Today, I was logging my long run for the week (in the process of training for a marathon) when about 5 miles in I hit the runner’s high. My legs didn’t ache anymore, I was no longer hot, the landscape looked beautiful, and a Teen Daze remix of Tycho’s “Dive” came on. It couldn’t have been any better. To thank Teen Daze for helping that moment with his music, I thought I’d make a little playlist with some of my favorite remixes that he has done. Enjoy!!!
Yet another amazing new band added to Come&Live. It’s just so cool how they are connecting some amazing bands to people through music, and doing it for free. It’s so opposite of how the world works, and a great example of Christ’s love for the world. A selfless love.
Speaking of selfless love, is a band who loves to sing about it, and their name is Civil Parish. They are Jon, Micah, Cory, and Michael and they are from Orlando, Fl. The album is entitled Abolition’s Well, and it’s been bouncing around the Internet for a few months now on sites like Noisetrade and Come&Live. The album reminds me a little bit of Glorious Unseen and Chasen. Two bands I definitely love listening to.
One of my favorite tracks off the album is called “Beautiful Step”. It features some delayed guitar to kick off the song, and an infectious drum beat. It definitely has a nice feel to it. Especially with some high quality production. The band just sounds super tight, and with the addition of some strings and other elements really helps the song to take off.
The lyrics are also great, as the leader singer asks God to, “Teach me to dance , invite my soul, to this beautiful step.” It’s a nice reminder about how we need to constantly be asking God to lead us through life, as we so easily forgot, or lose track of him.
So check out Abolition’s Well for free right here.
Today I thought I’d post something a little different. I realize I had a category for hip-hop, but have yet to include some hip-hop in my site. Due to this I decided to scour the web for some solid, Christian hip-hop, and that’s exactly what I found.
Hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada, is Irregular. While new to holy hip-hop, he is definitely not new to hip-hop. Having appeared on various mixtapes for secular rappers like Hieroglyphics and E-40, and opening for the likes of Raekwon and Taleb Kweli. With this new found success, Irregular ended up falling to the traps of the world. Specifically with an addiction to drugs.
However, through the power of Christ, Irregular was able to turn is life around, becoming completely sober, getting involved in ministry, and then putting out a mixtape entitled irregular4Christ, and his first EP Merely a Glimpse.
The first single off the EP is available for free here. Carrying the same title as the EP “Merely a Glimpse”, is exactly that. A glimpse into who Irregular is. Featuring some great production including some electric guitar, and other live instruments, it’s definitely worth checking out.
The Los Angeles band The Daylights is made up of brothers Ran and Ricky Jackson, and drummer Svend Lerche. Touring like crazy with the likes of Katy Perry, Onerepublic, and Needtobreathe they have built quite a following. While they released their self-titled first album back in 2010 filled with some great songs, one of their true standouts is a song not included on the album.
Released as a single as well as part of the Cardboard EP, “I Hope This Gets To You” is an epic song. Beginning with some toy piano, the song has a wonderful build up through the chorus, adding layer after layer to a great melody. This song really showcases the bands songwriting abilities, and showcases how cinematic and over the top (in a good way) they can be.
With lyrics making it a simple love song, it is anything but that. With the singer pleading that his love can understand how he feels about her. I’m pretty sure she gets it. It’s good to let the loves of our loves know that we are stupid for them sometimes, even if they already know it (I love you baby! After 5 years you still make my heart skip a beat!)
So whether you are in love or looking for love, enjoy the track!
I was driving in my car today when I heard an old Dashboard Confessional song, when I was reminded about Further Seems Forever.
Serving as Chris Carrabba’s first band before blowing up as the acoustic Dashboard Confessional, Further Seems Forever was a great emo band. While the band has had three lead singers over three albums, I think one of their best albums was The Moon Is Down. It came out when Chris was part of the band, and was definitely a sign of how successfully he was going to become.
There’s been quite a bit of debate as to whether or not Further Seems Forever was a Christian band being as they played on Tooth and Nail Records, and there are certainly some Christian themes on many of their songs. Does having Christians in a band make it a Christian band? I’m not really sure, but it’s not going to stop me from listening to Further Seems Forever.
I found this acoustic rendition of the title track off the album today on Soundcloud, so enjoy!
A few years ago, I was listening to Ryan Adam’s album Heartbreaker, and thinking of how awesome it would be if someone made a worship album with an alt. country/folk feel.
Finally, my wish came true and I came across the album Wounded Healer by the Followers. They call their current brew of worship filled with acoustic guitars, steel strings, ect. neo-gospel, and I have to say it is a very fitting.
When listening to the track “Overwhelmed”, I can’t help but be reminded of Graham Parsons. It’s just has such an authentic, vintage feel to it. With some steel strings accenting the flowing acoustic guitar, taking us back to a day when song-writing was more about personal experiences then selling records. Reminding listeners that we all make mistakes, get lazy in our walks with God, and screw up, but Jesus is there to pick us back up as he overwhelms us with his undying long for us.
Do yourself a favor and pick up this album. Oh, I forgot to mention, it’s free here.
Last Saturday I was so stoked that one of my favorite bands came through Albuquerque, and I got a chance to enjoy it with my wife.
Beach House and Wild Nothing have been making their way through America, and thankfully Albuquerque ended up being one of their stops when the played at the Sunshine Theater.
Wild Nothing started off the evening, as we finally made our way through the day, and I was definitely impressed. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I thought Wild Nothing was a one-man show. Turned out he had a full band in tow, and played a lot of the new tunes that will be featured on the new Wild Nothing album that drops in August. If the show was any indicator, then we have a lot to look forward to when Nocturne comes out.
Later, Beach House came out. Not well light up, looking very vague and dreamy, much like their signature laid back beach pop sound. Alex Scally seemed mad genius as he played electric guitar while operating keyboard/laptop/couldn’t tell because I was so far away, as Victoria Legrand banged away on her organ and belted out all of their hits, and then some. It was very easy to lose yourself in the chilled out songs, as the band played for a good hour and a half.
One of the highlights for me was when they played “Myth” off their new album Bloom, and when “Irene” was played during the encore. All in all it was an amazing show, and I left with a much larger appreciation for the band and everything they do. Just the fact that they could effortlessly play all of the intricate songs they’ve written in the studios in a live setting was enough for me to be sold.
I know I am way behind the times, but I came across the Canadian dubstep duo Adventure Club a few months ago when checking out a playlist on indieshuffle. Turns out these guys have been putting the dubstep treatment to some great songs. Even better, they’ve been remixing everything from James Vincent McMorrow to Britney Spears.
What really caught my ear though was some remixes of some emo/post-hardcore/whatever you want to call it of two bands I’ve been listening to since college. That’s right, Brand New and Thrice. I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit skeptical when I saw which songs were remixed (Daisy and Broken Lungs). How could these songs be turned into dubstep?
Man am I glad I decided to download them and find out. These are two killer tracks, and even better you can download them for free right here. While they are definitely way far out from the original tracks, they hold their own, and show how talented of producers Adventure Club are.
Intentional Independent Inspiration 