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I try to put a lot of independent artists up here on The Blah Blah, but today’s group is just about as far from that as you can get.
The problem is that I really do like a lot of mainstream bands as well as independent stuff. And when it comes to worship, there are a few really good independent worship groups that I know of, but there’s a lot more mainstream worship out there.
And when it comes to mainstream worship bands, Delirious? really needs to be included in a series called Worship Wars. As original innovators of the worship rock genre, they began what all worship bands after have tried to emulate in one form or another.
This article isn’t as old as the last one I posted, but it is from last August. Check out an interview with Robbie Seay Band on Wrecked for the Ordinary here. The band is one of my favorite worship groups, if you can call them that. Some of their songs are obviously in the worship category but others are just about life and God.
Anyway, the interview is pretty good, and I especially liked what Robbie had to say about art:
Music is part of art, and art is an expression. And we want to do that to the best of our ability. But also, art is provocative. A good painting should be provocative, and a good song should lead you to something else, tell you a story, push you in certain ways, offend you, or comfort you. I think that when we don’t do that, what’s the point? What’s the point of art that doesn’t move you in a certain way?
I play bass on my church worship team, and last night one of our worship leaders posed a question about what songs we would say are the quintessential praise and worship songs. He defined a praise song as one you’d clap to and a worship song as one you’d lift your hands to. I disagree with the distinction between praise and worship as such, because I don’t think it’s in the Bible, but I understood what he was asking.
Anyway, I named off a couple songs that might fit the bill and I realized that, for me, there has to be an experiential connection with the worship. I want to feel moved in some direction, in a real experiential sort of way. That’s what defines good worship to me - I’ve gotta feel something.
Sorry for the tiny photo to the left. It’s the only one I could find of Leonard Jones on-line.
Anyway… Leonard Jones is a worship leader from MorningStar Ministries (Rick Joyner’s church), and whether you really get into worship music or not, you gotta check him out.
Jones is an amazing musician, but what sets him apart is his ability to lead his group to jam on a song, changing tempos and rhythms, exploring all possible directions, and then coming back to the foundation, all going wherever God seems to be leading. When Leonard Jones does worship music, you can’t just sit back and think, “Oh, what a nice song.” You get ministered to, whether there’s singing going on or it’s just music.
I stumbled across this five-year-old article the other day that I thought was interesting enough to pass on. Perhaps you were on the ball five years ago and you read it way back then, but I was not.
So go read the article, and then come back and read my thoughts. (For the lazy or overly busy, the synopsis is that techno music wizard Andy Hunter discusses using techno music in a worship setting.)
Sorry for the late post today. I was up early this morning (1 am) filling in for a friend of mine on his paper route, so my life is a little off-kilter now. I’ve never done a route before, and I told him I could handle both of his so he and his wife could go to Florida for a few days. It’s a lot harder than I thought.
Anyway, let’s continue on with the Worship Wars!
I first heard today’s group, Merchant Band, play in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of a regional OneThing young adult conference put on by IHOP-KC. No, not the pancake IHOP, the prayer IHOP.
The band is awesome. Not amazingly new or anything, but just passionate worshipers who happen to also be solid musicians. They remind me of a fresher, younger Delirious? before they became an icon.
Moving on with another post in the Worship Wars…
You may never have heard of today’s artist, Aaron Strumpel, but some of you will be relieved to notice that his name looks a lot like that tasty breakfast delicacy, strudel. I don’t know about you, but it sure makes me feel better.
Aaron Strumpel is one of those worship guys that you should know. His songs are simple. They’re heartfelt. They’re real. And they’re catching on with the emergent guys, which means Aaron’s only gonna get more and more popular.
In my post on the David Crowder Band, Todd Fadel of Agents of Future left a comment in which he finished up by saying: “Does the concert context [of the worship music scene] put anyone else off?”
Man, what a way to end a comment. Does it seem weird to have fan clubs for worship leaders? Does it seem odd to use the same systems to promote worship music as to promote rock stars? Does it seem a little off that people go completely nuts for the newest CD by their favorite worship leader? Does it seem unusual to hold up a few select worship leaders as idols to pursue?
Short answer: yeah.
Welcome to the first post of Worship Wars!
I like to imagine the story that goes along with the picture to the left going a little something like this:
Bob Ross walks into his studio and flips on the normally subdued lighting, only to be blasted back in time by intense rock-star quality stage lights. He grabs the nearest keytar and lifts his hands in rage. “Where are my happy little trees?!” he bellows.
