For Fans of: Glen Hansard and Pitchfork fans.

Bon Iver is the essence of high quality, indie music.  With his unique sound and relaxing, yet emotive, vocal performances, Bon Iver is making my list of top artists to recommend for 2010.  NPR has labeled Bon Iver as being among the “50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade” and ”For Emma, Forever Ago” was ranked number 29 in the Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Albums of 2008.  Bon Iver has now formed a group called “Volcano Choir” with some old friends, but still more great music.  Check some of it below:

Life Performances:

From his highly recommended album “For Emma, Forever Ago”:

From Bon Iver’s EP Blood Bank:

For more, visit Bon Iver’s official website here.

What do you think? Is it too “out there” for you, or do you like it?

Found here.

The following was a bulletin insert for the young people at Calvary Assembly on the topic of complaining. It is filed under the Creative Commons license, meaning you can take it, use it, and remix it. Just give me a thanks if you do.

…A Word from Jonathan

There is nothing better in the morning than taking a nice, long, hot shower.  This morning, I woke up frustrated, as the water for my shower was cold.  Not freezing cold, but cold enough to make me uncomfortable.  I don’t know if it was because it was a colder night and the pipes were cold, or what the problem was, but it was an unpleasant way to start my day.

I wanted to call my landlord and tell him to get it fixed, but it seemed a bit too soon.  Yes, I do pay my rent and heating bill on time every month, and I had a whole host of reasons as to why I should have hot water every morning.

As I was standing in the cold shower, attempting to wash myself quicker than normal, I thought back to the verse found in Philippians 2:14 that says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.”  To me, this seems like a ridiculous standard.  Really? Everything without complaining?  Think of the irony - I’m actually complaining about this being too high of a standard!

Then I thought about putting my complaint into perspective.  According to a recent health care statistic, over 884 million people around the world do not have access to clean drinking water.  For us, we can drink the water we bathe in.  Others can’t even find safe water to drink!  To think how insanely blessed we are can go a long way in helping to stop our useless complaining.

Maybe you complain about school because your teacher is treating you unfairly or you feel you are receiving too much homework.  But if you flip your perspective, you can be thankful that you are getting a solid education that will provide you a variety of opportunities for your future.  Maybe you complain because your parents seem like ridiculous human beings.  Next time it seems this way, think of how many times you have acted irrationally and maybe this can help allow you to give some grace to your parents.

As for me, I think I’ll go downstairs and turn the water heater up a notch and leave my landlord out of it.  Complaining without first trying to help the solution on our own usually doesn’t help anyone.

Thoughts?

“Something is wrong with me. I am stained because of my past mistakes.  I am not able to be repaired.  I am gross.  I am a sinner.”

I have a friend who had sex before she was married.  She made a bad choice one night that completely rocked her life.  Because she had heard her whole life that this was a sin unlike any other, she could not forgive herself, no matter what she tried.  In fact, it changed everything about her being.  Whenever she was interacting with other people, she always felt like she was being judged.  She began to think that everyone else around her was being fake, even when they weren’t.  She felt insecure anytime her boyfriend would go and talk to any other woman.  She was becoming a person completely different from the joyous person she had once been.

The mistake she made one night consumed her.

Her guilt was turning her into a completely different person.

You see, any guilt beyond whatever brings us to free repentance is a false guilt that usually leads to us feeling worthless.

Completely worthless.

And this is more of a hindrance to us being a light in the world than the actual wrongdoings in our past.

Because when our conviction is taken too far, it turns to guilt.  God’s love is not dependent on how good we are, how bright we are, how caring we are, or even how well we love.  God loves us because we are.

Last week at our youth gathering, we made a dance video that we showed in church.  The young people had a great time filming it and we had a phenomenal service.  When we first started filming the video, I announced, “Anyone who wants to dance, go ahead out on the dance floor and show us what you got”.

As expected, no one moved.

But I prompted them and got a couple kids to do it.  Then, a couple more kids.  Soon enough, everyone wanted to jump in and we had a great time, as well as a great video (coming soon).

