$5 Albums for September

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Amazon - 100 $5 albums for September. Some real gems as usual. Here's a list of my favorites. Check out all 100 at Amazon.

Music Monday 8.30.10

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Sarah Jaffe is my new, favorite discovery (found her via Filmspotting podcast). Here's the amazing song "Clementine." Jaffe's album, Suburban Nature, is only $5 through tomorrow. Don't miss it! It's really good.

Let this cover of Gillian Welch's "Everything Is Free" marinate. It's an artist concerned with being able to keep making art (lyrics | she explains). Beautiful rendition by Megafaun and The Tallest Man On Earth (has a $5 album through tomorrow). Original found on Gillian's album, Time (The Revelator).

GCM Conference - Austin in October

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Gcm-collective-conference-2010-adAustin has more to offer than good music. The GCM Collective Conference is coming October 28-30. You need to be there.

If you are unfamiliar, GCM stands for "Gospel Community Mission." From the website...

The GCM Collective exists to promote, create and equip Gospel Communities on Mission. A gospel community is a group of believers that lives out the mission of God together as family, in a specific area to a particular people group, by declaring and demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms.  Regular people, living ordinary lives, with great gospel intentionality.

GCM Collective's online community for discussion and sharing resources is quite helpful. Again, from the site...

Over a thousand missional leaders and thinkers are gathered together online to share insight, experiences, resources, prayer and more to help you in your effort to lead a local community on mission. Engage in meaningful conversations with others from around the world or who live near you.

But the conference is what I want to highlight. I'm going to be there. I want to encourage you to come. 

The list of speakers is solid. Ed Stetzer, Steve Timmis (author of Total Church), Jeff Vanderstelt & Caesar Kalinowski (Soma Communities), David Fairchild & Drew Goodmanson (Kaleo San Diego) and Jonathan Dodson (Austin City Life Church). 

I was in a breakout group with Vanderstelt and Kalinowski at Verge in February and it was some of the most thought provoking, encouraging stuff I've heard on practical, local church life. I was in a breakout with Timmis for an Acts 29 boot camp which was very helpful as well. And these aren't just thinkers, they are practitioners. We often go to conferences for big names giving big talks. GCM Conference is going to be very different, and I think transformational.

Jonathan Dodson recently posted "4 Reasons I'm Excited about GCM Conference." These are some of the same reasons I'm excited for this conference.

(1) Practioner-tested Missional Community Training
(2) Top Notch Theological Reflection on Mission
(3) The Collective Experience
(4) The Centrality of the Gospel in Mission

Go read Jonathan's post for more. And join us in Austin in October for the GCM Conference.

Music Monday 8.23.10

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  • BREAKING: Sufjan Stevens released a new EP and took everyone by surprise. All Delighted People is only $5 for 8 songs and it's epic. And all the people are truly delighted.

Damien Jurado sings "Arkansas" live. Love this song. His album, Saint Bartlett, is great as well.

Delta Spirit plays "Devil Knows You're Dead." Their album, History From Below, is easily one of my favorites of 2010.

Music Review - Matthew Smith: Watch The Rising Day

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Deluxe-edition-album-cover I first heard of Matthew Smith (Facebook and Twitter) as one voice in the Indelible Grace group of artists. His songs quickly became some of our favorites. There's something confident & encouraging in his voice. I got the pleasure of serving alongside him when Michael Spencer (iMonk) invited me to speak and Matthew to sing at his school in Kentucky a few years back. Matthew asked me to review his new album, Watch The Rising Day, and it was an easy "yes." 

Most of the album is Matthew reworking hymns long forgotten. And they are wonderful. He also includes his acoustic version of "In Christ Alone," a familiar hymn featuring Sandra McCracken and another mixed by Derek Webb. The song with Webb, "You Are The Light (Glitchy Sonar Mix)" is the opening song featuring Smith's voice and a, well, glitchy sound mix. :) It's fun. It's different. I dig it.

I'll be honest, I have a hard time making it through the album because I keep going back to re-listen to a song as it hits me and I'm meditating on the lyrics. Culprits: "I Have Seen The Lord" (listen here) and "Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven" (listen below). 

Smith has done well to create songs that can be used for public worship as well as private. There are songs that plumb the depths of our sinfulness & look to the cross and others that soar in view of our Savior. A good mix.

