Posted on April 12, 2010 at sometime around 10:40 pm
Sufjan Stevens (pronounced sue-f-yahn) is one of the founders of postmodern indie-music. Sufjan is a Christian, but does not get bound by the chains of CCM. Sufjan is an artist and his work is the very sound that paved the way for many independent artists pursuing music today. His style is unique and leaves many listeners confused with his eclectic taste, but his cult-like following is very similar to that of Radiohead fans. The placement of Sufjan’s vocals are often out of sync with the rhythm of the track and sometimes the instruments are played slightly out of tune. The variety of instruments used is astounding, especially considering that the majority are played by Sufjan himself. His best work Read More »
Posted on April 6, 2010 at sometime around 10:41 am
Diane Birch has been selected as this week’s featured Music Monday post based entirely on this creative music video.
Diane has a very interesting journey, traveling as a missionary’s kid through Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Australia with her father, a Seventh Day Adventist preacher. She grew up never listening to pop music, as her parents did not allow her listen to any secular music, but left home when she was old enough and headed for L.A. Even though it seems that 99% of people who leave home for a big music city fall flat on their face, Diane Birch has received critical acclaim from the Huffington Post, NPR (you can stream her live performance at a favorite venue of mine: The World Cafe in Philly), and Rolling Stone Paper Magazine. Diane’s release of her album, Bible Belt, also landed her on Conan and Craig Ferguson, and her quirky pop is gaining a substantial fan base. You can find out more about Birch here or head to her website to hear more of her music.
What do you think of the video? Were you as happy as me when you found out this wasn’t just a big video-editing project, but was actually coordinated like a complex dance piece?
Posted on March 29, 2010 at sometime around 3:19 pm
For Fans of: The Swell Season, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, She & Him, Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
I love the honesty of the lyrics for Poison and Wine. I love the sound even more. Who isn’t a sucker for a killer male/female duet? No one.
Joy Williams is known in the Christian industry for her 11 Dove Nominations, but now seems to be steering more towards music that is accessible to people of all faith backgrounds with her new endeavors in her band The Civil Wars. Here are the lyrics for Poison and Wine, their first single I’ve posted above:
You only know what i want I you to
I know everything you don’t want me to
your mouth is poison your mouth is wine
you think your dreams are the same as mine
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I always will
I wish you’d hold me when I turn my back
well the less I give the more I get back
your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don’t have a choice, but I’d still choose you
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
I always will
Joy Williams has partnered with JP and has written a fantastic description of her new group, The Civil Wars:
Poison & Wine is a musical snapshot about the dichotomy of love – that while it can be the thing that destroys you, it can also be the very same thing that beckons and builds you. JP and I are both married have been for several years now – and we got to talking one day about what a tug and pull our individual relationships can be. The longer you know someone – and the longer you allow someone to know you – the more the light and shadows inside each person become more vivid. This song was our attempt at being as brutally honest about the dangerous and beautiful process of knowing and being known. (-Joy Williams, The Civil Wars)
One of my favorite lines in the song shows the awesome commitment to their spouses: Your hands can heal, your hands can bruise. I don’t have a choice, but I’d still choose you. The first part of the lyric shows the complexity of a human relationship. With every interaction, we can make a positive influence in someone’s life or damage them with our words. The second part of the lyric explores our uncommitted world. This lyric is very important, and to me, says, “even if I had the choice to leave, with all of our hardships and differences, I still choose you, because I love you. I always will.”
You can download their music for free below at NoiseTrade:
Posted on March 22, 2010 at sometime around 11:58 pm
Gungor is the future sound of worship music. What is Gungor you ask? Gungor is the last name of Michael Gungor, leader of a worship band out of Denver, Colorado who has been on a formative, spiritual journey since being Dove-nominated for his songs “Friend of God” and “Say So”. Michael has struggled, like many of us worship leaders, with what can result from simply singing songs on a Sunday morning. He says,
“If leading worship is just about bringing a group of people into a room so we can get goosebumps and sing songs together, there’s not much value in that. But if leading worship is a means to an end, that we leave this place as a different kind of people, as part of a new humanity that God wants to create – the people that are caring for the widows and orphans, that aren’t bound by the systems of this world but becoming free, becoming fully engaged in our world – then that matters.”
This type of profound, deeper understanding of worship comes through in all of Gungor’s lyrics. In their latest (and greatest) album, Beautiful Things, Michael and the band sing songs not just about God, but thoughtful and meaningful songs about the Creator. Michael describes the album as “an expression of hope that God will make beautiful things out of the dust in our lives, that God will somehow use us, use our obedience and love, our feeble human effort, and build Himself a kingdom.” Michael has a keen use of progressive language that is difficult to find in the market and his heart, that yearns after the hope found in Christ, is memorable and contagious.
Beyond the honesty and desire to see new life and freedom “sprung up from this old ground”, Beautiful Things is an album that simply sounds fantastic (which is the only criteria for these Music Monday picks). From sounds that will remind you of the ambience of Sigur Rós, to rocking hard like Muse, to the intimate, banjo backing tracks of Sufjan Stevens, the diversity of sound leaves the ears feeling happy.
The album is also extremely worshipful. By this, I mean that there is a reverence for God in songs that declare “Holy is the Lord, the Earth is yours and singing” to deeper, catchy lyrics like: “I don’t know what you’ve been told but heaven is comin’ down to the world”. And this is what Gungor does. They explore a lot of aspects of faith that other Christian artists don’t. Every statement of theirs is loaded. When they say “Heaven is coming down to this world”, they are implying that we should not just have a “life-after-death” focus and approach here on Earth (like is subconsciously taught by many Christian leaders), but that we can actually bring Heaven to Earth. As Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near” and represents a fundamental shift in theology and thinking that Michael taps into. Gungor’s focus on social justice (sorry Glenn Beck), the majesty and mystery of the Lord, and the Kingdom of God shows the band’s theological maturity. Even their cover art shows beautiful flowers springing up from all sorts of chaos (bombs, fighter jets, etc.). My favorite lyric on the album is:
Only good things can ever come from you
Even your judgment is righteous and true
Awesome.
The final two items of praise I will share is that this is an album. Many popular worship CD’s are focused on the singles – songs that are not connected in any sort of way (conceptually or musically). Gungor, however, weaves together each song conceptually, but is also a free-flowing album. It makes for a continuous worship experience that many worship CD’s miss out on. Finally, Gungor makes music that is still singable for corporate congregations (well…at least sort of). For some of Gungor’s songs, the songs would be very difficult to replicate or be able to be sung by large groups of people with a short window to learn the songs. I think the learning curve would be too great and some of the technicality and variety of instrumentation would make it difficult for the “musically un-inclined” to replicate. However, songs like “Higher”, “The Earth is Yours” or “People of God” could definitely be sung by congregations. I’ve also thought that many pieces of their songs could be taken out and tacked on to other songs. Part of the (good) problem is that Gungor makes creative music, but it makes it hard for evangelical worship bands to replicate with rotating volunteers (but I digress…).
You can pick up the physical copy here at Amazon, or just download the .mp3 version of Beautiful Things. This is a CD for fans of more popular worship music (i.e. Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Kristian Stanfill) or for people who normally can’t stand worship music. Also for fans of Robbie Seay Band, John Mark McMillan, or David Crowder.
Check out the songs below:
Title track of their latest album: “Beautiful Things”
“Dry Bones” – the first track on Beautiful Things
Call Me Out – This is a catchy/funky/fun song that shows some of the creativity of the band.
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”:
Posted on March 1, 2010 at sometime around 5:40 pm
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.
Posted on February 15, 2010 at sometime around 2:41 pm
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.
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(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?
