It’s been over a year (with the exception of a brief Lenten suggestion) since i’ve given a music monday recommendation. And since this monday is Halloween you might think i would suggest something like this or like this but that’s not what i’ve been listening to lately.
Somebody actually posted this album cover on instagram and i decided to take a listen, i’m glad i did. I’ve been listening to it all week. A few of the song are stellar the rest is solid. Make sure you listen to this one…
Every once in awhile I run across an album or artist I just can’t stop listening to, Ben Rector is that fellow! I picked up his free sampler on Noise Trade a few weeks back. Since then I have went out and got everything he’s every done! Including his new album, Into The Morning, that just release this February. SO GOOD!
This is the current song that’s on repeat (from his new album).
Heart Break
“ I don’t have answers and neither do you.
I know the pain of a heartbreak.
It isn’t easy, it isn’t clear and you don’t need Jesus until you’re here. When confusion and the doubts you have up and walk away, they walk away, when a heart breaks.
I don’t know, i really resonate with that. It’s prophetic lines like this that make me ponder life and reflect on the heartbreak of life, the moments when all has gone south and the ones you wanted to love you the most say your not welcome any longer. The times when all you can see is the darkness around you, the closed doors in front of you, and the bad news that isn’t far behind you. I know the pain of a heartbreak! And it’s true, we all too often don’t need Jesus until you find yourself here, in despair. If only we would rely on Him more, in the good and bad.
But pondering despair and heartbreak reminds me that there is hope and his name is Jesus. And that really, I always need him.
So yea, I LOVE IT!
Ben is pretty poppy most of the time. One of those singer songwriters who appeals to the college crowd quite a bit. But he has some great faith thoughts weaved into his tunes and just great music in general! YOU MUST check out his stuff! I think I like his last album a tad bit more then his new one but they are both stellar! Both are much better then his first.
My favorite songs of his comes from his sophomore release, Songs That Duke Wrote and the song is entitled The Kill, check it out! The song slays me every time! (it’s the the first song he plays on this video)
(and here is the CD version – SO GOOD!!!)
So go buy ALL of Ben’s stuff today!
You won’t regret it!
Well it’s the first Monday of 09 so i thought i needed to start the year out strong!
In 2 ways…
#1. i needed to start 09 strong by actually posting some tunes on the first monday of the year.
The goal is to do music monday EVERY monday. That doesn’t always happen but so far it has happened every monday of this year, starting strong!
#2. I needed to start 09 strong by posting some thoughts on some STRONG / Stellar tunes!
Bon Iver qualifies!
I have been listening to this guy on repeats for months and months now. So many of you probably know his stuff and love it as much as i but for those of you that don’t, DROP EVERYTHING right now and click on one of the links below or watch one of the videos, it will rip your face off!
And he is coming out with a new CD this month would will probably be amazing!
I am really looking forward to hearing it!
Just great tunes. For me these are songs that get my mind running and just really connect on a deep and profound level. I would say something about the SOUL but who knows what that is. But Bon Iver’s music really does resonate somewhere deep inside though. @ with least me.
NASHVILLE!!! I have lived in California for the past 2+ years but before that I live in Nashville! I loved Nashville and have missed her ever since I moved to California. Now of course, California, specifically Southern California had some perk, mainly The Beach! But I missed Nashville.
About 2 weeks ago as I was in a truck I pop this CD in for a very particular purpose. That purpose was that I was getting close. I could almost see it, I could almost hear it, I could almost feel it on the horizon. What you ask… NASHVILLE!
I have previously announced on my blog but I thought I would drop the note here on Music Monday to make it offical. I am in Nashville and this is just about the most perfect Nashville CD I could think of.
Josh Rouse is a great artist, writes amazing song and he too used to live in Nashville. Until he met some hot Spanish number and moved to Spain (how cool is that). This CD, entitled Nashville was his going about present to the city he had lived in for many years.
Nashville actually isn’t my favorite CD of his but it’s a close second. If you have never listen to Josh pick up 1972, LOVE IT! But really any of his stuff will do, he’s good!
He also has some tunes he put together with his girlfriend / baby’s momma. It’s called, She’s Spanish, I’m American. Clever eh’.
