Music Monday 3.23.09

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I found two remarkable quotes, from different sources, and realized they were from the same speech from Karl Paulnack about music. Here's one of them (via)...

I have come to understand that music is not part of “arts and entertainment” as the newspaper section would have us believe. It’s not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we cannot with our minds.

With that in mind, I present to you an obvious basic human need...Music Monday. First, Neko Case has a new video for "People Got A Lotta Nerve" off her excellent new album, Middle Cyclone (download, CD)...

DM Stith's Heavy Ghost (download, CD) continues to haunt me. The short, first track is "Isaac's Song." Here's the video with Stith's art, about the story of Abraham and Isaac. Put yourself in that story and walk with them into the forest with your father...


DM Stith- Isaac's Song from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

Some current Amazon MP3 deals you need to check out: M. Ward - Hold Time ($5) is brand new, The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America ($1.99) is great anthemic bar music, Radiohead -- The Bends ($6.99) is a nearly perfect album that everyone should own, and Alejandro Escovedo - A Man Under the Influence ($6.99).

The Curator & Fujimura Interview

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The Curator is a new (fall of '08) website of the International Arts Movement (IAM).  I think IAM is great and this website should gain a large audience.

The Curator launched on August 29, 2008 as a web publication of International Arts Movement(IAM), which announces the signs of a “world that ought to be” as we find it in our midst, and seeks to inspire people to engage deeply with culture that enriches life and broadens experience.

In keeping with IAM’s belief that artistic excellence, as a model of “what ought to be”, paves the way for lasting, enduring humanity, The Curator seeks to encourage, promote, and uncover those artifacts of culture – those things which humans create - that inspire and embody truth, goodness, and beauty.

The founder of IAM, Makoto Fujimura, is interviewed (part 1, part 2) at The High Calling.

Prismatic Shards

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In my studio, I use ground minerals such as malachite and azurite, layering them to create prismatic refractions, or "visual jazz." Via my art I hope to create a mediated reality of beauty, hope, and reconciled relationships and cultures....In order to find hope, even in the midst of the broken and torn fragments of relationships, in order to begin to journey into the heart of the divide, we must first wrestle with the deeper issues of faith. We must be willing to be broken ourselves into prismatic shards by the Master Artist, God, so that Christ's light can be refracted in us.

Makoto Fujimura, Refractions, p12.

The Open Sourcebook

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Open sourcebookThe more I look through The Open Sourcebook the more I love it. About the site...

Welcome to the Open Sourcebook, a growing collection of resources for worship. Our collection grows daily, and comes from real-world church contexts. You are welcome to use anything from the Open Sourcebook for free, as all of our content is protected by the Creative Commons License.

You can submit materials and request materials as well. The site was created by Sojourn Music (really good guys) and The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

Lots-o-Links 3.17.09

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Molly Update: Mol has been tired lately. Meds help her sleep, but she has just been dragging. We'll see what the neurologist says next appointment. No results on her neuro-psych test...other than Molly doesn't know jack about Madame Curie and can't do mental math as good as our 6 year old. Fortunately for her I married her for her body and not her mind. :) And yes, I had her permission to say that.

Jonathan Dodson: The Missiology of St. Patrick
Resurgence: Vintage Saints - St. Patrick

Devotional Christian has potential.

On March 26th Mark Driscoll will be on Nightline with Deepak Chopra and others discussing whether or not the Devil exists. That should be fun.

DA Carson: Portraits of Jesus in John's Gospel

Stephen Nichols: Jonathan Edwards' Apologetic In Theory and Practice

Tim Chester: Mission Planning in Acts

Resurgence: Interview with Matt Chandler (3.9.09)

Found at Culture Making: "Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture—why would anyone bother with music? And yet—from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.” "

Finally Tonight, Jesus...

Music Monday 3.16.09

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Music brain awayNews...

The new Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Beware, is getting good reviews. Sample it at Amazon. Review and song preview at Paste. It releases tomorrow (download, CD). Remember Radiohead's great performance of "15 Step" with the USC Marching Band?  Awesome.  Go watch the nearly 9 minute video behind the scenes.