Then he wakes up sweating in bed, only to realize it was just a dream.
Bob Ross was the highlight of my childhood. That is possibly why any white man with an afro is a little closer to my heart. Perhaps this is the reason that David Crowder has, for a long time, been one of my favorite worship leaders.
While my head is still spinning (in good ways and bad) from a weekend retreat with our High School students, and my brain is still ticking through thoughts of pulling off a Christian indie festival in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, I thought it would be a good time to take a break from it all and talk about something much more calm.
Something easier. Something tamer.
Worship music. As far removed from Pete Townshend smashing his guitar on-stage with The Who as you can get (see pic). Right?
Wrong. Man, everybody’s got their opinions on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable when it comes to worship music. Some swear by hymns. Others complain if you do anything older than the late 90’s. Others just want instrumental stuff, while next to them are the guys who cry out that it can’t be worship without words. Some want everything on-key and beautifully arranged to usher in God’s presence, while others want their worship to be loud, sweaty, and raw.
Anyway, I’m gonna take a few posts (maybe a week or two) and talk about worship music, introduce you to some of my favorite worship bands, and even bring up some worship bands I don’t like who deserve recognition (cuz I’m nice like that).
I wasn’t gonna do a post at all today, since I’m sick with a cold and have a ton of work to do, but I wanted to put this out because it’s something I’ve been thinking about recently.
I live in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, located right between Madison and Milwaukee, and not a lot goes on here, so I’ve been thinking how it would be awesome to organize a Christian indie music festival, getting together a lot of the bands I’ve come into contact with through The Blah Blah and elsewhere.
I think I could easily get at least a dozen groups to perform, and I’m sure I could get more once the word spreads. We’d have cool workshops, your standard indie merchandise booths, food, etc.
I’m even thinking I might be able to raise enough money among local businesses and organizations to put it all on for free, or a least a reasonable cost.
The thing that’s holding me up right now is coming up with a cool name. The church I’m a part of here put on Godstock back about 10 years ago, but that gives a different feel than I’m going for. Tomfest out on the Pacific coast has a cool name. Pitchfork down in Chicago has a cool name. I’ll need a cool name here.
So, any artists out there who would want to come and perform or do workshops? Anybody have ideas for cool names? Anybody think they’d travel to Oconomowoc for a day or two of festivities?
Here it is, the much-coveted Don’t Break My Heart mix CD, now with songs you can download and listen to.
1. Steven Delopoulos - She Held My Hand
2. Bob Dylan - Girl from the North Country
3. Rosie Thomas - Say Hello
4. The Innocence Mission - Love That Boy
5. Destroy Nate Allen - Ambulance
6. Aaron Sprinkle - Really Something
7. Dave Thompson - Overboard Love Song
8. Michael Blair Project - Peace to You
9. Jesse Sprinkle - Sunsites
10. Bill Mallonee - Here Comes the Heartache
11. Don Peris - Catherine-Anne
12. Waterdeep - Diana
13. Fine China - Are You on Drugs?
14. Sufjan Stevens - The Mistress Witch from McClure
15. Relient K - Faking My Own Suicide
16. Ben and Bruno - New Friend
If you’ll allow me to chat a bit more, let me explain the story of the album and the songs it contains.
I got up an hour and a half ealier today to make a Valentine’s Day mix CD to post, filled with the ups and downs and inside-outs of love, the hopes, dreams, and fears that go with relationships, the triumphs and the heartaches. It was gonna be a masterpiece.
But after all my listening, sorting, ordering, and creating, I have nothing to post because Internet Explorer has decided not to let me upload files, for whatever reason.
I guess I’ll try again tomorrow, after Valentine’s Day is over and the mix CD will be pointless, but for now, here’s the track list:
1. Steven Delopoulos - She Held My Hand
2. Bob Dylan - Girl from the North Country
3. Rosie Thomas - Say Hello
4. The Innocence Mission - Love That Boy
5. Destroy Nate Allen - Ambulance
6. Aaron Sprinkle - Really Something
7. Dave Thompson - Overboard Love Song
8. Michael Blair Project - Peace to You
9. Jesse Sprinkle - Sunsites
10. Bill Mallonee - Here Comes the Heartache
11. Don Peris - Catherine-Anne
12. Waterdeep - Diana
13. Fine China - Are You on Drugs?
14. Sufjan Stevens - The Mistress Witch from McClure
15. Relient K - Faking My Own Suicide
16. Ben and Bruno - New Friend
As you can see, it was gonna be an amazing CD exploring love in all its dimensions, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to upload the songs. Come back then to check it out, and in the meantime, download the album cover above.
