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A guest post from Nahar Mama: I’m not really sure how I first heard about Sarah Masen, but she was one of the first Christian artists I picked up after becoming a Christian myself. I’d always been into acoustic/folk sort of music, so she fit right into my collection. Listening to her now, I have a hard time seeing her music as Christian music; she’s more of a Christian (I think) that writes songs about life. I guess that makes her fit right in with the whole “Christian indie” scene.
Sarah did not start out totally indie; her first albums were put out by the re:think label and her 2001 “The Dreamlife of Angels” was put out by Word. She has just completed three EPs and is releasing them independently, handmaking all the cover jackets herself. These three are called “Women’s Work is Alchemy,” “Magic that Works,” and “A History of Lights and Shadows.” [Editor's note: Creeeepy.] You can listen to all of them in streaming audio here.
In my on-going quest for good Christian music to list on The Blah Blah, I stumbled onto the site IndieHeaven recently. Like you’re probably thinking, I thought, “Sweet! A networking source for Christian indie artists who are making cutting edge music that is breaking out of molds!” I thought I’d found the utopia of Christian music, the only site I would ever have to go to for new stuff.
Well, it’s not a utopia, but it’s worth a look. The site is really slick and you’ll probably find a band or two that you like. It just might end up taking you a few hours of digging through all the stuff that you’ve heard before. I’ve got a unique taste in music (some might call it bizarre, but I go for the positive), and I get tired of stuff that sounds too much like it could be played on the radio (or like it has been played on the radio for the past 10 years), so it was hard for me to find stuff I enjoyed. (I apologize for the obsessive use of parentheses in the preceeding paragraph. It was completely uncalled for.)
This will sound really weird, but if you love mainstream Christian bands, then check out IndieHeaven. Most of the groups I found seemed to be independent bands copying mainstream Christian sounds, which is great if you want that or really sad if you’re like me.
Anyway, on the positive side, the site is full of thousands of independent Christian bands. You can read band bios, check out photos, preview songs, and even download MP3s for $0.99. They’ve got everything from reggae, to worship, to rock, to folk, to funk, and on and on.
One band you should check out is Rufus Tree. They’re not amazing but I kinda’ like them. The coolest thing to me is that they live about 15 minutes from where I’m sitting at this moment. Now, if that’s not a reason to support a band, I don’t know what is! They remind me a lot of the old band Breathing Machine if you were around at all during their heyday.
Other than that, do your own digging. I found some other really good folk-rock guys and a few great worship bands, but they all sounded too CCM for me to wholeheartedly recommend.
I hope you enjoyed your weekend, but now it’s back to work with day four (and week two) of “Girls of Christian Indie.” Be sure to check out previous posts on Lori Chaffer, Karen Peris, and Misty Edwards.
So who do we have for you all today? None other than that crazy world, folk, tribal, roots rock group The Ragbirds, of course! This group is an eclectic mix of music, merging styles ranging from traditional folk to Irish, to rock, to world, to roots, to African, to Afro-Cuban, to Indian, to gypsy… You’ll hear guitar, banjo, violin, djembe, accordion, mandolin, piano, drumset, bass, congas, harmonica, and other random instruments.
Here we are on Day Three of “Girls of Christian Indie,” what’s becoming a two-week look at… some girls of Christian indie music. We’ve already looked at Lori Chaffer and Karen Peris, so today, to switch it up a little bit, I give you Misty Edwards.
Misty Edwards is a worship leader coming out of IHOP (the International House of Prayer, not Pancakes) in Kansas City, not a 3rd grade teacher or a senior airman in Iraq. In case you were wondering. (Note: I found these pictures of other Misty Edwardses when I searched for the real Misty Edwards who is featured in this post here.)
Yes, she is a worship leader, and a very good one at that, in my opinion.
If you checked out the post on Karen Peris and The Innocence Mission here, then you probably noticed that The Blah Blah has signed up for a new free file hosting service, again. Someday, we’ll just buy hosting and we won’t have to deal with all the hassles of free services, but we’re not millionaires yet, so keep waiting.
The new service we’re trying out is HotLink. You should be able to directly link to the files, rather than go through all the usual loops to download. If this service works out, it’ll be a lot better than either MediaMax or X-Drive. Uploading files was fast and easy. You get an upload link automatically. And there’s no cap on the number of downloads per item, as far as I can tell anyway.
