Notes On A Revelation

Yeah, it’s kind of of that important. These are the songs that, for one reason or another, scored my sophomore year at college (including breaks). Just more proof that I have the best taste in the world (I can say that)! It’s pretty hefty. If you’re interested…here’s the full playlist…give it a skim through…

http://www.playlist.com/playlist/19710394123

Otherwise, here’s the written out list…(organized in no particular order than regular transitional flow)

1-The Crisis – Ennio Morricone (it plays at the close of the movie “Seven Pounds” and has stuck with me since…)

2-Royksopp Forever – Royksopp (It’s John Williams meets Stephen Barry…epic)

3-Dance – Newsboys (heard this live in January)

4-Live Life Loud – Hawk Nelson (thank you Jeff Meyers for this album)

5-Break Me Down – Tenth Avenue North (saw them live in January also)

6-With His Love/Sing Holy – David Phelps (old favorite from the radio that reared its awesome head)

7-Just Wanna Say – Israel Houghton (People are still sleeping on this guy…this is the ANTHEM)

8-Spark – Ten Shekel Shirt (yet another anthem that kept me motivated)

9-City On Our Knees – TobyMac (fresh)

10-The Adventure – Angels & Airwaves (I don’t always agree with their work, but this is passion to the max)

11-21 Guns – Green Day (not a fan of this band at all, but this. is. that. heat.)

12-True Faith – Anberlin (Anberlin rotates so much on the ipod…I could put anything here by them, though this is the most relevant to what I was experiencing)

13-Tidal Wave – Owl City w/Matt Theissen of Relient K (Yes, Fireflies was the jam, but this had much more meaning and staying power after I got the album)

14-God In Me – MaryMary w/Kierra Sheard (Great song. Lame video for it, but still one of the best cuts they’ve had.)

15-Higher -Karen Clark-Sheard, J. Moss, and J. Drew “JDS” Sheard (Finally got a hold of this unreleased track from Karen and J Moss…why this hasnt made an album I’ll never know…vintage stuff!)

16-No Santa – YPJ & Flesh Versus Christ (this song displays everything that I like about this group: Fresh vocals, creativity, and ability to cover subjects in Christianity most people shy away from. Also, a good sense of humor!)

17-I Am – Mary J. Blige (her new album was very disappointing, but not without a gem)

18-Summer Tongues – Anchor & Braille (I’m an Anberlin fan of course, so yes I would get the lead singer’s solo project…probably the sweetest romantic song I’ve ever heard.)

19-Lentil- Sia (I think she’s from Australia? anyway…very organic and soulful…heard it working at Publix last year, and it’s still been rolling)

20-Annie – Mat Kearney (Despite Greg Laswell being the new Mat Kearney, that doesn’t take anything away from the brilliance of “City of Black and White”)

21-Angela with Purple Bamboo – Bob James (This still isn’t getting old…it’s not too recent, but the whole Memoirs of a Geisha take on jazz is sleek)

22-This is the End/If You Want It – Relient K (this is really one song split into 2 tracks…”Forget and Not Slow Down” is like something Relient K wouldn’t do, which is why it’s so much better than anything they’ve done before…)

23-Stranger In Moscow – Michael Jackson (This has the feel of like a Keane track or something, at least lyrically…the late night walking song…)

24-So Long Lonesome – Explosions In The Sky (pure lush, instrumental melodies…been playing this a lot since spring)

25-You Only Live Twice – Ian Rich Orchestra (classical cover of the James Bond theme in a grand fashion)

26-Everybody Knows – John Legend (He always puts out a decent song every once in a while…this one was on repeat on all those car rides to and from SAU)

27-All The Right Moves – OneRepublic (I feel like I wrote this song by now…so relatable…everybody can’t feel this one…)

28-Marquee – Greg Laswell (soft romantic song…probably how I’m going to feel if I ever do get into a relationship)

29-Love of an Orchestra – Noah and the Whale (classical folk! look this up on youtube…there’s a sweet video for it)

30-Teach Me – Kierra Sheard (pretty much describes my relationship with God currently)

31-I’m Not Who I Was – Brandon Heath (Heath is like almost Mat Kearney, but not as good…close, though…)

32-Good – Karen Clark-Sheard (I hope I’m not the only one who thinks “All In One” might be the best Gospel album to come out this year…)

33-Climbed Mountain – Uyama Hiroto (Japanese artsy jazz trip hop amazing music that this guy made in collaboration with Nujabes)

34-Atoll Moao – Nujabes (This basicially gave birth to Uyama and the other artzy music like this cioming out of Japan…one of favorite producers hands down…he passed away in February…)

35-For You – Coldplay (Between my own listening, and Publix Radio, I heard Viva La Vida so many times I couldn’t bump it this year…started playing their B-Sides and found this piece)

36-My Hands – Leona Lewis (Despite the awful album cover, this was a solid album)

37-A New Jam – Tommy Sims w/Shannon Sanders (Tommy Sims is one of the best producers of all time. OF ALL TIME!! Google the guy. He put out a solo project that I just got onto. Very soulful, definitely has that old school vibe…)

38-One Afternoon We Mapped The World – Joy Williams (Haven’t heard from her since 2005…apparently she’s doing more of a singer songwriter thing these days than the straight CCM route. I’m not hating it.)

39-Don’t Waste Your Life – Lecrae w/Cam & Dwayne Trumf (Not heavy into Christian Rap, but this is guy one of the best.)

40-Praise You Forever – Marvin Sapp (Not a huge fan of his live albums, but this rocks! Literally. Way to switch the style up. In fact, it smacks of Coldplay’s “Clocks” quite a bit while staying original.)

