My Favorite Christmas Song

A bad version



A good version

Shawn McDonald - O Holy Night

My Favorite Advent Song

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

I say favorite Advent song as today is the last day of Advent. This song just screams to me the advent (coming) of Jesus. What a haunting and sad time this song reflects. What a waiting. And yet, a build toward the chorus.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel (God with us) shall come to thee o Israel (Humanity).

I love it. Rejoice ye weary sinners. Rejoice for God is coming. He is coming to dwell amongst you. He cares for you and will restore you.

Tomorrow...my favorite Christmas song.

The New Divide

OK, now I can't say my musical tastes are super refined or anything of that sort. I mean, I listen to what people would call screamo, emo, pop-punk, hip-hop, etc. I don't listen to a ton of the 'classy' singer/songwriter stuff or beautiful classical music. Not that I wouldn't listen to it, but rather it just isn't what I gravitate to initially. But even with my questionable tastes....

c'mon Linkin Park! Stop trying to be a metal version of Nickelback. Your sound is so trite now. Ever since Minutes to Midnight, you have sacrificed a major part of your band. Heck, after the Fort Minor song "Get Me Gone" where Mike Shinoda lauds Linkin Park's usage of his rap stylings, it was quite absent (although not completely gone) from the latest album offering.

They have since had a chance to redeem themselves to me. I open my iTunes to see a new song from Linkin Park today for the Transformers 2 movie. I pay my elevated $1.29 for the track (seriously Apple...) and pop it onto the iPhone for the day. The first listen through was ok, but I couldn't help keep in my head that it sounded a heck of a lot like the first single off of Minutes to Midnight, What I've Done.

Now, I thought I was maybe just a hyper-critical fan, but then my girlfriend tells me it reminds her of the same thing, unprompted by me. And hey, we may both be hyper-critical. After all, the song was written specifically for the movie and not for anything else. But seriously, you could've gotten a lot of bands to put together that song in my opinion. Linkin Park has something special that is being wasted.
_____

On another musical note (pun not intended until after I saw it, then I thought it was cheesy enough to stay), I just recently bought the first album from Carly Comando. This pianist has impressed me greatly with her ability to put together music I find moving and that calls me to desire to worship God. It is on the way in the mail. But in the meantime, I, much like I suggest to you, will be listening on the MySpace page and through the two YouTube videos she has composed music for.

Brandon Heath

I, as of late, have had a love-hate relationship with Christian music. The musical styling has tended to be, in my opinion, stale and a bit too much like late 90's pop. So I find it interesting to be writing about Brandon Heath.

For whatever reason, in my mind, this artist seems like a guy who has a unique enough styling to stand apart. Now, this is going off of just 2 songs of his that I have, and 1 more that I've heard on the radio. They have a certain moving nature to them that really builds throughout a song, and for me, it is good enough to listen to.

The song "Give Me Your Eyes" has had the epic feel as I've work it out on my iPod. I recently (read: today) saw the music video for this song and found it equally powerful (am I cheesy...maybe). This screams James 2 to me. And not just for the monetarily poor, but those of us who are needy, those of us who are "poor in spirit"

5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? 6 But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear?

8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

So consider checking out more of Mr. Heath, as I know I will. And let us really learn to slow down and love. Because we are accelerating past not only our lives, but the lives of those in need.

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

I'm a professional photographer

So, as of today, I am now getting paid to shoot pictures. Very little pay, but exciting nonetheless. Last night, I went to the first night of the Pygmalion Music Festival in Champaign. There, at the Canopy Club, I took the rented Canon 5D (which I severely coveted) and the rented 50mm f/1.4 lens to the show and started to click away. There was some great music and times from the likes of Common Loon, Coco Coca, Elsinore, Decibully, and Times New Viking. I truly enjoyed Elsinore (who I have seen before) and their sound. Decibully had a really neat epic sound, and Times New Viking had enough energy to fill the whole club. In any case, I digress...

Beth of Times New Viking plays the keys and sings at the Canopy Club on Wednesday night.

I shot a whole bunch of pictures, had to sort through them, choose about 25 photos to give to Buzz Magazine, who is my employer for the semester. I had to wait a few hours, but low and behold, my first images are on the217.com! Check them out here. The four images in the slideshow aren't my favorites, but is still really exciting to see them online. Let me know what you think. Soon I'll also have some other ones on flickr to be seen by any of y'alls.

And be sure to check out the new bands!

Shawn McDonald - Roots

New music dropped today. Finally, the long awaited (at least for me) album "Roots" by Shawn McDonald has hit shelves and digital libraries. I've listened to it a couple times through by now and I thought I'd clue you in on something. It is good.

Laced within the album are sections of funk, inspiration, challenging thought, chill, and plenty of Scripture turned to song. In the song Shadowlands, Psalm 23 speaks in a way I've never felt it, and in Hallelujah, the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 shine through. I understand there are even more references, but I've yet to pick them out completely. They are definitely there.

My loving sister introduced me to Shawn McDonald and I thank her for that moment. He ranks right up there with my favorites (Christian or not) and he is a great song writer and musician. A very gifted and passionate soul.

Roots is titled in such a way to point to his return to his own roots musically and this album definitely does sound more like Simply Nothing than it does Ripen. I'd encourage you to check it out. And I say that because typically I don't play up Christian music, but this is that good.

Disclaimer: I really hope that in a few months, I will like this album as much as I do now. I can tend to get hyped up on stuff and then feel it slip away.

Jon Foreman

I am a music guy, at least an appreciator. I was a player of music in jr. high and high school, and I still love the idea of being involved in it. I don't think I realize that there are some people that don't just go head over heels for music, which is a development that highlights the importance of my love for that form of art.

Recently, Jon Foreman, the lead singer for Switchfoot, has started a new music project that I've found fascinating and engrossing. He is in the process of releasing four EP albums themed around the four seasons of the year. He is releasing each throughout the seasons this year. The first two have already been released. These are Fall and Winter, and Spring and Summer are to come. They are 6 song albums with a softer sound, much like 24 off of The Beautiful Letdown. They are such heartfelt songs and the lyrics strike me so much.

Equally Skilled (snippet)

And both of His hands
Are equally skilled
At ruining evil
Equally skilled
At judging the judges
Equally skilled
Administering justice
Both of His hands

The thing that gets me about that is the "ruining evil." I think that simple word choice feels very powerful to me. Anyway, I really look forward to his next two EPs and I encourage you to check out Fall and Winter. They're totally worth the 5-6 bucks you're going to pay for them. I also look forward to the next Switchfoot album if this stuff is any indicator of direction for them as a whole.