what is the sound of truth?
December 14, 2010 2 Comments
2010 was an interesting year for music. I didn’t buy as many albums as last year’s 40-50, but I still found a lot of enjoyable stuff from a variety of styles. I joined the staff of IndieVisionMusic.com reviewing albums, and I get to have my top albums list posted on there sometime in the coming days. For now, though, here’s a little teaser with my 10 favorite songs of the year:
August 27, 2010 2 Comments
Looking for something new? Here’s what I’ve been listening to lately…
Artist: Newsboys
Album: Born Again (July 13, 2010)
Style: Modern power pop rock swagger
Calling the band’s current lineup “newsboys” is about as legitimate as saying Paul McCartney’s latest album was by “The Beatles,” but Michael Tait replaces iconic bald man Furler (who was the only remaining original member) for the band’s fourteenth studio album, boldly marching deeper into modern pop territory. This is not your quirky lite-pop 90′s Newsboys. These are tobyMac grooves with Red guitars, Black Eyed Peas beats, and Capital Lights melodies. These are Casting Crowns power ballad chord progressions with Lifehouse power ballad vocals and a little bit of Taylor Swift power ballad country guitar. This is everything that is pop in the new millennium, from the layered synth beats and autotune dance sessions to the softer cell-phone-waving sing-along choruses and everything between. I’m not sure if you’ll like it – hey, I’m not sure if I like it – but I am sure it’s not what you’re expecting – musically, that is; you won’t find many original rhyme schemes here. But there must be some reason the first-week album sales were the highest for the “band” in their 22-year career…
Standout Lyric: Oh the way we build our empires /
Hoping to impress our friends /
We’ve forgotten how to inspire /
Those who fall to rise again
In Case It Interests You: The members of Newsboys are known as Christians.
STREAM THE WHOLE ALBUM: myspace.com/newsboys
Artist: Lecrae
Album: Rebel (September 30, 2008)
Style: Fast-flowing hip-hop beats with solid, challenging lyrics
I indulged in the Top 40 hip-hop scene for a little while once before I got sick of the destructive lyrics and mind-numbing beats. Lecrae fils that void and then some. His lyrics aren’t just non-destructive; they’re a powerful, uncompromising, and inspiring challenge to surrender your life completely to Christ, whether in mocking the gangsta’ obsession with money (“Got Paper”), encouraging imperfect Christians to be patient with other imperfect Christians (“The Bride”), or resisting the devastation of temptation (“Indwelling Sin”). The musical production is top-notch as well; cheesy Christian rap this is not. The beats wind and flow under the music as the layers give and take in an exquisite fashion, rarely making it through any of the long verses without tinkering with something to keep the sound fresh. There’s a lot of featuring, response, and background vocals, including some females, and it’s not uncommon to have three vocal tracks running through at the same time. There’s enough variety to keep this non-hip-hop fan engaged for the hour-long experience, from the slower-rolling Li’l John crunk stuff to the Matisyahu-esque guitar riffing to the ridiculously fast double-bass-supported lyrical flow of I don’t know who. Lecrae wields the name of Jesus in a way that might be over-the-top for some, but that’s precisely his point: without Him, nothing else matters.
Standout Lyric: Money! Dough! Cash! Paper! /
If it was a woman I promise I used to date her /
Now that we broke up, she be callin’ ya boy a hater /
Cause all I do is use her for glorifying my Maker /
…You got money / You got paper /
You got money / You got paper /
… So what? Who cares?
Standout Lyric II: People living life for a job / make a lil money start living for a car
get em a house a wife kids and a dog / when they retire they living high on the hog
but guess what they didn’t ever really live at all / to live is Christ yeah that’s Paul I recall
to die is gain so for Christ we give it all / he is the treasure you’ll never find in a mall
Your money, your singleness, marriage, talent and time
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine
that’s why it’s Christ in my rhymes / That’s why it’s Christ all the time
my whole world is built around him / He’s the life in my lines
In Case It Interests You: If you can’t tell Lecrae is known as a Christian you’re not paying attention.
STREAM THE WHOLE ALBUM: myspace.com/lecrae
July 23, 2010 Leave a comment
2010′s Saturday was much more pleasant than last year’s, primarily due to not having twelve hours of rain turn the grounds into The Passage of the Marshes. Even so, it was getting to be that time again – time to return home, and we packed up our stuff after breakfast.
Emily and I visited the merch tent one more time to look at the rain sticks, and after seeing that they were 50% off (LAST DAY!) we decided, “Let’s get the big one!” I proceeded to carry it around for the rest of the day.
July 12, 2009 Leave a comment
Wednesday morning I had the bright idea to put in my contacts outside at the sinks where there were mirrors, even though I had successfully applied them without a mirror the previous day. The pleasant breeze, however, quickly chastised me for this idea, and I resigned to wearing my glasses the rest of the week. At least Emily claimed I looked good in them.
December 30, 2008 Leave a comment
Yes, this is only 8. But #8 is technically 2-in-1, and #5 is technically only one-half but #4 is technically three halves. This list is so full of EPs and concept releases and fancy projects that the numbers don’t really matter. So let’s go.
#8. Relient K
The Bird And The Bee Sides EP
Known for releasing a small EP between full-lengths, Relient K went overboard this time and gave us 26 tracks of new and old stuff. With something that ambitious there’s naturally a lot to skip over, but there’s plenty of great classic Relient K here. I’m really digging their current direction of a more laidback, layered acoustic sound that still has their classic creativity and instrumentation but without the old simple 1-2 punk rhythms. Read more of this post
December 23, 2008 Leave a comment
This was a hard list for me to make. I don’t think the songs are quite as good as the ones on last year’s list, and maybe since i didn’t have 10 “totally amazing” songs it was hard to pick which “really, really cool” songs would fill in the bottom spots… so I bloated it to 11.
If any of them sound like something you might like too, just click the links…
11.”Little Ghost In Your Room”
Ghost of the Forest
I’m pretty sure I got this album at a CD release party in the last week of 2007, which means it practically wasn’t eligible for last year’s list and practically is for this one’s. The band called it quits this year, but I still like occasionally spinning their cheerful, homemade, indie-ish tunes. Their highlight for me is “Little Ghost In Your Room,” a cheery song with handclaps and background “ohs” as Robby reminds us (in amusing rhyme) to not be afraid of little ghosts. The rousing “ohs” of the chorus make the song even better, but the ending’s piano frills, classic Collin synth, and random handclaps make it pure awesome. Read more of this post