On My iPod...

I'm listening to a lot of John Coltrane's The Ultimate Blue Train. You can still download it for $1.99 and I highly recommend it. Sale won't last much longer. DM Stith's Heavy Ghost (great reviews!) is eerie and wonderful so far (download, CD). The Pogues are perfect for St. Patrick's Day and a Shamrock Shake. Really, they are great any time of year. No question their If I Should Fall From Grace With God is worth a lot more than Amazon's $3.99 price! Our Sunday morning at-home music before gathered worship was David Crowder Band's Remedy. Only $5 right now.

Videos...

I grabbed the 2008 Missy Higgins album, On A Clear Night, because it was only $5 (still is!) and it's just the kind of music my wife loves. I'll be honest, I really like it too.  Here's a great quality live version of "Where I Stood." This chick can sing...

Don't miss this last video. Maybe the most important song ever made...

Phriday is for Photos 3.13.09

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Needs a Haircut

Sunset in Rural Woodstock

I need to get back into my Phriday Photo posts, so I'm vowing (right hand raised, left hand on my Nikon) to make my best effort. Thanks to those of you who gently nudged me to get back to it. So for today a new photo and an older one. First, my son Jack on Monday in a waiting room at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. The second is from March of 2007, a sunset photo.

Subtext Forum with Ed Stetzer

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Great sub.text forum with Ed Stetzer today. Ed's a lot of fun and full of tons of info. Good to think through our suburban mission. Hopefully in the near future we will have some audio to put up over at sub.text. I was challenged particularly today by Ed's encouragement to consider the idols of our culture.

I picked up a few books today at the Trinity bookstore, including Makoto Fujimura's Refractions. I've been a Mako fan since I learned of his work through Redeemer NYC and IAM.

Music 3.10.09

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I missed my Music Monday post because we were gone most of the day and I just didn't care to put it together last night. So here's a little music on this rainy Tuesday in Chicagoland.

Neko Case is great on Leno. That chick can sing! Watch it at Hulu.

I'm very impressed with the online samples of DM Stith. His album, Heavy Ghost, has been released today (mp3 download, cd) and you can stream the entire album here.  Some who don't understand my musical tastes may be equally weirded out with Stith, but he's sounding brilliant to me at this point. Here's the creepy, haunting video for "Pity Dance"...

One more, from My Brightest Diamond. Not new, but new to me...

Music Monday 3.2.09

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At the advice of some wise friends I've been listening to the free stream of Neko Case's new album, Middle Cyclone.  I liked her previous album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. For some reason I didn't expect something this good from Neko to follow it up. Really enjoying it. It will be released tomorrow so today is probably that last day to stream the whole thing for free.  Wonderful (buy CD for $7.99!, download).

NPR's All Songs Considered thinks 2009 is already a better year for music than 2008. High praise for the new crop.

I shared the Avett Brothers cover of "Glory Days" on Wednesday of last week.  It was from a project called Hanging Out On E Street that includes other artists covering Springsteen.  Here's one from a dude I really like, Mat Kearney...

If you missed The Weepies $1.99 album, Hideaway, you are too late. I'm really enjoying it. Sounds a lot like a favorite band of mine, Winterpills. Here's The Weepies with "Can't Go Back Now"...

One last video, for fun. I don't watch Ellen. But I came across this by accident on YouTube and I thought it might be fun to share it with you...

Music Monday 2.23.09

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There's a lot of good new music out there lately, and my two most recent purchases are wonderful.

Beirut march of the zapotec Beirut's new double EP (download) lives up to my high expectations. The first EP, March of the Zapotec, is the kind of music you expect from Beirut, with lots of horns and emotion.

Holland, the second EP, is mostly the work of Beirut creator, Zach Condon, working under the alias  "Realpeople." It's electronic music that seems far from his Beiroots. Truth is, Condon's electronic music is very much at the root of Condon's musical background and a big part of his teenage years.  Pitchfork loves the EPs and has a helpful review.

