Music 8: Music for Lent

Of Man

Cool Hand Luke

(Experimental/Worship/Conceptual)

I'm not a dedicated fan of Cool Hand Luke, but I know they've been around for something like 10 years or more. I think they started out doing indie or emo with Christian themes. They've grown a lot over the years. I read that this is their final album as one of the members goes on to seminary.

Of Man is an incredible concept album. The 12 tracks take you through the steps of Jesus ministry years and death. The music is what you would expect from a concept album, and they waste no time on repetition if it's not necessary. Each instrumental section moves with the theme. The result is something like a modern rock lent mass.

The singer has no special traits, and doesn't boast a soaring, high pitched voice like many of my favorite bands do. However, he does sing with delicate mix of emotions, mostly those of betrayal, confusion, darkness; but touches on faithfulness and grace. The vocals actually very much match the movements of the instruments.

Suggested tracks are Goodbye, for Now, The Last Supper, and His Eyes (an incredibly powerful musical interpretation of the crucifixion), though I suggest that you listen to the whole album in one sitting with no distraction. This is an ALBUM album.

Check out Cool Hand Luke's myspace here.

Listen to "His Eyes" below.

Hunger & Thirst Tour

Two of my favorite bands, My Epic and So Long Forgotten, are currently on a tour of the MW with a few special conditions. The purpose of the tour is explained by Micah from So Long Forgotten in the video below.

From what I understand, they are fasting for 30 hours before every Saturday night's show, and asking us to do the same. We will send the money that we would have spent on food to them to distribute to World Vision, eventually ending up as food in the hands of the hungry.

The fast starts this afternoon and goes until early Saturday evening. If you have never fasted before, I encourage you to start with this. During your fast, be praying for those who don't have food and water, and also for the band as they spread this example across the MW during their tour. It is easier to come to God and pray when we are uncomfortable and weak.

The Hunger and Thirst Tour from so long forgotten on Vimeo.

Keith Green movie in the works

From Los Angeles Daily News:

Christian rock icon's widow enlists Hollywood to tell the musician's story

Nearly 30 years after Christian-rock pioneer Keith Green died in a plane crash, his widow and a Hollywood producer have teamed up to bring his story to the big screen in the hope of introducing a new generation to his music.

One of several Christian rock musicians who lived in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, Keith and his wife, Melody, wrote numerous hit songs, but also formed a seven-home community in Woodland Hills where they cared for people in need.

"The stuff he did was breaking all the rules," said Melody, now an author, composer and speaker who leads Last Days Ministries out of Kansas City, Mo.

"He showed up in flip-flops, blue jeans and suspenders and really kind of revolutionized the music industry by giving away his music for free, loving God, really loving people and telling Christians, `Hey, we've got to do what we say we believe."'

Full Article: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_15105172

Music 7: Page CXVI (FREE DL)

Hymns & Hymns II

Page CXVI

(Indie/Praise/Worship) FREE! ---->

Page CXVI is a worship band comprised of members of the indie band The Autumn Film. The Hymns album featured here includes many well known hymns put to different tempos, instruments, styles, and sometimes even melodies.

The music sounds a lot like what you might hear if Copeland did worship music. The vocalist is female and somehow sounds nearly identical to Aaron Marsh. Some of the renditions are very upbeat and can be replicated for an awesome worship service for your church. Downloads from their website include chord sheets.

For a limited time (only one week, I think), Page CXVI is giving away their first album for free, in celebration of their second album. Go to PageCXVI.com to download their music or order CDs.

If you like the first Hymns album, the second one only gets better.

Music Worth Checking Out #SIX (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Hymns
Anathallo
(Worship/Indie/Experimental) FREE!---->

Anathallo is an obscure and eclectic band of 8 multi-musicianary followers of Christ. Their two latest full-lengths--Floating World and Canopy Glow--are masterpieces of artistic songwriting, and I whole-heartedly recommend them to anyone who loves mostly soft, concept music that weaves a story through the whole album.

The Hymns album to the right is an EP release that the band recorded and sold for a homeless mission. The EP is out of print, but if you follow the link (below), courtesy of the band itself, you can download the album for free.

Link: the long way home - Free Anathallo Hymns Album

Songlist:
01. It is Well With My Soul
02. I Need Thee Every Hour
03. Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy
04. All Creatures of Our God and King
05. Before the Throne of God Above
06. Wondrous Love

"Before the Throne" is a personal favorite, and Anathallo's rendition is beautiful. Don't miss it!

