Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day. We've reached the final day, with the top 5 hits coming in hot.
#5. Meryl Creep - Spiraling Album: Drift EP Favorite line: "I can't remember how I got to this place - now I shave in the dark cause I hate looking at my face"
Maybe I haven't spent all year telling you about how much I LOVE Meryl Creep, but here's a reminder. Shoegaze vibes forever, and tremendous lyrics to boot. Also, talk about the low-budget music video of the year.
#4. A Tiger Made of Lightning - Little Birds Album: It's Chaos, Be Kind Favorite line: "I need to take in everything and pay attention to these moments and cement them in my brain"
I literally cried the first time I heard this song. I know a local song finished at #1 last year, but this is the most beautiful local song I've heard in years.
#3. Acceptance - At the Edge of the Earth Album: Wild, Free Favorite line: "Suddenly, it comes to me, when we meet in the fields at the edge of the earth"
I probably listened to this song 25-30 times before I even paid much attention to the lyrics. The CHORUS on this song is so preposterous. I'd just be walking around going "WHEN WE MEET IN THE FIELDS AT THE EDGE OF THE EARTH".
Another weird one, as I don't care for the band and didn't like the album.
#2. The Struts - Another Hit of Showmanship (ft Albert Hammond Jr) Album: Strange Days Favorite line: "it gets me and the night never ends, but it's getting harder to mend"
Fun album, fun song, and the addition of Albert Hammond Jr. really kicks this song up a notch. The world needs more bands like The Struts, just out there embodying the rock'n'roll attitude in the 2020s.
#1. Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline Album: Earth is a Black Hole Favorite line: "We all still feel the same, and we live in sleep for days. We love the things we know will leave the taste of gasoline"
As if there was any doubt... if you knew me for more than 5 minutes this year, you knew the inevitability of this being the #1 song. Actually, the title track is what took off first for me, but damn if I wasn't screaming THE TASTE OF GASOLINE the entirety of the 2nd half of the year.
Another Countdown in the books... after 13 years, it figures I'd finally hit a big hiccup. We'll see how next year goes!
Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day.
#10. Echo Image - Walk My Mind Album: Walk My Mind single Favorite line: "rethinking what we could have been, a feeling that we never had a chance to finish our last dance that time"
I just don't know how you can go on a 20 year hiatus and return with a song that SLAMS SO HARD. What a song. Wow. I'm excited to see what comes next for Echo Image.
It's only hammers from here on out - 10 songs that at one point could've landed at #1.
#9. Assemblage 23 - Factory Album: Mourn Favorite line: "We do a great disservice to our young, and feign surprise at what one day they become. We reap a consequence we don't intend - we build a factory for broken men"
I don't think there was any doubt that there'd be an A23 song on this Countdown when this album dropped, but holy smokes I didn't realize how good this album would be. This song is an homage to my childhood, serious. Tom Shear writes songs about my life and it boggles my mind every time.
#8. Manchester Orchestra - Bed Head Album: A Million Masks Of God Favorite line: "Oh my god, let me extinguish the habit, the sequence, the loss, in my mind - now I believe in the ghost"
One of the best songs of the year, lyrically. The concept of writing about spirits haunting us in our daily lives is one of my favorite lyrical topics, and, cheesy music video aside, this song is almost perfection.
#7. '68 - Bad Bite Album: Give One Take One Favorite line: "we're just bones and teeth"
The most fun song of 2021, no doubt. What a wild and awesome video, too. Josh Scogin is the truth, and this album is phenomenal. I got a lot of weird looks quoting this song throughout the year.
#6. Gang of Youngs - the angel of 8th ave. Album: the angel of 8th ave. single Favorite line: "God, it was state of the art - you called each of my sorrows by name. And a tide of tender mercies - shook my body from the grave"
Lyrically, this is the best song I've heard in the last two years. I'm so mad that I had never heard of this song before our Godify series at church. So, thank you David for turning me onto this. I look forward to following this band in the future.
No's 5-1 tomorrow. Stay tuned for the finale of The Jester One Music 2021 Top 20 Countdown!
Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day.
#15. AFI - Begging for Trouble Album: Bodies Favorite line: "Don’t take tears in your dress seriously. Don’t take wounds in my chest seriously"
This is the best AFI album probably since Sing the Sorrow. All bops. I liked their last album but most bands from my high school years just don't recapture their glory 15+ years later. This album defies that and cements Davey Havok as one of my all-time favorite musicians.
#14. beabadoobee - Last Day On Earth Album: Our Extended Play EP Favorite line: "and if it all goes wrong, and it looks like we'll soon be gone, we should all just get along, and sing a song I wrote..."
Shoop doo doo, shoop do be dooby doo... every year there's a wacky song like this that makes it. Like Sigrid in 2019 and Superorganism in 2017, there's always a song that surprises the heck out of me. A band that I'll probably never peep again outside of the song.
#13. The Dirty Nil - Blunt Force Concussion Album: Fuck Art Favorite line: "gimme one half dozen blunt force concussions, crack my head in two. Just don't put me through saying I love you"
This is the best '90s song I ever heard in 2021. Also, what an atrocious album. I hate it when that happens.
#12. Romy - Lifetime Album: Lifetime single Favorite line: "oh, this is a high that I can't get from nobody else"
If you ever wondered what The xx would sound like if they weren't utterly dull, here you go. This was one of those songs that came out early and I thought would carry throughout the year.
#11. The Birthday Massacre - The NeverEnding Story Album: The NeverEnding Story single Favorite line: "Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds. And there upon a rainbow is the answer to a neverending story"
I don't even like the original version of this song, that's how great of a cover it is. You will never extinguish my love for Chibi, and TBM just make solid music album after album.
Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day.
#20. Grabbitz - Pigs in the Sky Album: Pigs in the Sky single Favorite line: "What if all the songs you never thought you would sing start coming out?"
The opening basslineon this song slapped me in the face the first time I heard it, and I ended up hearing it both on my way to work and on the way home that day. It stuck with me from there on out.
#19. Royal Blood - Typhoons Album: Typhoons Favorite line: "All these chemicals dancing through my veins, they don't kill the cause, they just numb the pain"
I really want to like Royal Blood but gosh, they're predictable. Every song builds around similar chords, but every album has a single or two that slap hard.
#18. Daymare - Control Album: Everything is Fine EP Favorite line: "I won't lie, everything's fine, everything's just so fuckin' perfect"
First of many local jams on the countdown this year - I think local bands are working harder at making better music videos than regional and national acts. I've known lead singer/guitarist Dustin Rinehart for almost two decades and he just keeps making solid music.
#17. Porter Robinson - Look at the Sky Album: Nurture Favorite line: "Look at the sky, I'm still here. I'll be alive next year"
This video is INTENSE. I still don't know why this song stuck in my ear other than the uplifting chorus. I couldn't get into the album and I must've skipped this song a dozen times when it came up in playlists. It's very much a mood song, but it makes for very good moods.
#16. PEABOD - Love Everybody (ft Tedashii) Album: Growing Up Pt 1 Favorite line: "Scribble 'big grin winner' on my name tag, faking out the negativity with zigzags"
PEABOD is probably my favorite thing that I discovered last year. What a fun artist. His videos are fun, his music is enjoyable and the content is relatable.
2021 has thrown me a pretty big curveball, and I have been unable to write or post anything for the Countdown. Starting tomorrow I'll be doing a revised version of the usual effort. The Top Artist and Song posts are still going to happen, I just never found the energy to get everything running correctly for the big show. Thank you for your patience!
Last year was tough. I couldn't go to concerts for the last 8 months. Bands couldn't record their music, and I think the general unease of the world handcuffed songwriters as well. Within 2 or 3 months of 2021 I realized that this year's Countdown was going to have bigger and better songs on it, just because people are finally getting back into the swing of making great music. That's not to knock the songs that made the list last year, but it just felt different this time around.
