Here are a few new albums, out today, that are worth checking out. Click on the album to sample it. If you don't know Anathema, it's a bit of post-rock pop. First Aid Kit is folk-rock. If you have other suggestions on this New Music Tuesday, drop them in the comments.
Reviews of Jack White: Lazaretto.
Reviews of Anathema: Distant Satellites.
Reviews of First Aid Kit: Stay Gold.
Man, I love stuff like this. Chris Davis of the Orioles hits a home run and gets greeted by no one in the dugout. So he high fives a bunch of invisible teammates. Awesome.
Here's a smattering of new and notable books that are on my radar and on my shelf.
Anything else good come out that you want to recommend?
There isn't a chance that I would pass up the new Sharon Van Etten album, Are We There. Her previous albums, Tramp and Epic, are great. I don't even need to preview the new album in order to buy it, but I know some of you do. Just watch this video for "Afraid of Nothing" and I know you will do what's right and buy this album. Looks like Are We There is a few bucks cheaper this week as Amazon's "Album of the Week."
The creation story, a 3 minute and 33 second clip, from Darren Aronofsky's Noah. Seeing the first half of the movie leading to this clip is the preferred way to watch this, but for lack of that you still get this.
My two youngest boys and I have an unhealthy love for the new Lipton Peach Iced Tea commercial. Enjoy!
Lykke Li has made a breakup album full of power ballads. And it's nothing short of amazing. I've liked Lykke's music in the past, but never really became a big fan. That's all changed because of her new album, I Never Learn,* and the standout song for me, "Love Me Like I'm Not Made Of Stone." Here's the video, which is simple and remarkable. The lyrics are also posted below. If you go to this page you can listen to the song free and repeatedly while perusing the lyrics.
Listen to this song for what it is, and then also think about it in the context of how we love our neighbors.
*Let me give you a hint. You can buy the album on CD for $0.50 cheaper than the download and still get the automatic download as you wait for the CD to show up. If that sounds like too much trouble, just download. I think you will love it.
Streaming Free
This is, according to Deadspin, the only known surviving footage of the 1919 World Series that was thrown by the White Sox (Black Sox). This footage was "part of a cache of newsreels from the Canadian Yukon that were at one point used to fill in a swimming pool that was being converted into a hockey rink. The newsreels were discovered in 1978, and sat in an archive until this year, when a White Sox fan working on a documentary about the lost films stumbled on them. Good luck for him, and better luck for us." (via)
Pretty cool. Watch a piece of history.
I've recently joined the writing staff of ChristandPopCulture.com (CaPC). Here are my first two pieces: "Saintseneca's Dark Arc: Stripping Off The World's Varnish" and "Must Music Be Authentic? Roger, Wilco."
I've known of and read pieces by CaPC for years and have been thankful for their voice(s). Pieces there have often informed me and helped me think about cultural issues through the lens of faith in Christ. Even when I've disagreed I've gained much from interaction, even when only internal.
Now, as a writer, I've been even more engaged with the articles, website, podcast, and in the writer's-only forum where I realize how thoughtful, funny, and engaging these folks are when off the record as well.
CaPC is starting a new phase of life offering memberships that gives you access to some free shtuff (ebooks, music, magazines), a members-only forum to discuss things on CaPC or start discussions on whatever you are engaging with in the culture, and more. As a writer the greatest benefit of CaPC for me, beside having a place to publish my writing, is the discussion happening behind the scenes. Now that gets expanded to include you as you become a member. Really excited about that.
Check out ChristandPopCulture.com, memberships, and even learn how you can become a patron. This website has produced so much for almost nothing for years now and this is a way to help build a CaPC for the future.
Unfortunately too many who view the world through social media lenses know John Piper more for his "Farewell, Rob Bell" comment more than most anything else. I've been blessed by Dr. Piper's ministry for years. First discovering him through Desiring God and then a mad scramble to read the rest of his key books (Let the Nations Be Glad, Future Grace). Then Bruce Ware let me borrow boxes of John Piper sermon tapes, which I devoured while at work during seminary years.
I heard Piper speak at Southern Seminary where he called the seminary dangerous because it's beautiful and safe. I asked him about whether tax exempt status for churches caused us to not speak out more and he just said we need to be bold. I heard Piper speak at The Founders Conference in Birmingham where he spoke on mission and caused me to aspire to become a missionary to a Muslim country. I heard Piper speak on mission again at the International Mission Board gathering at Ridgecrest, NC where I asked him to sign his books for me during a youth event and asked if he felt odd signing books since it means he's a "celebrity." He said he doesn't seek it out but won't say no. We got to chat with Noel several times as during the conference as we dropped off our kids to the same place for childcare during the week-long event. She was dropping off Talitha. I've been to the Desiring God conference and the Desiring God Pastor's conference and got to sit at lunch with other young pastors and Dr. Piper and grill him on ministry, hot theological topics, and more.
Nameless other Piper podcasts, books, pamphlets, lectures, and sermons have blessed me over the years. I often talk about my favorite-ever sermons as Piper sermons. I love "Running With The Witnesses" because I so easily fall in love with things that don't help me run the race. I have been influenced by Piper on theology, fasting, mission, ecclesiology, how to deal with theological disagreements, sin, suffering, and far too much to even try to list.
I say all this to say I get to go with a church friend to drive to hear John Piper speak on Jonathan Edwards today at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL. So I've been thinking about how I got to this point, the point of spending several hours in one day to go hear one man speak. Am I so gripped by his celebrity? Am I just a fan-boy?
I've been around long enough to not see John Piper as a hero or a celebrity. I go to hear a wise and sinful man speak about another wise and sinful man who both know their sinfulness and need for grace. I go to hear a man who knows himself well enough to realize he must pursue pleasure in God because of his great propensity to pursue pleasure in anything else. I don't go to see someone who's popular, but someone who has poured his life into mine through various means and who is coming near. So I'm thankful I get to be poured into again.
I thank God for many saints, near and far, famous and completely unknown, who I owe so much. One will be speaking on Edwards. One will be sitting with me listening to Piper. One I have known mostly through books and sermons over years and the other I've known for a short time and we meet together every week to discuss theology, Calvin's Institutes, family, and faith. I'm blessed by and thankful for both, and both play an important role in my life. God is merciful to provide us such great gifts.
Nice list of cheap albums on sale for a short time...
Really want to get my hands on the Champs album, Down Like Gold, but it's not in the U.S. yet. Here's something to obsess over until it gets here. Love.
Goodness, yes. Don't miss bonus scene just over halfway through.
I couldn't get enough of The Menzingers' debut album, On The Impossible Past. Outstanding. High-energy. And now we get to see what they do next as Rented World is now STREAMING FREE before they release it next Tuesday (22nd). Here's their first single, which makes this punk happy...
My new piece on Saintseneca and their album Dark Arc is up at Christ & Pop Culture: "Saintseneca's Dark Arc: Stripping Off The World's Varnish." Here's a blurb...
The entire album is a juxtaposition of style and substance. It’s subversive, kind of Banksy. I can’t help but think that this is similar to what the church should be doing in the midst of our consumer culture. We should be taking the shiny, happy things of this world and breaking them, showing they aren’t what we think they are. We should be stripping off the varnish, seeing through the luster.
Go read my whole article, and please do go pick up Saintseneca: Dark Arc.
Billy Collins is the gateway drug to a life of enjoying poetry. I tell folks to start with him if you don't know where to start. Here his animated poem, "Forgetfulness."