"I will teach you to forgive one another"

This is a long-time favorite of mine.
Put it on fullscreen and open your heart.



(Audio: Some Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape by Underoath)
(Video: The Passion of the Christ directed by Mel Gibson)

Music Worth Checking Out #FIVE

Keith Green
1953-1982
Recording years 1976-1982
(Worship/Singer-songwriter/Lyrical)

I'm sure many of you have heard of mainstream contemporary Christian artists like Michael W. Smith, Rebecca St James, and Chris Tomlin, but it's doubtful the name Keith Green has ever come to mind when you think "CCM."

Keith Green arose from rough background, but eventually was born in Christ and started a local ministry with his wife for drug adicts, alcoholics, and prostitutes.

He released several albums in the 70's and early 80s under the "contemporary Christian" genre. However, it is hard to lable him thusly because many of his works contain far more talent and sincerity than the rush of commercialized CCM artists that followed him.

Suggested Tracks: Oh Lord You're Beautiful, There is a Redeemer, Easter Song
Listen for free here.

Music Worth Checking Out #FOUR

I Am Undone
My Epic
(Indie/Experimental/Dynamic/Worship/Prayerful)



Everything about this album makes my heart move. This is another album meant to be a whole rather than individual parts.

Track one is a prologue to the rest of the album. Soft strings and a rhodes carries on a simple pad while the band recites, "May it be the real I who speaks, May it be the real Thou that I speak to," from C.S. Lewis. It sets the stage and the mood as something mature, deeply personal, and with complete reverence to the Father.

"The Oil Press" connects the prologue to the "meat" of the album. Lead singer Aaron Stone sings "Where else would I go, with every mercy you have shown? I'm fearing this harvest I have sown. And my time is so short, so please make it yours."

"Lest We Die" speaks of every man's battle with with himself. The ending swells with "I did not pour out these tides or tell these planets to align. My breath could never give new life, so why am I so full of pride!" into a soaring instrumental climax.

"The Lover And The Thief" seems to be dedicated to a lost loved one. An emotional, pulsing rhythm tells of a boy's pain with losing someone he loved. The chorus comes in with a beautiful, heartbreaking atmospheric choir and he questions God's reasoning behind it all, "I don't think you're aware just how much this damages my faith." The second half of the song is the Father's glorious response. "I'm wrecking you to help you see: you're not who you should be ... She followed me, that's why you weep. It's me you need!"

"Perelandra" is an instrumental track that seems to be a continuation of the prior track, allowing you to contemplate on God. Bits of this track are used in 3 other tracks later on in the album, making this the "binding."

"You Know We All Love you" starts off heavy. "You'll paint this town black with the laws that you craft. Then turn it all red with the fires they set," speaking of His judgement to awful sinners. Then the chorus only happens once with a powerful message, "The fire's in your house! There's no time left to sort this out. All of us are guilty men, there is no line between us and them," speaking that we are all just as guilty. The heavy instrumental section repeats and ushers in a hard and sharp, "Fear! Fear and trembling, brothers!"

"Our Little Girl" is a complicated track. The CD booklet says it is based on a short story called "The Painting." My interpritation points to guilty burden of rushed infatuation, perhaps a man cheating on his wife and later trying to tell her. The song speaks of a fruit that's so tempting "it just wants to let go," but "it swells with a poison that used to be love." Then perhaps these lyrics describe the actions of lust "small betrayals and these orphaned deeds unattached to love." Then the consequence, "This will destroy you and I will stand like a stranger." The most poignant line in the song is: "so I lay in this bed beside your body, but miles of words and deeds lie in between. And should we brave that space to find each other, We'd have to meet the ghosts of our conceit." The song ends with a crashing breakdown, perhaps signifying that very burden.

"Men In Little Houses" is my favorite track. The song starts of heavy. The lyrics point to the ignorance of men at first, "modern man is so adept at skimming past the ocean's depths." Then my favorite riff in the whole album comes in with, "We can't feel the spinning underneath. This globe rotates and no one perceives." Then the best lines come in, "this is where we lie, someplace between the matter and the mystified ... what if all our lives are founded in the moments that escape our eyes? We are so small!"