Give us your feedback. How do you like the new file hosting? Do you know of any other good free hosting plans out there we should look into?
Welcome back to “Girls of Christian Indie!” For Day Two, we’ll be looking at Karen Peris and The Innocence Mission.
I first found out about The Innocence Mission from a video of Sufjan Stevens performing their song Lakes of Canada here. I loved the song and decided to find out about the band who first wrote it.
And that band was The Innocence Mission, led by husband-wife duo of Don and Karen Peris, with a touch of drums by Steve Brown and bass by Mike Bitts. All the musicians are really good, but it’s Karen’s vocals that set the band apart from the rest, especially since Steve Brown left the band in 1999, forcing a more acoustic approach to things.
The Man of Steel first told me about a great site a while ago, but I just haven’t had a good time to pass it along until now.
Check out this site for some great covers, b-sides, and unreleased or acoustic versions of Lifehouse songs. Just register your e-mail address (I haven’t gotten any spam from them) and download up to 30 songs a month. They’ve also got videos and stuff, but who really cares about that?
You should definitely download some of the acoustic songs. They’re really great.
If you’ve never really liked Lifehouse, you’re not alone, but even my wife (who can’t stand the band) admits that she likes their acoustic versions. I caught her singing along with “Hanging by a Moment” a couple days ago, though she tried to deny it.
Welcome to Day 1 of “Girls of Christian Indie!” Now, before you go and get your minds in the gutter, this is gonna be a clean list. I was thinking about it the other day how most bands are fronted by guys, and this is especially true in the mainstream market. Girls who don’t like to lip-synch or dance around half-naked (or do this) have a harder time than their male counterparts in making it in the mainstream market. Indie, though, indie is a different story.
Sort of. There still is an over-abundance of guys in indie music, but I feel there is more of an openness to girls who wanna make some noise. For the next week or two, depending on how you all like the theme, I’ll be posting about some of the women of indie music who I think deserve your attention. This will not be a best-of list - just a list of some musicians you shouldn’t skip past.
First off, meet Lori Chaffer. With a voice that can go from soft and soothing to loud and powerful to high and dreamy, all in the same song, Lori’s got a vocal range that’s impressive. Ever since I heard her singing with Waterdeep, I was hooked. With so many copycat dancing Christian pop girl bands (nice imagery, huh?), Lori Chaffer is a nice alternative.
Ponoka. I first heard about this band almost 14 hours ago, so we have a long history together. My favorite Norwegian reader, Ole Jorgen, sent The Blah Blah an e-mail with a giant list of some amazing European indie Christian bands, and Ponoka was the first I listened to.
Ponoka comes from the Netherlands, by way of Canada, and if all Christian music from the Netherlands is this good, I might have to practice my Dutch and move out there. Now, I’m aware that most of my readers are from the US and therefore may be unaware of the exact location of the Netherlands (oooh, slam). Don’t worry. If you look on this map here, the Netherlands is located in the “Wine, Perfume, Spagghetti” part. Hope that helps.
Anyway, the band Ponoka is Rick de Gier on vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Pim van de Werken on bass; Theo Nap on guitar; Lucas Nap on drums; Laurens Palsgraaf on keyboards; and Alice ten Brinke on vocals. They’ve got a really tight indie pop sound that’s fun to listen to and chill with. You don’t have to work hard to like the music. It’s just there to be enjoyed, from the first note on harmonica to the last chord on guitar.
This download here could be a life saver for you if you’re desperate for some background music to play while studying, reading, preparing sermons, or scooping out a bowl of Alpo for Fido. Brent at Colossians Three-Sixteen has put up a number of really awesome post-rock instrumental bands in the past that you should dig for on his site, but this is the first time he’s put up a CD compilation.
While you’re on the site, check out a recent post about the Finnish band Paavoharju here and download their EP. They’re different, trippy, a little bizarre, but really interesting.
(This post was dedicated to my good friend R. T. Jones at Sandwiches There, who needs way more study music for all the studying he’s doing.)
Going along in the same vein as yesterday’s americana expert Bill Mallonee, our offering today is The Lighthouse Band. I found this very indie americana gypsy band only a few weeks ago and I only have three lo-fi songs that I downloaded off their MySpace, but I’m digging their hippy ways.