The Blah Blah - serving up the best in Christian music MP3s.
Peter Hicks is probably slightly better known for his work as the guitarist for Aradhna, a group that sings bhajan devotionals in a blend of eastern and western music. Think of them as doing worship music from India. It’s very cool stuff and I hope to own some of their CDs soon.
Peter Hicks’ solo album still has significant Indian influences in the sound, but it’s more subtle and probably easier for an American audience to get into.
It’s been a long time since I’ve mentioned them, so I figured today would be a great day to talk about emusic.com again.
I found these guys by chance about a year ago, and I couldn’t be happier. Well, yeah, I could be happier, but not in ways emusic can help with.
Seriously, if you’re like me, you’ve got an unexplainable distaste for iTunes. I think partly I just don’t like the popularity of iPods and iTunes, but mostly it’s the fact that it’s all proprietary technology. This past month or so, I’ve been helping an unusually high number of people put MP3s onto their MP3 players, and I’ve run into the “Oh, thanks, iTunes, for using a format no one else supports!” problem every time.
So with my dissatisfaction with iTunes growing by the day, it’s a good thing emusic.com is out there. In case you haven’t heard of them, they’re a great alternative to iTunes for most MP3s you’d want to download. They don’t have everything. They’re especially slim when it comes to mainstream popular music, but you don’t want that anyway. What they’re really good for is the rarer indie stuff.
The MP3s are all DRM-free, unlimited use and transfers, unlike iTunes, and, with one of their subscription plans, you can pay as little as 30 cents a song.
But wait! There’s more! Click here to get 50 free MP3 downloads just for trying the service. And when you’ve downloaded your 50 songs, you can either continue with them at $10 a month for 30 downloads or just cancel your account and you won’t be charged a thing. I did it and it really does work that easily!
When you sign up, they’ll try to get you to download their software but you can click that you don’t want to download it if you’re paranoid like me. The only disadvantage is that you’ll have to download MP3s one at a time instead of whole albums at once.
Another cool promotional thing they’re doing is that if you sign up and decide to keep your subscription with them, you can sign your friends up for subscriptions (and 50 free MP3s) and get 50 free downloads of your own when they join, which is why I want you to sign up.
I haven’t gotten any spam from them yet, and I’ve been using them for almost a year, so be sure to sign up!
I did a post about the alt-folk electronica band Synthar way back here, and shortly afterward, I interviewed frontman Johnny Bertram, which you can read here.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to the solo music of Bertram himself, without the band backing him up.
I can’t say much that I didn’t say about Synthar, because it’s very similar, just with less snazzy sounds and beats whirling around and no subtle sci-fi theme. Great lyrics all over again and solid musical backing.
Nate Allen (of Destroy Nate Allen) wanted to say thanks to everyone who voted for him in the Superbowl. And for those who didn’t vote for him… well, I don’t want to go there.
Go here to download all his songs for free.
I usually post music here that’s made by people who call themselves Christians, as far as I’m aware anyway. This isn’t because I think Christians make better music (I wish) or because I think Christians should never listen to music by non-Christians (I’d be sad) or because Christian music inherently has a better message every time (it doesn’t).
This is just because there are very few sites doing this. Few places exist that are exploring the indie side of music that Christians are making, so I decided to make one. I like to support Christian artists because I think they deserve attention from the world, and I think fellow Christians want to know they’re out there.
Eugene Francis Jnr makes no claims to being a Christian, but I just love his music, so I made an exception (here) and today I’m making another.
Well, now that the Christian Music Superbowl is done, it’s time for questions. Who do you think should have won?
I opened up the Superbowl to everybody, meaning that it essentially was a popularity contest, a race to gather more fans than the other artists competing. Let’s pretend it wasn’t a popularity contest and the winner was picked solely on merit - be it musical creativity, excellent song writing, devotion to their career, passion for God, impact in the world, or whatever - who most deserves the win?
I just watched this video yesterday over at The Original Mud Puppy, and I laughed so hard I had to pass it on to all of you. View the video here.