41-Mistakes – Marvin Winans Jr. (I fully understand how this got slept on since his album was weak, but what a passionate testimony…)

42-No More – J. Moss (So “Just James” didn’t cover any new ground with J, but hey, maybe that’s what we all like about him. This is that heat for the streets…assuming those streets are Christian lol.)

43-Take My Hand – Shawn McDonald (So whoever missed it when this guy gave a concert on our campus should slap themselves, because it was a true blessing. Been bumping this since…)

44-Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime – The Korgis (Is this a love song or an anthem for change? I’d like to think the latter. Gotta love the 80s.)

45-Whatever It Takes – Michael Buble w/Ron Sexsmith -yes that’s his real name- (Buble! They even play this guy at KRs on campus, so you can’t hate…or maybe you can…anyway…Crazy Love was/is one of the most solid albums to come out this year. Just ask your mom.)

46-It’s A Shame – OneRepublic (apparently this was one of the band’s first demos. Who wouldn’t get signed on this? It’s on the deluxe edition of “Waking Up”.)

47-Photograph – Astrud Gilberto (I know this is way before my time, and in a language I don’t understand, but it’s what I was humming all Christmas break-so there!)

48-Comes and Goes In Waves – Greg Laswell (A fairly motivational song that still looks on the rough side of things…instant classic…shout out to Jeff Meyers again for this one.)

49-Transatlanticism – Death Cab For Cutie (I know this is a 2003 cut, but I’ve never been a fan of this band, and I’m still not a fan. However, the introspection in this track that takes 8 minutes to culminate is definitely worth it, and on par with some of Coldplay’s stuff even.

50-The Frame – Oceansize (Another one of those iffy bands with super long tracks…this one is 10 minutes long. Mostly instrumental, but with lyrics of introspection and rebuilding.)

51-I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight – U2 (I almost forgot about this one…but it always gets me hype…I’ve barely gotten into U2, but I’d say this song is a good enough reason. “Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear?” Yes, Bono. It definitely does.)

No, I’m not about to tell you some dirt I found out about this band (I know that’s the thing nowadays…there are blogs fully devoted to that). No I was reading album reviews for a bit, and came across an interview done with the lead singer of Casting Crowns.

“Musically, our goal is not to split atoms or break new ground. There are plenty of people to do that. Being that I’m also a youth pastor, the music is the plate the meat is served on. So when we’re figuring out what we’re going to say, we’re trying to create a musical atmosphere that doesn’t detract from the message. I think there are plenty of great lyrics out there, but the song draws so much attention to itself that the message gets lost.” -- Mark Hall of Casting Crowns

So at least now I know they know they’re only focusing on the lyrics. The first album was solid. Second one was pretty good…Third one was more of the same…Until The World Hears is about 4 times too much. Don’t get me wrong, there are several song I like from this band, and all of them are very rich with a spiritual message…but the sound wears thin very easily. If go to your first album and it sounds exactly like your 4th…that’s kind of a problem. I’m just saying this from a musical standpoint and as a lover of the tool God gave us to glorify Him…it’s okay to be creative. Why does everyone seem to think if we sing to the Lord a new song, we’re overdoing it, or people aren’t going to get the message, and God won’t be pleased? (That’s an entirely different blog, so I’ll save it.) I do applaud them for making ministry their focus though…I hate it when Christian artists think watering down their message will get the secular world to come to Christ. So, two points for them, but at the same time…I hope my roommate bumps some of these other records I’ve got instead of Lifesong!

One of the better ones of off the last record:

This is the best video of ALL TIME! OF ALL TIME! Well, it’s really happy and I like it. So there.

So this is my new song now, and I just found the video for it which makes me very happy. It’s pretty much a given that I’m going to crank this up in the dorm at some point(s). I’ll post again later tonight and give you an update on everything else.

This is my song of course, but they could have made a more cohesive video. Way too many cameos of random people. Probably the only song I like right now with heavy amounts of Auto Tune.

“And the sign said long haired freaky people…need not apply….” Good stuff. Also, don’t be a racist…or else.

This is something I did for fun with quotes from the movie “There Will Be Blood”. It is also jazz, breakbeat, and techno. DOWNLOAD it cause I SAY SO.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/8/9/2042493/Bloody%20Milkshakes.mp3

I am thoroughly impressed by this guy’s music…He has some free mini albums on his myspace of some of his work if you enjoy it as much as I do, also some more mash-up videos on youtube. This is excellent!

This is just a short post. It’s interesting what type of music a person likes generally says about the kind of person you are. Just went through my sister’s mp3 player. A lot of nonsense on there, mainly general pop and club hits from the past 4 years with the occasional feel good rock or r&b song thrown in (ran into a lot of Michael Jackson and Kanye West on here). Basically a load of bull. Then I thought about what’s on mine (well, now I’ve been putting full albums on there, so that kind of muddles with this logic) But I have a lot of thinking music on there. As in classical, jazz (non sensual), singer-songwriter types, conscious hip-hop, songs about relationships (love lost, love won, back and forth situations, etc.), autobiographical lyrics, along with a handful of songs I like simply because of their potential to be sampled really well. The Christian music also reels of journeying up and down in relationship with God. Well, I dunno. I know I live and breathe real life (sort of), so I like songs that describe real life and junk that I relate to. A lot of this other bull floating around just to get it hype on the dance floor, seems to be nothing other than that. (I like to get hype myself, but within reason and for a reason.) I dunno. What do you do listen to (as a whole…genres, subject matter that interests you, artists, etc.), why do you like it, and how do you think it connects with your mindset or your way of thinking? Don’t all comment at once.

Stephen

Hands down the best song ever. Seriously. Okay…maybe not so much. By a 1970s Christian pop band named Sonseed.