"Lord Jesus, Comfort Me (Communion Hymn) - slow & meditative

All the pain You have endured
All Your wounds, Your crown of thorn
Hands and feet with nails through bored
The reproach which You have borne
Your back, ploughed with deep furrows
Cross and grave and all Your sorrows
Your blood-sweat and agony
Oh Lord Jesus, comfort me

"I Need Thee Today" - upbeat, rocking

I need Thee, precious Jesus 
For I am full of sin 
My soul is dark and guilty 
My heart is dead within 
I need the cleansing fountain 
Where I can always flee 
The blood of Christ most precious 
The sinner’s perfect plea 

The album is wonderfully rich with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can listen to Watch The Rising Day streaming in full. I highly recommend you buy it and Matthew's other albums. His music is a staple in my devotional life, in our home and in our church. His music is so solid, with a wonderful mix of ancient and current, that I can't see why anyone wouldn't love it.

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BUY IT

Matthew created discount codes for Reformissionary readers...

steve = 25% off the Deluxe Edition CD + Download
steveLP = 10% off the Limited Edition Vinyl + Download

(Codes expire Monday, August 23rd)

Download Matthew's two previous full-length albums (All I Owe and The Road Sessions Collection) for $6.99 at http://matthewsmith.bandcamp.com.

Also check out Bob Kauflin's review at WorshipMatters.com.

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Listen to a new favorite of mine off the album, "Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven." I can't stop myself from singing (shouting!) the chorus. Turn it up!

Redeemed, restored, forgiven 
Through Jesus' precious blood 
Heirs of His home in heaven 
Oh, praise our pardoning God

Front Porch Hack

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HouseMissional thinkers/pastors often bemoan the loss of the front porch in neighborhood architecture. It used to be the place to relax after the work is done, sip tea, interact with our neighbors, etc. The back porch has become prominent, and it's where we hang in seclusion from our neighbors and do our own thing. 

Here's a "front porch" hack: Turn your garage into your "front porch." 

Drive down your suburban street sometime and notice how the garages are the most prominent feature on the homes. It's right out front. It's an ugly design. And when lumped in together with missing or minuscule front porches makes our homes seem missionally helpless. We can redeem that by hacking the garage to make it a place of neighborhood friendliness, fun and conversation. 

Three easy steps.

1. Clean It Out. Toss stuff in the trash. You don't need some of that stuff. Give stuff away. Find another place for it. Tidy up whatever you need to leave in there. Make as much space as possible. If you think you can't, you're wrong.

2. Fill It Up.  If you don't have one in there already, put in a fridge (even if only a college-sized one). Put yummy stuff in that fridge. Drinks, snacks, more drinks. Can't afford that, at least put cold stuff in a cooler. Then get a dart board, a bags set, iPod speakers/radio, chairs, basketball hoop, frisbee, or whatever you and others find fun. Keep the door wide open. Let the sound & fun bleed out into the neighborhood. Take the grill from the back porch and put it in the driveway.

3. Invite & Be Inviting. Start right after work. Wave at folks in as they drive home from work. Ask them over. Wave them over. Yell as they get out of their car, "Come on over!" Give them an special invite, if that's helpful. Offer them something to drink and ask about their day. Play a game. Stuff will happen naturally as neighbors feel welcome and stop by regularly.

Hard to get rained out (it's covered). You can do this regularly in most seasons as it's inside-ish (get a heater, fan, etc to stretch that time out). 

Don't just do this every so often. Make it a rhythm of family & neighborhood life. I think it will make for a nice front porch for your home, and a great way to share life with your neighbors.

Music Monday 8.9.10

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Music brain away

A new Arcade Fire record came out last week, and at this point it's a well-noted fact that it contains only a few scraps of the anthemic urgency for which the band, on its two previous albums, had become so well-loved. At the risk of coming off like One Of Those People Who Just Wishes They'd Make A Hundred Albums Like Funeral, I will admit: I missed the bombast, too. But only a little bit, and only until I realized what, exactly, was getting the band so worked up in those moments that they do, in fact, get so worked up. And then I just wished they'd never even bothered.

The Dead Weather played Letterman... 

I couldn't not post "Wake Up" from the Arcade Fire YouTube/Vevo/Madison Square Garden concert. So good. A song for our time...

Matthew Smith: "I Have Seen The Lord"

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Love the new Matthew Smith song, "I Have Seen The Lord," from his new album Watch the Rising Day. You can get the album for a Reformissionary discount, and download it immediately (not released for a couple of weeks yet). Go get Watch The Rising Day and listen to "I Have Seen The Lord" below...