The way we can conquer guilt is much the same way.  Do you realize the freedom we have in Christ? Christianity is not just a set of restrictions and a “do” and “do not” list.  What is more important to God is not our perfection, as if that were possible, but our understanding that the world rests on God’s shoulders and that God loves us despite our many flaws.

There is an old hymn I recently introduced at our church called “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”.  The modified lyrics say:

Behold the man upon the cross

My guilt upon his shoulders

It was my sin that held him there

His dying breath has brought me life

God took up our shame and our guilt with one fellow swoop with His Son.  Jesus came and died for all, that we might have life forever with him and freedom from guilt and bondage to sin (Romans 6:10).

The Bible says:

Nothing can separate us from God’s love–not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us.

Nothing.

And that is why I pose this question: “How Big Is Your Dance Floor?”  Because God wants you to experience freedom.  He wants your dance floor to be huge!

Stop beating yourself up for past sin.  God doesn’t want you to live that way.  There is freedom in Jesus.

Dance.

For further exploration, watch this great story from Rob Bell:

This was one half of my discussion with our young people last night, with the other half dealing with conviction.  The notes can be downloaded for free here.  All my writings are written under the Creative Commons license, so feel free to re-make them yourself. Just leave me a shout out below if you do.

We also listened to the following song for a quiet reflection at the end of the teaching.  It may behoove you to do the same.

]]> http://www.taintedcanvas.com/2010/03/03/the-state-of-the-internet/feed/ http://www.taintedcanvas.com/2010/03/01/josh-garrels-music-monday-week-8/ http://www.taintedcanvas.com/2010/03/01/josh-garrels-music-monday-week-8/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:40:35 +0000 Sigs http://www.taintedcanvas.com/?p=1211

For Fans of: Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Mat Kearney, Sufjan Stevens

To stream his music seamlessly, check out his website here.  The first song that is currently listed on the music player is “All Creatures” - and it is the best arrangement I’ve ever heard of that song.

Below are a bunch of live performances. Anyone who can perform that well live is generally going to produce some quality records, and Josh is no exception.  His use of language is impressive and his exploration of faith questions is interesting, rather than simply straightforward.  Plus, as is the criteria for all of my music monday picks, it simply sounds great.

I’m not going to write a full review this week - just let you enjoy some good music.

Happy Music Monday my friends…

“Sweet River Roll”

“YHWH”

“Decision”

“His Wings”

“The Children’s Song”

To see more videos, check out Josh’s Vimeo page.

You can buy the album from Amazon here, iTunes here, or the physical product from his website here.

Let me know what you think…

WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK FOR FREE? IF YOU ANSWERED “HECK YES, I’LL TAKE ANYTHING FOR FREE!” SIMPLY READ MY REVIEW BELOW, THEN COMMENT WITH WHATEVER MUSICAL ARTIST/GROUP HAS MADE THE MOST IMPACT ON YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. IT CAN BE THE BEATLES OR PETRA OR SWITCHFOOT. IT DOESN’T MATTER. SIMPLY COMMENT AND YOU’LL BE ENTERED TO BE SENT THIS BOOK FOR FREE.  CONTEST ENDS MONDAY, FEB 22nd AT MIDNIGHT AND THE WINNER WILL BE PICKED AT RANDOM ON TUESDAY FEB. 23rd. [MUST BE 18 YEAR S OR OLDER TO WIN THIS ONE...]

HOORAY FOR FREE.

Matthew Paul Turner is funny.  That is the first word I associate with this recovering-hyper-fundamentalist Christian author.  Matthew is known for his hilarious remarks on God and the Christian subculture on twitter and facebook, as well as at his blog titled “Jesus Needs New PR“. And I think that most of us in ministry agree that Jesus could use some better ways of spreading his message of hope, love, peace, and reconciliation.  For those who can laugh at funny images of Jesus and a little cyncism, Matthew is one of my favorite twitter users and bloggers.