I heard of The Daylights long before I actually heard The Daylights. These guys live in L.A. but before their move to L.A. were apart of Nashville’s music and social scene. When I moved to Nashville just about all the people I wound up friends with were good friends with Ricky and Rand Jackson, the brothers who make up 2/3 of The Daylights. These two guys were actually in the bible study I was in but they left for L.A. just before I arrived in Nashville.
So after hearing about these guys for so long I finally picked up their first EP, Shift and Blur and loved it! I still keep the CD in my car and listen to it frequently.
Their song Outsider is a great radio hit that hasn’t quite made it onto the radio yet. But my favorite song of theirs is If Words Were Bullets, it’s not quite as epic at Outsiders but I just love the lyrical content, it’s just stellar!
They are the topic of this weeks Music Monday because I just got a hold of their most recent EP Sans Radio. It really good, I don’t think I like it as much as Shift and Blur but it’s still really really good.
The word on the street awhile back was that these guys signed a record deal with Columbia (I think) but they were kinda buried by some other stuff Columbia was putting out. Nashville Rumors… I’m not sure about their signature status but I do know this little 4 song EP just came out not to long ago and it’s worth the purchase. But buy shift and blur first, it’s GOOD!
And keep track of their myspace. These guys put news songs up ALL the time. It’s always cool to hear stuff before it hits the streets, these guys let you do it!
And if you want to go hunting, these guys were apart of a worship album that was made a few years back. Not quite rock & roll but it’s interesting to me to know guys like this have done stuff like that. The name of the worship album is The Worship Room.
Well I was going to tell you all about Bon Iver today (his stuff is stellar, you should check him out) but then I ran across an old friend of mine, THE Laurianne Cates. She released an EP last month entitled Something Real and it’s for real! For really good that is.
Laurianne or LA as some people call her (I thought that was her real name for like a month when I lived in Nashville) is a great song writer and those skills shine on this little 5 song EP.
Everything Right is that song that when you hear the chorus you just can’t help but to sing along. I went to a show Laurianne did at Christopher’s Pizza in Nashville and I just remember when she hit that Chorus for the second time the whole place was singing along. It’s always cool when a song kinda sucks the entire crowd in and you can look around and everybody is singing. I think if I were a musician (I wish) that is how I would know I wrote a good tune.
And I remember sitting in her living room with a bunch of friends. She had just written the song Louder. I was asking some questions about song writing, being a wanna be song writer. I remember Laurianne being very gracious and grabbing her guitar, she started playing this song, explaining to me the build, the hook, the chorus structure and some of that other musician stuff. I remember it as a very cool experience from my Nashville days.
She kinda has the genes for this whole singer / songwriter thing. Her brother Chad, is also a song writer. He has written on tons of Christian stuff that you probably have heard. Bebo Norman, Casting Crown, and more. Chad was in my bible study in Nashville, I miss those days. Her brother Jesse is also a songwriter based in LA. He has written some tunes for the Back Street Boys and other stuff like that.
SO yea, it’s in the genes.
You can grab Laurianne’s EP on iTunes or on eMusic. Wherever you get it just make sure you get it. You’ll enjoy it, promise!
Here is her Myspace link, you can preview some of her tunes before you go BUY IT! And if you can somehow get ahold of her old EP, DO IT. It’s also really good. Songs like Anybody and my favorite, Back in June are really good as well.
Here is a link to an interview she did with her church. She answers some question about the music bizz and talks a bit about her heart. Good stuff!
Today’s music Monday features probably my favorite musician, Griffin House. I read a review that compared Griffin to a mix of Dylan & Bono. I ‘m not sure about all that, that’s a lot to live up to, but I am sure that his music is great.
// Story…
I first ran into Griffin when a friend of mine told me that she had a musician friend who she went to school with at Miami of Ohio and that I just had to check out his stuff. I was skeptical so I didn’t bother until she finally burned me mix CD with a couple of his tunes on it. I didn’t really listen to it much, here and there and it was solid but his stuff didn’t really suck me in. Fast forward a year or so… After having developed a minor crush on said girl I ran across this musician friend of hers, Griffin House, in Best Buy. I thought it was interesting that his CD was for sale at Best Buy so I picked it up. It was his CD entitled Lost and Found, I couldn’t stop listening to it! I still listen to it all the time actually, I’m listening to it right now!. It wasn’t to long after I picked up the CD that Griffin was opening for Over the Rhine (another great band) in Chicago. I happened to be at home in Freeport, IL that weekend and found out that this girl was in Chicago and would be attending the show. It was official, I was going!