Let worldly minds the world pursue, what are its charms to me?
Once I admired its trifles too, but grace has set me free
Its pleasures now no longer please, no more content afford
Far from my heart be joys like these now I have seen the Lord

As by the light of opening day the stars are all concealed
So earthly pleasures fade away when Jesus is revealed
Creatures no more divide my choice, I bid you all depart
His name and love and gracious Word have fixed my roving heart

Music Monday 8.2.10

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    Matt Stevens - acoustic/experimental/minimalist (MySpace)

    Matthew Smith - Pre-orders at http://matthewsmith.bandcamp.com. All pre-orders receive an immediate     full download of the record. The entire record is streaming for free there as well.

        Discount codes for Reformissionary readers (expires August 23rd)...

       steve = 25% off the Deluxe Edition CD + Download
steveLP = 10% off the Limited Edition Vinyl + Download

        Download versions of Matthew's two previous, excellent full-length albums (All I Owe & The Road         Sessions Collection) are on sale for $6.99, also at http://matthewsmith.bandcamp.com.

Caribou's great album, Swim (only $5.99), includes "Sun." Here's the video. It's weird.

1,000 $5 Albums for August

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Amazon's 1,000 albums for $5 through August. Many outstanding albums. Unless otherwise noted, X/100 scores are from MetaCritic. If 80/100 or better, considered "universal acclaim." 70/100 and above usually good chance at being solid, in my experience. If you want some specific direction as to your tastes or to stretch your tastes, comment below or email.

Jazz

Classical 

Things You Might Like, But Won't Admit

Music Monday 7.26.10

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Before you go stream Lost In The Trees (above), you might want to check out this video. Nice introduction to a band I'm suddenly VERY interested in. "Walk Around The Lake"...

If you haven't seen the new Avett Brothers official video for "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" (from I and Love and You) you are missing out. Thoughtful, artistic...

Music Monday 7.19.10

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Music please

The National play "Bloodbuzz Ohio" live. You should pick up their album, High Violet, is really great and only $6.99.

I've watched this (G20 flavored) video for Broken Social Scene's "Meet Me In The Basement" several times. Love it. Images, images, video, images. Check out BSS's new album, Forgiveness Rock Record.

The Candy Man

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My boy Jack (11) is Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka, the summer play here in beautiful Woodstock, Illinois. He gets to perform next weekend at the historic Woodstock Opera House. So that means this song has been play a bazillion times in my house recently. Here it is for you...

Music Review - Miranda Dodson: Change A Thing

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Miranda-home

Miranda Dodson is an Austin, TX singer/songwriter. I know of her music because she is the sister-in-law of Jonathan Dodson, pastor/planter of Austin City Life Church. I almost turned down the chance of getting a review copy of Change A Thing because I didn't want to risk not liking what Jonathan pointed me to. But I took a chance. And here we go.

I like a lot of music of various sorts. Plenty of it is by people with so-so voices. A lot of the best music out there is by singers that are pretty good but not great. I rarely hear a new album or artist and say, "Dude, that chick can sing!" This is one of those albums and one of those artists. But she also sets that voice in place and works the message. She doesn't show off. It's a tool. 

Miranda's voice is really interesting. She has power, range and control. It can sound full and rich. It can also sizzle a bit. In an email to her I said her voice has a "fizzy edge" to it. Something like Nelly Furtado's voice at times. She can also turn the fizz up for one song (like "Too Late") and fill her voice out a bit in another (like "Fly"). I hear some of my favorite sirens like Neko Case and Jenny Lewis too. No question about Patty Griffin as well, as you can see from Miranda's great cover of "Up To The Mountain."

Miranda writes her own stuff, but the songs aren't overly lyrical or streams of consciousness. So while I hear hints of Joanna Newsom in her voice, I find nothing of her vast storytelling. This isn't wordy. This isn't really story. This is snapshot. As I hear it, it's life meets God and captured in a moment. And the argument is brief, to the point. Someone like Newsom adds a million brush strokes. Dodson is taking pictures and tweaking how we feel about them through adding some musical black and white tones, or upping the saturation, or cropping in to less-noticed detail.