Over the past week, I have read Matthew’s new book, Hear No Evil, and it has been a hilarious journey.  I found myself at the dinner table reading chapters aloud to Sarah and sharing the stories with friends.  Like any good writer, Matthew draws you in to make you feel a part of the conversations.   On a more personal level, the stories resonated loudly to me as someone who thought he was supposed to work in the music industry, but was instead called to vocational ministry.  Hear No Evil is a memoir, written from a perspective like Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz or Chuck Klosterman’s musical journey across the U.S. in Killing Myself to Live.  The book tells personal and engaging stories of Matthew desiring to become the Michael Jackson of Christian music.  Michael grew up in a very strict, conservative home and was not allowed to listen to “devil music” like Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith (who are both Christian artists btw).  The stories that Matthew tells not only chronicle this journey, but give profound nuggets of wisdom woven throughout his interactions and narration.  For those that lean more conservative, this may not be the book for you, as Matthew comes at some of his conclusions from a slightly more progressive view.

Even in the more “edgy” scenes (edgy in the Christian meaning of that word) with Matthew making out with a girl who suddenly feels called to date Jesus and descriptions of his male, college accountability group (you can guess where that one is going…), this book is brutally honest.  And that is the word that kept coming back to my mind as I read this memoir: honesty.  Many Christian authors feel the need to stay “within the box” and often miss facing real issues that Christians are dealing with today.  One of the biggest lessons I learned was not about his interesting experiences within a messed up, Christian music industry, but instead that it is more important to be true to who you are and to be honest with your struggles.  God wants us to be honest about what we are going through, and having other people around you as support can be the best thing we can get for our soul (which is one of the best purposes of the local church I would add).  In fact, I posted a very moving video by Matthew last July here at Tainted Canvas where I reflected on the importance of the mystery of God.

If you would like to read Matthew’s writings, check out an edited chapter of one of my favorite chapters in the book called Chasing Amy.  You can read it at Patrol Magazine here and hear of the scandal behind Matthew being forced to get Amy Grant to apologize for her divorce by the publisher of CCM. Yikes.

Honesty wins. So does “Hear No Evil”.

If you don’t win the contest below (win by commenting the group who has made the biggest spiritual impact on you) and receive the free copy from Siggy, you can purchase the book at any of the links below. You won’t be disappointed.
Amazon
Kindle
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble E-Book
BooksChristian (Autographed copy here)
Christianbooks
Lifeway

This book was provided for free for review and distribution by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

In a world filled with singles, the minimalist, rock group from Iceland known as Sigur Rós does not just make songs - they make albums.  If you have not heard the ethereal sounds of Sigur Rós’ music before, you are in for a relaxing and exciting treat today, my friends.  In English, the name is pronounced /ˈsɪɡər ˈrɒs/ (which didn’t help me any) or you can hear it pronounced for you here.  When you begin to hear the music, you notice that the falsetto voice of lead singer Jónsi Birgisson is difficult to understand.  This is because he is speaking “hopelandic”, which is an artist-created language Birgisson uses to blend his vocals as an instrument, as opposed to the typical use of vocals to communicate a message in a known language.  He describes this concept below:

what language does jónsi sing in?
on “von, ágætis byrjun” and “takk”, jónsi sang most songs in icelandic but a few of the songs were sung in ‘hopelandic’. all of the vocals are, however, in hopelandic. hopelandic (vonlenska in icelandic) is the ‘invented language’ in which jónsi sings before lyrics are written to the vocals. it’s of course not an actual language by definition (no vocabulary, grammar, etc.), it’s rather a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument. jónsi likens it with what singers sometimes do when they’ve decided on the melody but haven’t written the lyrics yet. many languages were considered to be used, including english, but they decided on hopelandic. hopelandic (vonlenska) got its name from first song which jónsi sang it on, hope (von). tracks 7-9 on takk… are in hopelandic.

The creativity of the band is unbelievable. Listening to any of their albums is strange, yet inspiring. Their orchestration and ambient overdrives are a delight.

Enough talk - just take a listen and buy “Takk…” or “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” (translated: ”With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly”). It will make your heart happy, regardless of how your Valentine’s Day was.

—————–

(Just listen - video is not as important…)

Sadly (for us as listeners), Sigur Rós announced in January that they have decided to take a break and spend time with their family and pursue other individual endeavors for now.  Sigur Rós’ brilliant music, however, still remains.