Man, I haven’t laughed this hard since Josh Clubb sent me his infamous threatening e-mail.
I just realized my post title sounds really weird. “Frenchmen in Rome Making You Smile.” Uh…
Anyway, I heard of the band Frenchmen in Rome not long ago, and I’ve been wanting to do a post for a while, but until now, the Christian Music Superbowl had been running my blogging life. With that over (hope you had fun, by the way. I loved it.), it’s time to get back into normalcy here at The Blah Blah with a post about Frenchmen in Rome.
Whew, long intro.
When I first listened to Frenchmen in Rome, I had mixed thoughts (not bad thoughts, just mixed). They didn’t catch me right away. After a few listens, though, I’m really getting into their upbeat mix of pop and electronic sounds. If you’re looking for a new band that will do their best to make you smile as you listen to them, give these guys a look.
Thanks, everyone, for voting for the Christian Music Superbowl I, and thanks to all the artists who participated! I had a lot of fun, and I hope you all did too.
After tallying all the votes, we have the final numbers right here:
Keith Green - 33
Over the Rhine - 39
Agents of Future - 51
Destroy Nate Allen - 61
Way to go, Nate Allen! Your prize package should be coming soon.
I’m really glad to see Nate win. I would have been happy if Agents had won. If Keith Green had won, I’d be a little dissapointed (but not too much… he is Keith Green after all). If Over the Rhine had won, I’d have cried. Not literally, but spiritually, which is even sadder. No, seriously, they’re great musicians and did an awesome job in the competition, but I’m glad to see Nate pummel them.
Thank you, everybody, for humoring me for the Superbowl, and hopefully next year’s will be even better. Leave your congratulations (for Nate, not for me) in the comments, and any suggestions on how to improve.
Official Links
Destroy Nate Allen MySpace
Download all Destroy Nate Allen’s songs for free
Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week
Welcome to the biggest event of your life - the first ever Christian Music Superbowl!
We’ve narrowed down from 60 amazing groups to reach the four you see here:
Destroy Nate Allen - Come to the Mountain (Download - Streaming)
Agents of Future - Sewn in My Skin (Download - Streaming)
Keith Green - Make My Life a Prayer to You (Download - Streaming)
Over the Rhine - Don’t Wait for Tom (Download - Streaming)
Here are the six matches to vote on:
1) Destroy Nate Allen vs. Agents of Future
2) Destroy Nate Allen vs. Keith Green
3) Destroy Nate Allen vs. Over the Rhine
4) Agents of Future vs. Keith Green
5) Agents of Future vs. Over the Rhine
6) Keith Green vs. Over the Rhine
All votes must be received in the comments by 9:00 pm CST today, February 3, 2008.
Official Links
Agents of Future MySpace Page
Get MP3s on their site
Destroy Nate Allen MySpace
Download all Destroy Nate Allen’s songs for free
Keith Green and Last Days Ministries Home Page
Buy Keith Green MP3s on iTunes
Buy Keith Green CDs on Amazon.com
Over the Rhine MySpace Page
Buy Over the Rhine MP3s on iTunes
Buy Over the Rhine CDs on Amazon.com
Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week
Voting for the first ever Christian Music Superbowl will begin tomorrow morning, but I wanted to give everyone a preview of who the final contestants will be.
The final epic battle on Superbowl Sunday will be between the following four stellar (first use of the word “stellar” at The Blah Blah) artists. You will see them listed below, along with witty descriptives which have nothing to do with the band other than that I think they are hilarious but they might just be retarded.
Over the Rhine (but not the hill)
Keith “No Compromise” Green
Destroy Nate “Votes for Himself” Allen
Agents of “We Have the Most ‘U’s in Our Name” Future
So be sure to come by tomorrow morning to vote on the final match. See you then!
I need to take a day off from the Superbowl with something easy and happy to post about.
If you haven’t heard of Eugene Francis Jnr from London, be sure to check him out today at his MySpace. He’s doing some really creative alt folk stuff that I think you’ll all enjoy. Mostly happy fun positive stuff.
While you’re at it, take a gander at a trippy, Gulliver’s Travels-influenced video of his first single “Poor Me” by clicking here.
And now, for the best part, he’s releasing his first full-length album in April, so be sure to get your hands on a copy of The Golden Beatle in a few months. I know I will.