The Lighthouse Band is Rico and Bethra Lighthouse and “Heidi vest, Rachel Lotz, and Nate Eperson. Past Present and Future: Danny Hesser, Nick Wichman, Joshua Digiorgio, Tamima White, Shelemiah, Sherry Baker, Tim Lotz, Lazarus, Antonio Vogel, Brian Fletchner, Tyler and Britta Hentschel, Malorie Ridgnal, Charity Hulderman, Jeremy Siegrist, Glenn Willis and others we forgot and / or have not met yet,” as stated on their MySpace page.
They’re intensely devoted to God. They travel the world and play “gypsy” music. They love creation and try to live environmentally responsibly. They dig organic foods and that whole lifestyle. They remind me of hippies. And they’ve got some ties to Christian anarchists. There’s more to the band, too, but I couldn’t fit the other adjectives in my title.
This came out a while ago, but I just re-found the link, so check it out.
You can download the Summershine album by Vigilantes of Love for free by clicking here. I don’t know a whole lot about Bill Mallonee and his band, but I’ve been listening to him for a little while now. The band is sort of americana, folk, and country, mixed with REM-style college rock.
Summershine was released in 2001 and sounds a little dated but it’s still good. Definitely worth a free download.
While you’re at it, check out some of Bill Mallonee’s new songs on his MySpace. Some good stuff if you like classic indie americana.
For those times when you need some jangly folk pop, Page France will be there for you. (Jangly? What the heck does that mean? Talk about a retarded use of adjectives.) Coming from Marryland, the group started with some different members but now consists of Michael Nau, Whitney McGraw, Bryan Martin, Jasen Reeder, and Chris Morris.
Michael Nau started Page France way back in the spring of 2004 with his friend Clinton Jones. From there, they have gone on to change the lineup, tour across the nation, and release four more records.
They’ve got mostly up-beat, fun songs with a folk sound, but they’re not straight-up folk artists by any definition. Their songs are rarely about sunshine on shoulders, amber waves of grain, or darling Corey. To be honest, I’m not sure what a lot of their songs really are about. On the music side of things, from time to time, the band will whip out some unusual instruments like trombones, various other horns, banjos, xylophones, and a glockenspiel.
The peep vacationing in Paris you see at the left has nothing to do with today’s artist Josh Clubb. I just can’t find any downloadable pictures of him anywhere on-line, so instead of a picture of Mr. Clubb you get a way more attractive picture of this nice yellow peep. You can go here to see other adventures this little guy has been on.
There’s very little on-line about Josh Clubb, but if you really need a photo of him, you can check one out at InAwe Music. He’s also got a nice bio and some free songs to download.
I found Josh Clubb one day a month or so ago by accident. I was looking for new worship music, trying to see what’s good out there, when I stumbled onto him. I downloaded his music and thought, “Not bad,” and now I’m hooked.
Two weeks ago, I began a segment I called “Intro to Indie Music” here at The Blah Blah. You can get a recap here if you missed it.
While that covered most of the characteristics that I believe need to be in indie music, today I offer to you “Intro to Indie Music - The Other List,” a tongue-in-cheek look at the indie side of music:
More Characteristics of Indie music
1. Depressing
2. Bizarre music
3. Annoying use of “alternative” sounds
4. Depressing
5. Questioning, doubt-filled lyrics
6. Depressing
7. Full beards for the guys
8. Fans are music snobs
9. Eccentric artists
10. Depressing
A Christian with balls? Can I say that? Of course I can!
Fun anecdote: Back when I was in college, I helped design some posters for the church I was involved with. For one of them, all I did was write “Leviticus 21:17-20. We’ve Got Balls” and then the church address and meeting times. Since you probably don’t know the reference, click here to read it. I apologize for any psychological damage, nightmares, or embarrassing wimpers that may result from reading the verses.
Anyway, we had a pretty split crowd regarding the poster. People either loved it or hated it.
People give the same reaction to Derek Webb. Either you love what he has to say or you hate it.
This isn’t Christian, but it is music news. Radiohead will be releasing their newest album In Rainbows totally free. Click here to download it beginning tomorrow. Pay whatever you want.
I can’t help but think this is the smartest thing for a band to do. Radiohead is gonna gain a ton more fans, and old fans will just love them that much more.