Of course, it seems like with each of the last 3 or 4 years I reach a point where I say "could this be the last time I do the Top 20 Countdown?". It's a curious thing to pose to myself, but at the end of the day I never saw this thing spanning over a decade, much less into year 13 as we are now. I still remember making notes and hastily scribbling down new releases way back in 2010 trying to make the 2nd Countdown something really official. Nowadays there are full paragraphs, entire pages dedicated to song, etc. It looks nothing like it did, but I'm glad I'm still doing it.
Let's take a look back at 2020's final list.
20. Seether - Dangerous 19. The Broken Relics - Goodbye Tennessee 18. Little Hurt - Alaska - Alaska 17. Corduroy Brown - To My Younger Self 16. Sir Sly - Material Boy 15. The Unlikely Candidates - High Low 14. The Anix - Renegade 13. Slimfit - Pineapple Pizza 12. Alright Years - Something I Can Dance To - Show Me Something 11. Nightwish - Harvest 10. Loathe - Two-Way Mirror 9. Apollo LTD - You 8. Ships In The Night - Lost Times 7. King Princess - Ohio 6. TRVSS - All The Bugs 5. Empathy Test - Monsters 4. Forever Unknown - Bury Me 3. White Reaper - Real Long Time 2. Purity Ring - stardew 1. Lilieae - Level
I can honestly say that I've never seen a list quite like that. Only one returning artist (Purity Ring), and almost everyone on the list was someone that I hadn't really ever listened to before. It was a serious change-up from 2019's veteran heavy list. 2 of the top 5 are locals, 3 of the top 5 female fronted, and a decent mix of genres to boot.
Having an Ohio band at the top again is pretty cool, and if we look back on previous years we can follow the trend of locals gaining high grades. 2019 had #2 in The Broken Relics, '18 had Vesperteen and Curse of Cassandra at 3 and 4 respectively, and of course 2017 had Morning Theft taking the first local #1. I think it adds to the uniqueness of this Countdown.
We start 2021 where we always do, with the songs that just missed the cut.
The Band CAMINO - 1 Last Cigarette Album: The Band CAMINO
The opening riff and handclaps on this song are just what 2021 needed to break free from the doldrums of the year prior. The video is as chaotic as their debut record, but it's a fun song with a great sing-a-long chorus.
Beartooth - Hell of It Album: Below
We last saw Beartooth in 2014 when they landed at #13 with "Beaten In Lips" from their debut record Disgusting. Their last two albums have been pretty good, but Below turns the vitriol up an extra notch with Caleb Shomo's signature agonized screams. Other bops on this album include "Skin" and "Fed Up". Definitely one of my favorite records of the year.
Turnstile - Mystery Album: Glow On
One of the last bands to catch my ear with a new release this year was Turnstile, who was recommended to me by several friends. After listening to the record, I was disappointed that I hadn't caught on to it earlier. The drums drive forward and the song has an old school HxC feel to it, with some alt-rock twists. Another solid full length LP to check out if you haven't already.
Best Foot Back - Give It A Go Album: Give It A Go single
The first local offering of the year quite literally came out of nowhere. Michael from BFB reached out to me about doing an interview, and we got together for one of the first in-person offerings I had written all year. The song is one of those that you genuinely cannot listen to just once. It's fun, catchy and upbeat, and features a great solo for those who need one of those as well.
Uncreated - Hand Grenade (ft Mark Hockings of Mesh) Album: Symbiosis
You putMark Hockings on a song, chances are it's gonna be a banger. Although he's a little repetitive in his writing, his stuff is super poignant and he has one of the best voices in electronic music. Uncreated only just dropped the album Symbiosis which I suppose means something from that could make the '22 Countdown... only one way to find out!
Honorable Mentions: Black Birch - Boxhead; Rhapsody of Fire - I'll Be Your Hero; Blutengel - Forever Young; Foo Fighters - No Son Of Mine; Goodnight Fear - Write My Own Story; April Art - Break the Silence; Spiritbox - We Live In A Strange World; The Scratches - Inside Out; The Protest - Greater; Jade Bird - Headstart
