NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  In 2005, As Cities Burn released their intense post-hardcore debut, Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest . The record was recorded with legendary producer Matt Goldman , former Norma Jean frontman, and then-frontman of The Chariot , Josh Scogin . The band gained acclaim after the album’s Solid State release and their touring. After touring for a year, in 2006, the band announced that they would break up, but they decided to stay together after seeing the fans’ disappointment at the announcement. The band continued touring, though their bassist Pascal Barone left the band and Robert Chisolm of Jonezetta joined the tour to finish up before the band headed to the studio to record their sophomore album, Come Now Sleep .  NOT ESTRANGED TO REGRET. The stylistic differences between Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest and Come Now Sleep shocked listeners. The band’s leader TJ Bonnette had departed to spend more time with his wife. The touring lifestyle had been incompatible with his marria

When  Jonezetta  released their 2006 debut record,  Popularity , they dedicated the album to their recently deceased fifth member. Keyboardist  Timothy Jordan II  took his life in 2015. Jordan had been a promising young musician from Arkansas, which had a small but notable musical scene since acts like  Living Sacrifice ,  The Juliana Theory ,  Evanescence ,  As Cities Burn , and others got their starts in the area. Jordan became a touring member of The All-American Rejects just as their career started blowing up with TV performances and bigger tours. However, just before releasing TAR released  Move Along , Jordan announced his departure and joined an up-and-coming band on  Tooth & Nail Records --Jonezetta.  Popularity  is a very dancy, upbeat album and featuring Jordan on the keys.   THESE HANDS ARE MEANT TO HOLD.  Jonezetta never memorialized Timothy Jordan in their two albums other than dedicating  Popularity  to him. However, The All-American Rejects wrote the song " Beli

I talked before about how  Albatross ,  The Classic Crime 's debut album  was set to be the breakthrough mainstream album for both the band and for  Tooth & Nail Records . And of course, neither of those happened because someone at iTunes or Tooth & Nail or  EMI  or any combination released this record in the genre "Christian Rock." Of the two 2006 secular signings of Tooth & Nail,  Jonezetta  avoided Christian radio, but The Classic Crime admitted defeat and even embraced the genre. With an album like  Albatross,  it would be hard to hear the songs and not think of Christian Rock. " The Coldest Heart " is a bit Calvinistic for the general music listener. A COUPLE OF TEARS AND I'M A BROKEN MESS.  "The Coldest Heart" belongs to a sub-genre of Christian Rock I've heard called " Shamecore , " a term coined by licensed professional counselor Krispin Mayfield on his podcast The Prophetic Imagination Station .   Shamecore comes

  The season 2  Labeled  podcasts finale concluded the story arc of  Tooth & Nail Records ’ start from collecting likeminded, DIY-spirited bands to a marketably lucrative record business backed by major- label distribution, a slowing in the market and uncertain times, then back to a purely indie label. As the story goes, the label had signed two bands for general rock radio,  The Classic Crime  and  Jonezetta . These bands were not intended for Christian radio, like how  The Juliana Theory  had been half a decade before. In 2006, at the time of this marketing strategy, the label was losing some of its most successful acts to major labels. Could the new signees save the label? WHEN THE CHORUS DIES, DOES IT KILL YOU TO BE ALONE?  Neither bands reached the level Tooth & Nail had planned for them. The Classic Crime has had a successful career, but mostly because the label accidentally marketed them to Christian radio. Jonezetta, however, wasn’t played on  RadioU , but I think I bou

When  Jonezetta  released their 2006 debut record,  Popularity , they dedicated the album to their recently deceased fifth member. Keyboardist  Timothy Jordan II  took his life in 2015. Jordan had been a promising young musician from Arkansas, which had a small but notable musical scene since acts like  Living Sacrifice , The Juliana Theory , Evanescence , As Cities Burn , and others got their starts in the area. Jordan became a touring member of The All-American Rejects just as their career started blowing up with TV performances and bigger tours. However, just before releasing TAR released  Move Along , Jordan announced his departure and joined an up-and-coming band on Tooth & Nail Records --Jonezetta.  Popularity  is a very dancy, upbeat album and featuring Jordan on the keys.   THESE HANDS ARE MEANT TO HOLD.  Jonezetta never memorialized Timothy Jordan in their two albums other than dedicating Popularity to him. However, The All-American Rejects wrote the song " Believe &q