Dark_Was_The_Night-Dirty_Projectors_480 Dark Was The Night (download) is a compliation for the Red Hot Organization that funds the fight against AIDS.  Compilations often look better than they sound and are too often only worth a few individual downloads.  The artist list for this 2 disc album made me believe it would be better than most, and it is. There are a few *meh* songs as expected, but as a whole it's a great collection of songs by some of the best bands and songwriters around.  I highly recommend it.  Check out this review, and the Dark Was The Night website for more.

If you haven't heard Bruce Springsteen's great song from The Wrestler (download) you are missing out on something special. Here's a new video for it (via)...

This isn't the best performance I've seen from The White Stripes, and there's a Marty McFly humm, but it's neat ending to Conan O'Brien's show finale (via)...

March '09 sub•text Forum: Ed Stetzer

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Dwell2008edstetzerGreat news! New sub•text forum coming on March 12th at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with Ed Stetzer.  Ed is gonna talk, in three sessions, about the missional nature of the church and what that looks like in the suburban context in practice. It will also include a Q&A session at the end.

Cost is only $25 and includes lunch!  So if you are anywhere near the area this is a great opportunity.  Hope to see you there, and if you have the chance please pass the word on to your friends in the Chicagoland area.

Get more info at sub•text.

Lots-o-Links 2.19.09

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Brief Molly Update: She is doing really well. Scheduling a neuro/psych test for the late summer and a sleep test in the near future.  Otherwise, all is relatively well.

Are you going to The Gospel Coalition 2009 Conference? C'mon!  I'm one of the speakers at Band of Bloggers.My topic is "What is the place for art and culture in Christian blogging?"  As you know if you've read Reformissionary for long that I'm very fond of music, photography and poetry. Should be a good time.

A summer Chicago Tea Party? Interesting CNBC video...

I'm hooked on the eyeballing game.

Marvin Olasky: Prodigal Sons: Part of the evangelical problem is knowing which brother we are

Everybody talkin' Calvinism. Scot McKnight. Alvin Reid.

Planning a Mars Hill sermon series.

Have you seen The Legend of Speedo Guy? Good stuff. Yes, Joe Thorn actually found something in sports that I hadn't heard of.

Music Monday 2.16.09

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Quick Hits: Indie labels win 50% of this year's Grammys. BOOM! Don't miss the $1.99 Gillian Welch album, Revival.  This is a GREAT album, and at well worth trying out for that price. Also check out these deals: Daft Punk's Musique Vol 1 for $1.99 is fun; Portishead's Dummy is tremendous, and only $5; and classic U2 is still only $5.99 an album.

Speaking of Daft Punk, this is always worth revisiting...

I've recently picked up Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Youngster, and it's a playful and enjoyable album. Watch "Death to Los Campesinos"...

One more. After the backlash against Beirut last week, which I can only attribute to too much American Idol-atry, I have something from Beirut that sounds very little like the Beirut we know. Zach Condon has returned to some of his electronic roots on some tracks from March of the Zapotec (releasing tomorrow). Try out this one...

Music Monday 2.9.09

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I know why you are here. You watched The Grammys and need some real music now. I'm here for you. But first, a diamond in the rough. Radiohead and the USC marching band was awesome...

Antony and the Johnsons new album, The Crying Light, is stunning. Antony sounds different than most anyone you've ever heard. But it engulfs you. It's a rare beauty. You must check it out. (Download is $8.99, CD is $10.99). Here's a video that really is just the song with the title. But I want you to hear this song.

I was born, A curling fox in a hole
Hiding from danger, Scared to be alone

One dove, To bring me some peace
In starlight you came from the other side, To offer me mercy

I've recently been introduced to the music of The Deep Dark Woods. Their album, Winter Hours, comes out in 8 days. Sample them on MySpace. And watch this video, if you don't mind seeing men in long underwear...

The last video is not about the music for me. But the video is very cool. Don't skip it!