided to make a list of my 40 favorite local songs of the
last decade! I decided to stick with the smaller acts for this list. I
love bands like House of Heroes, The National, The Devil Wears Prada and
Relient K, but I wanted to focus on smaller acts here.
#s 40-31 can be found here
30. Nick Tolford & Company - Until I Walk Away
Album: Extraordinary Love (2010)
Location: Columbus
Nick Tolford has one of the greatest voices of anyone I've ever heard sing in my fair city. So much grizzly soul in there - like a modern day Otis Redding. I'd love to see those guys make a comeback.
29. Vesperteen - Operate
Album: Operate (2018)
Location: Columbus
The difficulty of making an "End of Decade" list is avoiding the recency bias. But Operate is a humongous song that has helped me get over the death of Pastor Simon, and for that I can't imagine it fading on any of my lists.
28. Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons - Hurricane
Album: Hey Kid (2014)
Location: Columbus
Angela Perley is one of the coolest rockstars on the planet. Also, there's no one out there with a voice quite like hers. She has a new album out this year, so if you haven't heard her, consider this your introduction!
27. Ex-Nihilo - Enemy
Album: Ex-Nihilo (2016)
Location: Columbus
Ex-Nihilo is the ultimate testament to the fleeting nature of local bands. They came together quickly, released a smash-hit EP, played some huge showed, and had big plans for the future before internal conflicts caused them to dissolve quiety. After seeing them live for the first time, the opening riff to this song was stuck in my head for weeks.
26. Micah Schnabel - The Interview
Album: Your New Normal Rockwell (2017)
Location: Columbus
Micah's solo work has been top notch, and everyone I know who has ever seen him has raved about his songwriting abilities. This song is the ultimate "get to know me" as he interviews himself and shows off a special part of his quirky mind.
25. Fashion Week - Scars
Album: Scars (2017)
Location: Columbus
Fashion Week is another one of those bands that just seems to get bigger and bigger as time passes. I'm glad I latched onto them when I did so I can watch the ride unfold. They're a pretty sweet group of dudes as well.
24. Cosmo's Elephant - The End of the Ocean
Album: Room Full Of Sky (2017)
Location: Columbus
As I compiled this list, I thought to myself "what would be the most unknown song out of everything on here, if an outsider were to look at my list". I'm pretty sure it would be this one. This album was released, the band played a release show, and immediately went on hiatus, with most of their members playing in other projects. Amy Kies' voice invades your soul on this one, whew.
23. Mad Anthony - Sad Songs
Album: Mad Anthology Pt 2 (2018)
Location: Cincinnati
This one for me has always been "the honeymoon song", because we heard it on a station from Oxford, Ohio while on our honeymoon in 2016. My wife hates it because the chorus is literally about why the singer sings his sad songs, and because she first heard on it on a happy occasion. BUT IT'S A GREAT SONG! More curiously, we were at a state park that was named after a soldier who served with General "Mad" Anthony.
22. The Odds Of Being Born - Fall into My Engine
Album: Fall into My Engine (2015)
Location: Columbus
I first heard this song on CD102.5 when it came out, and immediately fell in love. I didn't even know they were from Columbus until I started doing Music in Motion. The line "fall into my infantile obsession of you" is one of my all-time favorites for local music. Chris Albert is another one of those vocalists whose voice just sticks to you like syrup.
21. Colin Gawel - Superior
Album: Superior (2010)
Location: Columbus
Everyone knows Colin. He's a great dude, a fantastic musician, and one of the biggest Columbus supporters in the world. For all the great musical projects he's been involved with (Watershed, Dead Schembechlers, etc), I feel like this song is his crowning achievement.
#'s 20-11 coming soon, stay tuned!!
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