  " Wonderful Christmastime " was rated as the worst Christmas song by   Ultimate Classic Rock . Recorded when 37-year-old rock legend   Paul McCartney   was recording his polarizing second solo record, just before the disbanding of his second band,   Wings ,   McCartney II  was a synth-pop, new wave record in a time when former   Beatles   fans were yelling, "stick to the classics." Recently, critics have come to understand and even praise   McCartney II  for its pioneering in electronic music. The intentionally simple lyrics help to draw attention to the synths and the overall Christmasy atmosphere of the song. THE CHILDREN'S CHOIR SINGS A SONG.  "Wonderful Christmastime" has been covered by many artists, including Diana Ross , Demi Lovato , Hillary Duff , Jump5 , Chicago and Dolly Parton , Pentatonix ,  Family Force 5 ,  Jars of Clay , Eleventyseven , and so many other artists. In 2000, the Christian Rock band Earthsuit recorded the track for Tooth

The season 2 Labeled  podcasts finale concluded the story arc of Tooth & Nail Records ’ start from collecting likeminded, DIY-spirited bands to a marketably lucrative record business backed by major- label distribution, a slowing in the market and uncertain times, then back to a purely indie label. As the story goes, the label had signed two bands for general rock radio, The Classic Crime and Jonezetta . These bands were not intended for Christian radio, like how The Juliana Theory had been half a decade before. In 2006, at the time of this marketing strategy, the label was losing some of its most successful acts to major labels. Could the new signees save the label? WHEN THE CHORUS DIES, DOES IT KILL YOU TO BE ALONE? Neither bands reached the level Tooth & Nail had planned for them. The Classic Crime has had a successful career, but mostly because the label accidentally marketed them to Christian radio. Jonezetta, however, wasn’t played on RadioU , but I think I bought their

  Cruel to Be Young   was one of my college albums. I wrote a bit about the two  Jonezetta  albums  back in January.   Rather than being an '80s/ Killers  sounding album, the band went '70s/laid back, hippy sounding music.  According to Randy Torres episode of Labeled,  the inspiration behind this album was  The Shins , which was another college favorite of mine. While  Aaron Sprinkle  and  Randy Torres  may have had a great time making this record, it may have been the demise of Jonezetta as fans were expecting something catchy and dancy. Interestingly my college friends liked this album, but not their debut, but my hometown friends, loved  Popularity   and couldn't get into  Cruel to Be Young.  Jonezetta's follow up album reminds me of my youth--being 21 years old at its release, and how cruel it was to be a young Seventh-day Adventist. ALL THE DIFFERENT REASONS WHY YOU SLEEP ALONE . I’ve railed on purity culture so much without giving any person anecdotes. I speak fr

   Jonezetta 's  Popularity   brings back memories of being 21. Although the album had come out the year  before, I had been hesitant to buy it. But after tours with  Anberlin  and  MuteMath , I decided to buy the album and put it into the CD player of my 2001 midnight blue Toyota Corolla S, my second car, and the car I had paid for with my own money. This album is one that is forever linked to the hot black interior, the red night-driving display, the drivers licenses-less friends and the friends of my little sister that I had to tote around. It was also the summer that I decided it was time to go to Cornerstone. I'VE BEEN DRIVING ALL NIGHT . My friends don't always vibe with my musical tastes and that's ok. I'm a little scared of people who like the same music as me. It makes me wonder when someone's going to hand us a big cup of Kool-Aid. However,  Popularity  was quite a hit among my friends. It's dancey and just '80s retro enough to be put in your p

Labeled fans are still waiting for the Jonezetta story. Several parts have been teased in previous episodes, about how they were one of two general-market bands signed to Tooth & Nail (The Classic Crime being the other). The band's sound drastically changed between their first and second record, Cruel to Be Young . But today rather than digging into Jonezetta's story, we're going to explore the career of Cruel 's producer, Aaron Sprinkle , as Cruel to Be Young has become a cult classic and an essential piece in the legendary producer's catalogue. Using just tracks that I've written about over the year+ I've been blogging, I made a playlist celebrating Aaron Sprinkle's career. IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL . I'm going to post the Spotify playlist here and talk briefly about each track and why it is quintessential Sprinkle. This is an unofficial list. I may be missing some from my blog, and there are certainly other artists such as MxPx , Poor Old

Yesterday, I woke up to an announcement in my Instagram feed: a dream concert in Las Vegas later this year in October. Headlined by My Chemical Romance and Paramore , and featuring over 60 emo and punk bands over the span of one day, this one-day event is quite mind-blowing. Of course there's no way I'll be in Vegas on October 22nd, but this is pretty much my dream concert, other than Cornerstone magically resurrecting. In fact, the concert line-up seems a little too good to be true for many scene fans, leading to online speculation that this is the Emo Fyre festival. I thought it would be fun today to make a playlist for this festival with one song representing each band. I thought it would be fun also to see 1) how many bands I've talked about in my blog post, 2) how many I haven't listened to in years, 3)how many I'm only kind of aware of, and 4)how many I've never heard of. And that's the order we'll proceed. First of all, I'm sad that Las Vegas