"Communion" relates the relationship between men and God to lovers. A peaceful verse brings in a definate chorus, "I'm told that You hold all things, and without you that I'd cease to be." Afterwards, very beautiful lines bring in the title phrase of the album: "A cup, a candle, and this bread, a table for rememberence. The quiet awe of penitence, the still refrain of broken men." The music starts to pick up and then, "In this moment weakness speaks, I feel the weight of my being. For the moment you release the particles in everything. I am undone." This song makes me think of brokeness, and afterward having communion or meeting with Christ as he completely undoes you.

"You Became I" tells of man's drifting from God to other masters and idols. "I've been shifting my affection to whatever love may call my name." The chorus brings in, "All creation waits, aching for the day. There is no escape from what the author fates." The end starts to bring in some hope, "We've been living in shadows, soon exposed to the light..." Then after the song has seemed to have ended, a little voice brings, "fault will find us all in guilty lives, only mercy can a hope provide." He continues very softly with "return, repent before deep heaven falls upon our heads." Then a crashing riff comes in and repeats, representing the end.

Track 11 is untitled and simply labled "-". This is the most worshipful song on the album. A simple guitar line cradles words of humility and complete submission to the Father, "My God, I am not, but you are." The song ends powerfully with the same lines, giving God all of the glory.

Album lyrics at Bands on Fire.
Listen to the whole album on Myspace.

Music Worth Checking Out #THREE

I Am Living Vol. 1

Come&Live! Records

(Various Artists/Worship)

(Taken from Cross Rhythms)

"A RADICAL new Christian record label has been established in the USA. At the start of this year Chad Johnson left his position as head of A&R at Seattle's Tooth & Nail Records where he had discovered and developed Underoath, Anberlin and Mae to establish "missionary record label" Come&Live! Records. The label will depend on missionary-style fundraising for survival (artist and staff members will be raising their own support). Come&Live! will be giving 100 per cent of their profits to humanitarian and missions organizations and will package exclusively with recycled materials..."

The label's first sample collection I Am Living Vol. 1 is available for free download at their website (click the image). You will find a range of styles from indie to pop to electronic to hardcore, all within the context of worship. I downloaded this album and couldn't stop listening to it for days. -KG

Suggested tracks: "Awakening," "Sing," "Run to You"

Music Worth Checking Out #TWO

Travel

Future of Forestry

(Indie/Worship/Experimental/Prayerful)

Future of Forestry front man/songwriter Eric Owyoung has a unique passion and talent for melding worshipful, prayerful music with creative, and sometimes innovative works of art.

Their third album (and first in a 3 part Travel series) Travel stands out from from former album Twilight. Lyrically mature and sincere, musically spellbinding and enchanting; there's a diversity of instruments and style on this album that, when added to Eric's heartfelt and honest praise, really enables one to marvel at God, and worship him in a new but no less revering light. -KG

Suggested Tracks: Closer to Me and Halleluiah

Listen to the whole album on myspace.

Music Worth Checking Out #ONE

Things We Can See & Things We Cannot
So Long Forgotten
(Indie/Experimental/Conceptual/Prayerful)

I'll say this right away: This album is not for everybody. It's written and put together in such a way that it is meant to be listened to as a whole rather than individual pieces.

Singer/songwriter Micah Boyce's vocals and lyrics are artistic, intense, soulful, and incredibly subjectively objective. This is to say that he tends to be more passionate than some will be comfortable with. Nevertheless, there is a beauty and praise found in this album underneath it's sometimes painful honesty. When Micah screams "Yours was everything I could and could not see! Yours was everything!" things will start to come together, and your hair will stand on end. -KG

(The following taken from Bands On Fire.)

"Chad Johnson, the former head A&R at Tooth & Nail Records, who was responsible for introducing the world to Underoath, Anberlin and Mae, ... laid out a very bold, very blunt offer. Walk away from a lucrative record deal, and join his “Come&Live!” venture, a new record label where all the music is released through a free/pay what you want model.

While most bands would have slammed the door in Johnson’s face, and grabbed the biggest signing bonus possible, So Long Forgotten found the idea to be right in line with their mission. “Our band has always put servanthood first,” Micah says. “So many bands just exist to feed the Christian subculture monster. Instead of being a light in a dark place, Christianity becomes their genre. I think "Christian” is a much better noun than an adjective. Come&Live! pushes us to be ‘noun Christians.’ We’re not going to make a lot of money at this. It’s humbling, and it forces us to be out there where God can use this band.”

Album lyrics: here.
Free album download: here.