Track list & brief comment

Too Late - (video, video2) - Love it. Catchy, but not in typical ways. When the chorus soars a bit, I'm riding it.
Slow Motion - (video) - Slower song. Lovely. Thoughtful. Country flavored. Singing in boots & a hat as lovers cling to one another on beer-splattered hardwood.
Home - My favorite song, by far. I still haven't figured out exactly why yet. I think it might be how it starts acoustic & quiet and lets loose a bit at the chorus. I LOVE the chorus.

change isn’t gonna change a thing;
sold our souls a long time ago
tryin’ to get back, tryin’ to get back

where do we come from, and where
will we go from here where, along this road, did we lose our souls?

Sitting In Limbo - A Jimmy Cliff cover. Fun. Hammocks. Sweet tea. Still saying something.
Stone - Yikes. Slows down and hits you between the eyes. *Marriage.Not.Working.*
Prodigal - (video) - Great song. Wide appeal. Catchy, toe-tapping.

This lump in my throat grows larger and larger
It’s my pride, I know, and it’s getting harder,
I must have swallowed…I will wallow

It seems as though I’ve reached my destination,
no need to make your reservation
The seats are taken, save for one at the bottom

King - "This is no kingdom." Immediately appealing and enjoyable.
I Will Be Free - Love the Brandi Carlile flavor I hear in this one. Positive. Driving. Moving. Hopeful.
Fly - One of the most interesting tracks on the album. Structure harder to discern for me. Interesting sounds, strings. The melody follows the flight of the butterfly in the song. Beautiful.

you carry the rainbow on your wings,
you dance so I can hear your wings
you carry me like you carry thieves,
you carry hope like the Prince of Peace

Never Be The Same - Short. Contemplative. Simple. Not simplistic. 

I highly recommend and have been thoroughly enjoying Change A Thing. I hope you'll pick it up. 

Buy Miranda Dodson: Change A Thing

Music Monday 7.12.10

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Here's "Windstorm" from the new School of Seven Bells album Disconnect From Desire (link to stream above). Dig it. (Song only...)

Everything awesome about the Avett Brothers is found in this live Bonnaroo video: Gentle strums, soaring harmonies, gradual building melodies and a rocking out screamy ending. BOOM! "Laundry Room"...

Judging An Album By Its Cover

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Discovering good music is fun. I like to find music in a variety of ways, but it's nothing earth shattering. For the most part I read reviews and have trusted sources and sites.

But I've noticed something recently that isn't always true, but pert near. If you can appreciate an album cover as good art, you are more likely to enjoy the album as good art.

With this idea in mind I went over to check out the recently released albums at Amazon MP3. A screen cap of 5 are below. Which albums are going to be artistic? Which will "say something?" And which are more likely to tickle your ears for a minute maybe and then dissolve as something forgettable?

AMP3 Covers

I've checked out all five. The first is a soundtrack and isn't quite the same category as it uses movie art and the album is a score. The next three are pics of the artists in various forms. Juvenile is there to look tough-ish. Enrique Iglesias is there to look good for chicks and I guess Cascada is there to look good for men, though odds are it's chicks who will listen to her. Notice you get four faces (and some body on the fourth). But the album on the right is different.

5113nHzhFzL._SL500_AA280_ I haven't heard of Kathryn Williams or her album, The Quickening, until a few minutes ago. Her cover art caught my eye. The colors are odd, old, aged. There's both structure (lines and shapes) and busyness (clutter). I want to see what the bits and pieces are. Looking more closely we see it's a doll house. It seems worn, cheap, and as far as dolls are concerned, empty. What does that mean? The first albums try to convey something quick and seductive. "He's tough," or "She's hot." The final one is trying to tell me something. Trying to get beyond the heat of the moment and talk about something real, lasting, important. The first few tell me everything, which isn't that much. The last one only gives me the doorway for what I hope will be much more. I want to go there. If I try to be succinct, the first few appeal to "lust" (of one sort or another) and the last is about "life." 

After listening to samples from each of them learn that my impressions are correct. William's lyrics and music is artistic, rich, thought-provoking. The rest are nothing special. 

Looking into this album there's another interesting fact. This album was released in February in the UK. Check out the original cover. I don't feel at all weirded out being a dude and buying the album above. The doll house is odd enough that it doesn't seem girlish. But the original cover found through the link seems more like a real, modern day doll house. Less likely to pick up that album. Funny how it works, but that's my reaction.

Judging an album by it's cover doesn't always work, of course. But for the most part as a means of music discovery, I've been pretty pleased whenever I judge an album by its cover.