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Music Monday 1.6.14

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It's -40F wind chill here, which means you light up the fireplace and listen to Bon Iver. One of my favorite EVER albums, For Emma Forever Ago, is $5.

If you haven't checked it out yet, my Best Albums of 2013 list is up. Would love your thoughts. What music from last year did you enjoy?

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Damien Jurado: Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son - My love for this dude's music has grown the last few years. Excited for this one. I'm only five songs in and I'm very, very happy so far.

Music SaleCheap Albums from my 2013 list ($5 unless noted otherwise)...

Other cheap albums worth checking out...

Related articles
Gregory Thornbury: Top 10 Albums of 2013
Best Albums of 2013

Okkervil River | Stream The Silver Gymnasium

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New album from Okkervil River, The Silver Gymnasium (Amazon, out 9/3), is streaming free right now. This is one of my favorite bands working. Some of the best songwriting around from frontman Will Sheff. I'm halfway through the stream right now and it's really good so far.

Get a taste of the new album from Sheff's open mic night. Or just listen here to open track, "It Was My Season"...

Giveaway: Stephen Miller Book & Album

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All hail

Heyo! It's a super-happy Music Monday here at Reformissionary because I have stuff to give away to some of my readers. 

Stephen Miller (Twitter) is worship leader at The Journey church in St. Louis, where Darrin Patrick is pastor. He has written a new book, Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars (Kindle) and put out a new worship album, All Hail The King. The album includes new worship songs as well as reworked Hymns like "Crown Him With Many Crowns." I've been listening to the album and enjoying it a lot. His new albums and  previous album, Hymns, is on regular rotation in my house.

I have 5 of the Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars eBooks (epub, mobi, or PDF) to give away today that each include a free download of the album. 

Here's how you enter to win a FREE eBook that includes a free download of the album...

1. Tweet (or post to Facebook if you aren't on Twitter, or do both!) without the quote marks: " Get Stephen Miller's new worship album & book FREE. RT & comment at Reformissionary to enter: http://bit.ly/14xLgfb "

2. Comment below (so I can confirm you did step 1) with your real name and real email (kept private) and FOR FUN in your comment let me know a neglected old hymn that you love and wish would get consideration from Stephen or someone else for a future worship album. 

*I'll use random.org to pick the 5 winners tonight, and I'll announce the winners on the blog & send out emails. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Music Monday 7.15.13

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Music Sale

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Music Monday 7.1.13

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Music Monday 470The fine folks from Bifrost Arts has a new worship album out. I've liked everything they've done to this point, so this is worthy of our attention.

Music Sale

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  • Jason Isbell: Southeastern | Getting a remarkable amount of play. A fantastic album.
  • Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City | This is getting the most play. Best album they've made. My kids love it too.

Music Monday 3.18.13

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Here are albums streaming free this week that I think are worth checking out...

Josh Garrels is still giving away 5 albums FREE.

New music video

Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater covers Roy Orbison's "It's Over" in the Texas outdoors. If you don't know Jonathan's work (with Okkervil River too), you should check it out. I still think Palo Santo is his best work. Covering Orbison is hard work, but well done by JM.


Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater plays "It's Over" by Roy Orbison

Music Monday 3.4.13

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Music Sale

Avett Brothers | 2 Songs on Fallon

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This is one of the most hopeful signs concerning the "popular version" of the Avett Brothers vs. the pre-popular version. Once they started shooting for and reaching the national stage, their music became slightly over-produced and less punk-awesome and screamo-fun. That's a lot of hyphens. In a bit of a return to form, I give you the band that bandwagon fans (not a put down) might have never heard. These guys rock, and everyone needs to know it. Crank. It. Up.

"Where It Goes" from the Gray Havens

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My favorite song off of the Gray Havens' album, Where Eyes Don't Go, is "Where It Goes." I've seen others mention "Silver" as their fave. It's great & I love it too. Soaring moments & tons of imagery. But "Where It Goes" may be the best opening track on an album I've heard in a long time. It sets the scene, opens the conversation, leads you gently to the melody we are all meant to know. Listen & dig into the lyrics below. I've italicized the first bit because it's so good.

