So this is Free Topic Tuesday!
The last two week's were polar opposites - one complaining about Facebook, the other a brief discussion about Jesus' divinity versus his humanity.
Today's free topic will be about something that most of you that know me will know is dear to my heart. Music! I have been all over some new tunes recently and thought I would share my favorite records right now. In no order they are:
Elephants - Aaron Strumpel
Aaron got his start with Enter the Worship Circle, a collective of musicians that wrote honest, rootsy worship music. Aaron's speciality is taking a Psalm and putting it to music. He also has two albums that came out about the same time - Birds and Vespers - that I want to get my paws on. This album is... weird. But it's good. It's got an acoustic base, but there's drum machines, trumpets, weird sound effects, a rap with tons of echo and a couple songs where Aaron screams. But it's moving and it's really, really good. Recommended if you like the louder times of Sufjan Stevens and the Psalms.
Economy - John Mark McMillan
Most of you know that I love John Mark's music. I have pretty much everything he put out, and I got this as a pre-release. It's brilliant. Everything you may have loved about his older records comes through here, only better. It's rootsy, rock and roll with lyrics that speak volumes about John Mark's God and their relationship. Which is beautiful, because I have a relationship with the same God.
Brokenness Aside EP - All Sons and Daughters
This little EP was a great find on Noisetrade.com. Don't look for it now, they hit the limit. ASAD is a duo of Leslie Jordan and David Leonard. They write music that was originally just to be used for worship at their church, but sixstepsrecords got wind of it and we got this little EP. David used to be in a band called Jackson Waters (I have one of their albums and an EP) that was more of a rock outfit. This group is slowly becoming a favorite.
Live at Eddie's Attic - Civil Wars
I got the Civil Wars album Barton Hollow several months ago and stumbled onto this at noisetrade.com. It's still there. Putting out a live album as a debut is gutsy, but it works. It's just John and Joy and the music. Joy got her start in the Christian industry and John has been playing in bands for a long time but never really got to be well known. It's worth stating that although Joy is a Christian, there are a few instances of cursing on the album and the topics are never explicitly Christian. It's still good music and it looks at life through her lense of faith. Maybe not for everyone.
Cautioners and Walk Like Giants EP - Cautioners
I got the EP from noisetrade.com and followed the link to their website where they are giving the album away for free. This is a little band from Florida that plays simple pop/rock about God, but they're really enjoyable. I'm still digging into them so I can't say much but my initial impression is good.
Gather and Build: a Collection - Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay is one of my top five favorite artists so when I saw this on noisetrade.com (I go there a lot) I passed it up. I figured a collection wouldn't have anything new for me since I have everything they've put out except for that song from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack (which I don''t care for anyway) and some instrumental song from the Songs of Wood and Steel series. But this collection had 3 songs I didn't have yet: This Land Is Your Land, Stay (Forgive Me reimagined by Stephen Mason) and Body & Wine. This Land is a cover of that old folk song with some unique drum programming underneath. I like it even though it sounds like it's in a key that Dan has to work to sing in. Stay is pretty much unrecognizable from the original (found on 2009's The Long Fall Back to Earth) but is still good and Body and Wine is an acoustic number about communion.
Well, there's 7 things you can go listen to at Amazon or NoiseTrade or wherever and see if you like. Talk to you tomorrow.
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