And it could signal the end of the record label. Who knows how exactly things will change, but I’ll be glad to see big label record companies be done with. I don’t have a personal vendetta against them, but I just think their end has come. They’re artificially holding onto market share they don’t deserve by heaving their weight in legal battles. This is a free market economy, where you adapt or you die. The Big Four have not adapted.
Alright, before I get too lost in apocalyptic rants about the end of the world and the deplorable state of mankind through the music industry, read an interesting analysis of the whole Radiohead situation here.
I have a two-year-old daughter who is crazy about Thomas the Tank Engine. When I put on a Rosie Thomas song the other day, she said, “Who’s this, Daddy?” I told her, “Rosie Thomas. I just found her.” She looked confused then continued on in our conversation with, “Thomas the Tank Engine? I like that.”
There you go. Rosie Thomas gets the Thomas the Tank Engine comparison from my daughter. I think that’s a good thing.
Here it is, the final day of “Intro to Indie Music.” So here they are again, for the last time, that wonderful list you’ve all grown to know and love…
Characteristics of Indie Music
1. It must be on an independent label (see here)
2. It’s about the music (see here)
3. Lo-fi good, over-production bad (see here)
4. A do-it-yourself attitude (see here)
5. Pushing musical boundaries (see here)
6. An anti-materialistic attitude (see here)
7. Social awareness and activism (see here)
8. The un-rockstar (see here)
9. A sense of community (see here)
And the final characteristic of indie music…
Welcome to Day 9 of “Intro to Indie Music!” As we near the end of this two-week segment looking at what exactly indie music is, I hope you’ve been having a fun time. I know I have.
Well, before you get all choked up that the series will be over soon, check out some of the recognition we’ve been getting here at The Blah Blah: The Man of Steel did a post on us here, Provocate quoted us here, and The Original Mud Puppy added us to their blogroll! Some day, I won’t be excited when we have three mentions of us in the real world, but that day has not yet come, so now I will be excited about it.
Alright, with that aside, on to the music!
Characteristics of Indie Music
1. It must be on an independent label (see here)
2. It’s about the music (see here)
3. Lo-fi good, over-production bad (see here)
4. A do-it-yourself attitude (see here)
5. Pushing musical boundaries (see here)
6. An anti-materialistic attitude (see here)
7. Social awareness and activism (see here)
8. The un-rockstar (see here)
And today…
9. A sense of community
On to Day 8 of “Intro to Indie Music!” Hope you enjoyed the guest post by Nahar Mama yesterday.
Anyway, what do we have so far?
Characteristics of Indie Music
1) It must be on an independent label (see here)
2) It’s about the music (see here)
3) Lo-fi good, over-production bad (see here)
4) A do-it-yourself attitude (see here)
5) Pushing musical boundaries (see here)
6) An anti-materialistic attitude (see here)
7) Social awareness and activism! (see here)
And today’s characteristic of indie music… The Un-rockstar!
[A Guest Post from Nahar Mama.]
Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out The Blah Blah’s series on indie music. I’m Jake’s wife, Jessie, and he has asked me to do the “lesson” for today.
Let me give you my quick personal history of indie music. I got into “indie” music back in high school (over 10 years ago) because I had friends who would make me mixed tapes (oh, yeah…remember those days??) of bands like The Promise Ring, Superchunk, Jimmy Eat World (back when they were indie), Sunny Day Real Estate, Cat Power, and so on. Before I met those who were so kind to do this for me, I’d stay up late and watch “Alternative Nation” on MTv just to hear Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, Frente!, and all those more popular, non-maintream bands. I had been so bored with music on the radio that these were welcome additions to my collection.
Welcome back to “Intro to Indie Music,” now on Day 6! Hope you enjoyed the links from Friday’s post (here). If you haven’t checked them out, make sure you do that.
This week will be week two of our introduction to indie music (Christian indie in particular), with Friday wrapping things up, so check back every day for more updates. If you’re just coming around, be sure to check out the previous posts. I think all of the MP3s are still available for download.
Alright I’m done stalling. Back to the list of what makes music “indie music!”
Characteristics of Indie Music
1) It must be on an independent label (see here)
2) It’s about the music (see here)
3) Lo-fi good, over-production bad (see here)
4) A do-it-yourself attitude (see here)
5) Pushing musical boundaries (see here)
and 6) An anti-materialistic attitude