The short story is… I got tickets to the later of 2 shows, she had tickets to the earlier of the shows. Come to find out Griffin was interested in the same girl. I didn’t have a chance. I hung out with the girl after the show, which is where I met Griffin for the first time. She assured me she wasn’t interested in him. They later went to date or something. I don’t know the whole story but i think it included a ring???
Anyway, that’s my Griffin House story. After I moved to Nashville I found out a lot of the people I became friends with were also friends with Griffin. Some of my friends out here in California also know him from College. It’s a small world!
But you should check out his stuff, it’s really really good! His most recent CD is Flying Upside Down. It’s a great CD, songs like I Remember and The Guy That Says Goodbye To You Is Out of His Mind are classics!
My favorite CD of his is still Lost & Found. It’s simple, classic, and great. Probably my favorite of all his songs is the song Liberty Line which is on this CD. But songs like Amsterdam, New Day, Waterfall, Tell Me a Lie… all so good.
Another interesting and thought provoking song by Griffin is the song Judas. It’s on his first CD Upland but it talks about the fact that someone had to be Judas. I know Griffin is a spiritual guy, I think he’s a Christian. Last time I talked to him at the coffee shop he was reading The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. But yea, this is also a good song.
Here is a little youtube action as wells as his myspace link, check it out!
Here is an artist that you probably all know and love, Jon Foreman — lead singer for the band Switchfoot. And I think most everybody is aware that he is doing some solo stuff these day. If your not, you are now and you should know his stuff is amazing!
Jon does the broken down, more acoustic feel on these EP’s but they are just really solid. Many to most of the lyrics come right from the scripture and give tons of insight and encouragement.
I have a few favorites but topping the list would probably be the song Your Love Is Strong. It’s the Lord’s prayer with some legs. It rips my face off every time I listen to it, I love it!
A few other favorites would be; White at snow, The cure for pain, Learning to Die, Deep in your eyes… among others.
Story // I live in Southern California, the home of Jon Foreman and Swithfoot. I found out soon after I moved here and started attending North Coast Calvary Chapel that the pastor Mark Foreman was the father of Jon and Tim Foreman, 2 of the guys who play in Switchfoot. I though that was cool but it became real cool when the whole band came and did an acoustic show at Church a few weeks ago, it was a great show and Jon played Your Love is Strong for the encore, loved it! A little pirk of having a rockstar pastor with rockstar kids!
Fact // I was talking to Joy Williams at a deal a while back and she was telling me the Jon Foreman writes a song a day. To keep his art fresh and tools sharp. That’s pretty prolific. I would love to hear some of that stuff.
For those of you who might be a bit curious about what’s to come i will give you a hint… Check out my VIRB account.
On my VIBR account, if you scroll to down to about the center of my profile you will see a few boxes that let you know what i am listening to.
// PEOPLE I LIKE: If you click on this link it will take you to a page that shows my top artist, the one’s i have listened to the most.
TOP 5: #1. Sufjan Stevens, #2. William Fitzsimmons, #3. Griffen House #4. Phil Wickham #5. Jon Foreman — hint: next week)
// RECENT TUNES: This is the stuff i have been listening to today. Can you say DAVE BARNES!
// REPEAT: These are the songs i have been listening to the most recently.
Some Sailor Sequence, Paper Route & Jon Forman make up the top of this list.
// TOP FIVE FAVORITE ALBUMS OF RIGHT NOW
This category is pretty self explanatory and pretty much the same as my favorite songs with the addition of some Iron & Wine (LOVE ME SOME SAMMY).
So there is some extra music info. I hope you check out my VIRB, it’s pretty sweet! And i hope you check out some of my musical favorites. You won’t be sorry.
And like i said, i will feature a lot of these tunes so say “TUNED” for next weeks music monday.
(Sorry for the pun! i know, it was pretty bad! Forgive me.)
Somebody actually posted this album cover on instagram and i decided to take a listen, i’m glad i did. I’ve been listening to it all week. A few of the song are stellar the rest is solid. Make sure you listen to this one…