Let me know what you think. Too weird, or a joy to the ears?

“I have come, that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Jesus says this, as recorded in John 10:10, and he meant it.  God does not want us to live in fear, but to enjoy life.  Each day is a gift from him - so go out and experience it!  As Donald Miller’s life mantra seems to be - live a life that is worthy of a story being written about.

Do exciting things.

“Live a little.”

Laugh a lot.

Paul writes in Romans 8, that we are more than conquerors, through God who loved us.  Be thankful for life.

Help others.

Live simply.

Don’t waste your time, but use it to push others towards the Light.

Believe.

Have faith.

Live life victoriously.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Joshua James is American folk’s finest and today’s #musicmonday pick. Hailing from the midwest, James writes songs about love, God, tragedy, and substance abuse.  James would not classify himself as a “Christian artist”, and from my observations, he seems to leave his specific faith stances removed from the content he produces (music, writings, etc.).  In fact, I’ve followed James since his first album in 2007 and still am unsure of his faith stances, which leaves more room for interpretation than blanket statements about God seem to. Interestingly enough, this has created some good dialogue on many websites on faith (from the normally awful comments of youtube to music sites to formal reviews).

James’ intimate vocals are what make him great, but his catchy tunes will challenge your thoughts and keep you humming for days.  Check it:

“The New Love Song” - Recommended by NPR as the song of the day and helped put James’ first album release in 2007 (The Sun is Always Brighter) to #1 on iTunes’ Folk Album list.  He was also featured on a Best of 2009’s singer/songwriter recommendation mix

“Crash This Train” - This is Joshua’s most political song. Joshua has spoken out about his distaste for the Iraq War and this song essentially cries out to God to end it. Regardless of your thoughts on the Middle East, James says one of my favorite lines from a song ever that we can all agree on: “It ain’t hard to tell, when it’s love that we sell.”

I covered the song a long time ago on my facebook page (the delay makes it look weird…sorry…)

Joshua James released “Build Me This” in 2009 and everyone who I’ve played the record for has really enjoyed it.  He does (tastefully) use the “d-word” in this song, so skip this one if that offends you. I have no idea what this song means, but it sounds awesome.

Coal War

Live Performance: FM Radio - This is a more tragic song by Joshua James, where he adds “You are my sunshine” to the end in an incredible arrangement.  He questions how God could have taken his sister in an emotive song that shows a depth of honesty most artists never touch. So good…

FM Radio Lyrics
I heard about, i heard about your daddy got sick.
Drove down to the river to die alone.
Seven days, seven days till they found him all.
Wrapped up in a blanket on the boat.
So we put him in the ground.
Down, Down, Down.
Your momma said “stay strong, don’t cry.”
So that is what you did.

Years later, years down later down the road.
On a bus with your FM Radio, half drunk, a cigarrette
hangin out.
What happened to your lonely soul? Crying out.
What happened to your lonely soul? Screamin out.
You said try and lose.
You said try and lose.
Everything you’ve known.
Everything you’ve seen.
Everything you’ve loved.
Everything you’ve been
And everywhere you walk
Every Song you sing
Everytime you wake
it haunts you once again.
My Daddy ain’t comin home
Daddy ain’t comin home
My Daddy ain’t comin home
Daddy ain’t comin home
My Daddy ain’t comin home.

Here are pictures of when Joshua James was on tour in the summer of 2008 and stayed at my parents house with me. In fact, his whole band slept over - 6 members, plus another friend of mine.  I blogged at a blogspot back then and wrote of the experience.  He loved my dog too. Here is photographic evidence:

I recommend both his first album (The Sun is Always Brighter) and his newest (Build Me This).

Build Me This is $9.99 on iTunes for 17 tracks, plus a music video.  Since I love you so much, here is a link. The Sun is Always Brighter is $9.99 too.  If you’d like a physical copy, you can go here.

See how easy I make it to make you spend money on music I love??

Oh, and if you are broke and can’t afford it, you can download music for free from his site, including “FM Radio” and “Coal War”. Awesome.

Let me know what you thought…