The 2022 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #1

 #1. Forever Unknown - sad people, blue eyes

Track: sad people, blue eyes
Artist: Forever Unknown
Album: Say It Back

 

Another repeat artist and another local to put the 2022 Countdown to rest. Unlike last year, where I had never listened to Teenage Wrist before their new album dropped, Forever Unknown burst onto the scene in 2020 with their debut EP Study Hall and the song "Bury Me", which made it all the way up to #4 that year. I knew this group had incredible potential the first time I saw them live. I've watched them mature from high school teens trying to find a sound, to college rockstars who are just looking for the right break to make it big. Their live shows are fun and energetic, and singer/songwriter/do-it-all wizard Micah SD just seems to be getting better and better.

It is Micah's songwriting that really hooked me on their music. It is rare that I find lyricists who write about specific things that I have felt/am feeling, and it feels like almost every single one of their songs has a line or two that really pummels me internally.  When I was writing the review for Say It Back, the song that immediately jumped out of my speakers was "sad people, blue eyes". I must have gone back and listened to the song at least 10 times just that day alone because I was overwhelmed with the power and emotion of it all. Guitarist Blake Bennett has a screaming solo that I know I probably just listened to on repeat 100 times this year as well. 

Within a month of this album being released, I knew deep down this would be my #1 track, and "sad people, blue eyes" is far and away the most listened to song for 2022 for me. Say It Back also has a big lead on most played (and probably favorite) album of the year. The production is off the scale, and every song got significant play at one time or another this year. This is also the 3rd local song in the last 6 years to take the #1 spot, following Morning Theft (2017) and Lilieae (2020).

Previous five #1s:

2021: Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline
2020: Lilieae - Level
2019: VNV Nation - Only Satellites
2018: Florence + The Machine - Sky Full Of Song
2017: Morning Theft - Skeleton Twins

The 2022 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #2

 #2. Rammstein - Lügen

Title: Lügen
Artist: Rammstein
Album: Zeit

Three times Rammstein has released an album since the inception of J1, and all 3 have landed on the Top 20. "Frühling in Paris" hit #18 in 2010, while "Radio" climbed all the way to #6 back in '19. As much as I'd like to believe that my favorite artists will always be represented in a Countdown that I solely curate, that has not always been the case. For instance, Anberlin (one of my all time favorite artists) had released 3 albums and an EP since 2009 and none of them have landed here. It is what it is, and it was with much trepidation that I journeyed into a 2nd new Rammstein album in 3 years after going almost a decade without. The group has been doing it for almost 30 years... did they have another masterpiece in them?

Oh, you better believe it. From the opening track ("Armee der Tristen") to the sentimental closer "Adieu", this album is 10 bops and one track that is just OK. The first time I listened to the record, I was texting back and forth with my friend Frankie, lead singer of our local R+ tribute band and German native. We were comparing things we liked and disliked on the album, and I remember having to go back and listen to "Lügen" multiple times because I was so caught off guard by what I heard. I immediately knew this was my favorite track from the record. There's something haunting about the opening piano, and the drop in of guitars at the 45s mark. The song is about a person who lives their live by telling lies, and eventually gets to the point where they lie so much that they don't even know what is true anymore. There's even some heavy autotune thrown in on the last verse just to prove the point of things being fake. Total brilliance. Way to go, Rammstein. What more can be said?

Previous five #2s:

2021: The Struts - Another Hit of Showmanship (ft Albert Hammond Jr)
2020: Purity Ring - stardew
2019: The Broken Relics - Where The Creatures Roam
2018: The War On Drugs - Pain
2017: Future Islands - Ran

The 2022 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #3

#3. Ronnie Martin - From the Womb of the Morning, The Dew of Your Youth Will Be Yours

Title: From the Womb of the Morning, The Dew of Your Youth Will Be Yours
Artist: Ronnie Martin
Album: From the Womb of the Morning, The Dew of Your Youth Will Be Yours

 

When I was a kid, I distinctly remember the first time I heard Joy Electric. There was nothing else like their blend of bubbly synth-pop on Christian radio, and the label they were on (Tooth and Nail) was almost exclusively punk, emo and hard rock. You never what bandleader Ronnie Martin was going to write about, but you knew it was going to be wholly different from anything else you'd ever heard. But Martin had essentially been out of music since 2014, and I honestly hadn't listened much to their newer stuff since high school. I saw that Martin had released a new record and came in with zero expectations but wanted to give it a spin just the same.

Blown. Away. It's honestly a shame that From the Womb...is only 7 tracks, because it is humongous and brilliantly produced, and Martin's vocals sound as good as they ever have. The opening synth line is legitimately hypnotizing and moves me in an emotional way that was totally unexpected. Even though I've listened to the song 40 or 50 times this year, the synth line still knocks me over every single time. Majestic song, possibly my favorite album of the year, featuring songs like "Sing Among The Branches" and "Snow Like Wool". 

Also, this easily smashes the record of the longest song (and album) title from Jr. Jr., whose 2013 hit "If You Didn't See Me (Then You Weren't On The Dancefloor)" hit #7.

Favorite line: "Lost in parties, hollow shapes, in brooding fashion pose. Pages turn, dispassion churns, you learn what's grave and dour - will fair colors bleed into yours?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previous five #3s:

2021: Acceptance - At the Edge of the Earth
2020: White Reaper - Real Long Time
2019: Smith & Thell - Forgive Me Friend
2018: Vesperteen - Medicine
2017: The Naked and Famous - Higher