Check out two new Arcade Fire songs, "Speaking in Tongues" and "Culture War" (via). These will be on a reissue of The Suburbs coming in August. By the way, The Suburbs & the rest of Arcade Fire's albums are $5 right now.
The new album from Low, C'mon, is outstanding. One of my favorites of 2011 so far. I keep going back to it. Here's their Tiny Desk Concert that showcases their talent well...
Some highly anticipated new albums streaming for free right now...
The Antlers had my favorite album of 2009, Hospice. Their new album, Burst Apart, is out and getting great reviews. Live in Studio A they play "Parentheses." Love this song...
Sojourn Music is putting out some of the most creative and theological worship music around. It's always one of my first recommendations for folks looking for worship music. Now you can get their last three albums for just $15 in their The World Didn't End Sale. If you don't have them, you need to get them now. The sale may not last long. Or buy any of their albums individually for $6 each, including the newer albums or their earlier releases like Before the Throne (song "We Are Listening" is outstanding) and These Things I Remember.
Don't miss this sale!
I really enjoy everything from Silversun Pickups. Their album, Carnavas, is $3.99 today only. Their other albums, Pikul & Swoon, are only $5 right now. They will remind you of Smashing Pumpkins a bit. Enjoy!
One of my favorite new bands, composed of three young singers from separate bands, is Middle Brother. Their new Daytrotter Session is a double -- 8 free songs. Enjoy! You should also pick up their excellent, self-titled album.
From Summer Wakes the Bear Who Sleeps by Chicago church planter Aaron Youngren, in the chapter "Exposition: Thoughts on Modern Fundamentalism"...
The strangest modern dogma is found in these four words: "I could be wrong."
[...]
How pitiable the 21st Centry martyr, who is stoned to death with nothing to say, but, "Behold! I believe that I see what my experience leads me to think is the opening of things that some call heaven, and what our theologians call the Son of Man, who seems to be standing at the right hand of what, in the Christian worldview, is commonly called God. I could be wrong."
Bob Boilen at NPR Music has been a worthy guide to good music for me for years now. So when he said today that King Creosote and John Hopkins: Diamond Mine is the best album of 2011 so far, I had to listen. I'm listening now and very much enjoying it. It's quite magical. Go stream it in full before the May 24 release.
From Boilen...
If the year ended right now, I'd know my favorite record of 2011. Out May 24, Diamond Mine does what audio does best: It takes me far from the here-and-now.
This labor of love, seven years in the making, opens on a café terrace in a Scottish town. Jon Hopkins sets his field recordings, rich in regional accents and casual conversation, against a lovely, spare piano. It's a few minutes before these soundscapes give way to the quivering vocals of King Creosote, at which point the scope of this collaboration becomes clear. This is storytelling through sounds and with song — bring your own pictures.
Creosote, a.k.a. Kenny Anderson, and Jon Hopkins describe this unusual record as the "soundtrack to a romanticized version of a life lived in a Scottish coastal village." Hopkins is a sharp musician: Electronics are his tools, dance music is how he fills nightclubs and textures are how he fills songs. Creosote is a prolific songwriter based in Crail, a small fishing village in the northeast of Fife, Scotland.
There's acoustic guitar and melodic-yet-ambient accordion holding these tunes together. The words to the songs seem to reflect big dreams — perhaps unfulfilled — set against the wonders of the everyday. This is a record for your late night or your quiet Sunday. Put it on when you when you need calm or you're prepared for a mental journey, and be grateful that in a fast-paced world, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins stopped and took their time.
New song from Bon Iver, "Calgary"...
Here are a few soon-to-be-released albums streaming free I think are worth checking out.
Okkervil River's new album, I Am Very Far, is quickly becoming a 2011 favorite of mine. Their past albums are all $5, and all worth having. It's some of my favorite music. Here they are playing Letterman with "Rider"...
New edition of Christianity Explored (follow on Facebook | Twitter) is out from the good folks at The Good Book Company. Go check it out.
Some really outstanding new albums out today...
Elbow makes some seriously cool anthemic rock songs. I'm a big fan of their previous album, The Seldom Seen Kid. Here's "Open Arms" from their new album, Build a Rocket Boys! (only $5.99!). Lyrics are below the video. Prodigal son, anyone?
You're a law unto yourself
And we don't suffer dreamers
But neither should you walk the earth alone
So with finger rolls and folding chairs
And a volley of streamers
We can be there for tweaks and repairs
Should you come back home
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
Tables are for pounding here
And when we've got you surrounded
The man you are will know the boy you were
And you're not the man who fell to earth
You're the man of La Mancha
And we've love enough to light the street
'Cause everybody's here
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
The moon is out looking for trouble
And everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
The moon wants a scrap or a cuddle
And everyone's here
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Come home again
The moon is out looking for trouble
The moon wants a scrap or a cuddle
The moon is face down in a puddle
And everyone's here
I cried today. Here's what did it...(via)
Twitter friend pointed out Redemption Hill's version of "Rock of Ages." As always, the banjo makes the band. :) Here's a bunch more info on the song, and please enjoy the sort of making-of video...
Tim Keller has a new blog post on Lloyd-Jones on the Efficacy of Preaching. A blurb...
...if you make preaching central to your ministry, you are indeed expecting that the public ministry of the Word will be attractive and draw people in. At this point the Doctor takes the main objection—"they won't come"—head on. He says bluntly, "The answer is that they will come, and that they do come…" Now the Doctor was speaking of his own ministry at Westminster Chapel in central London after World War II. Church attendance throughout Europe plunged after the war, for a mixture of reasons. In that situation, he began preaching his long, theological, expositional sermons, and slowly the huge auditorium filled. His evening services were twice the size of the morning services, since people from all over London came to bring their non-Christian friends. I dare say that something similar happened to us in New York City over the past two decades, and in an analogous context. (emphasis mine)
Read the whole post: Lloyd-Jones on the Efficacy of Preaching
Stream the entire new album from Manchester Orchestra: Simple Math. Their previous album, Mean Everything to Nothing, was my #4 album of 2009.
New live album from Brandi Carlile is out today: Brandi Carlile Live at Benaroya Hall. This is one of my favorite singer-songwriters in the business, probably my wife's favorite and most-played music, and we have seen her twice in concert. Go get it!