A song ran in the oceans of color,
surrounded by the stars inside the universe,
before it bursted into light,

And after a long time,
A world came alive and played that music I first heard,
And so I stayed so I could write down every word,

And there was a garden,
Never was such beauty seen in all the earth,
And not again until the day when it returns,

And there was a loud cry,
Alive were the voices as they sang the words,
And ever since they've been singing, It goes,

Underneath where eyes don't go,
A sound that keeps the beat that holds,
Alive the song I listen close,
Do I follow, Do I follow, Where it goes,

Towers and banners raised,
And kings with power changed that song that first began,
And it was lost, and buried deep, and covered,

Then, a chorus and angel lights,
Proclaimed on that starry night that shook the world,
A king arose, and he was singing, it goes,

Underneath where eyes don't go,
A sound that keeps the beat that holds,
alive the song I listen close,
Do I follow, Do I follow, Where it goes,

Music Monday 1.28.13

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Music Monday 470A bunch of good stuff to check out this Music Monday...

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Music Sale

Music Monday 1.21.13

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  • Buke & Gase: General Dome | Their previous album, Riposte, was great. A few songs in and I'm enjoying this one a lot. (Out a week from Tuesday)
  • Blaudzun: Heavy Flowers | Just stumbled upon this one, and it's worth checking out. "The album fits in nicely amid the ambitious and occasionally orchestral folk-rock..." It's a very interesting sound, and it's not unapproachable. I'd love to hear my readers' take on this one. (Out a week from Tuesday)
  • Ra Ra Riot: Beta Love | Really exicted to see if they capture what I loved about The Rhumb Line  (Out Tuesday)
  • Darkstar: News From Nowhere | Yeah, I dunno much. But NPR says, "News From Nowhere offers a brighter take on synth-driven pop. Its pace is more rapid, its chords more buoyant. There's still an eerie quality to Darkstar's music: Ghostly chords waver in and out of tune, while reverb haunts many of the timbres here." Yeah, ok. I'll try that.

If you haven't heard new stuff from The Lone Bellow, I can't recommend it enough. Three videos of high-quality live versions of their songs and you will be sold. Their album, The Lone Bellow, is out tomorrow on Amazon. I'll be picking it up!

Grab nearly 80MB of Four Tet music free.

Music Monday 1.14.13

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  • Widowspeak: Almanac | Really enjoyed what's I've been able to hear from it.
  • Christopher Owens: Lysandre | This one is getting some buzz. I haven't heard much, but I'll be checking it out.
  • Free Energy: Love Sign
  • Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory: Elements of Light 
  • The Lone Bellow: The Lone Bellow 

Music Sale

Music Monday 1.7.13

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  • Dropkick Murphys: Sign & Sealed In | Pub anthems 
  • Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory: Elements of Light | If you have a set of church handbells and think they are lame, they don't have to be. Give it 8 minutes & you'll be surprised, 10 minutes and you'll be hooked, 12 minutes and fuggedaboutit. 
  • The Lone Bellow: The Lone Bellow | If Mumford & Sons had a child with The Civil Wars.
  • Broadcast: Berberian Sound Studio | A sonic feast.

Music Sale

$5 Albums for January | There are 2,000. Yeah. I'm not going to list them all, not even the great ones because there are SO MANY. You can check the ones on my Best Albums of 2012 list as several are on sale, including my #1 & #3.

And don't forget to check out my 35 Best Albums of 2012 along with a number of honorable mentions.

The Reader Speaks | Best Albums of 2012

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Memorexad
Working over the next few weeks on my Best Albums of 2012 list. Here is my list from last year with links to all previous years. Most of my readers don't post lists of their best albums of the year, so I'm wondering what your "Best Of" list would look like. Let us know what you liked in 2012. Put them in order, list them without rank, or just share that *one* that you wish everyone would hear. 

Tame Impala | "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

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One of the bands I'd love for people to discover this year is Tame Impala. Their sophomore album, Lonerism, is compelling psychedelic rock. If John Lennon was alive and young today, he would sound something like Tame Impala. Plus, the reviews are crazy-good. Check out "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards."