Music

$5 Indie Albums

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I don't know why some of these are $5 or how long the price will stay, but here are a bunch of great indie albums for $5 I just found. If you want more info on an album, or are looking for a sound similar to something you like, comment and I'll whittle down a few suggestions for you. There are so many good ones!

Music Monday | Stretch Yourself

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Blind music I love to find new, unique, or renewed sounds in new music: Bon Iver's bearded outdoorsman falsetto, Beirut's use of traditional instruments and foreign sounds, Antony & The Johnsons's trembling vocals, Animal Collective's layers and layers of electronic music, and Andrew Bird's lyrical torsion. Sometimes there are new sounds that just don't work for me, and other times they draw me in and stretch me in a new direction. Even when they don't work, I think it's good for us to be stretched. It keeps us from mere consumption and towards understanding it as art.

Let's be honest, some of you just love everything from U2 but don't realize you are stuck in a moment and can't get out of it. Time for something new. Here are two places to stretch.

1. Daniel Knox. The haunting vocals will stay with you in "Ghostsong." If you like it, grab his free Daytrotter session and buy his album, Evryman for Himself.

2. tUnE-yArDs. I don't really know what to say about this, but the critics are crazy about it. The new album from tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L is only $5 right now. If listening to this doesn't stretch you a bit, you may have deeper issues.

Albums I'm Enjoying

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I've had a crazy-busy summer and haven't done enough talking about some of the great music I've been finding. Here are two albums I'm loving and don't want you to miss...

I'm very much enjoying the full-length debut album from Washed Out: Within and Without. It's chillwave 80's sounds. It's sleepy bedroom pop music, perfect for lazy, hot summer evenings. To me it's also great background music during work or reading.

I can't believe the 18 song album, Love & War & the Sea In Between, from Josh Garrels is FREE. Dude, it's FREE. And I'm listening to it a lot. Wowwy, it's really good. And did I say that it's FREE? It's not good because it's good for something that FREE. After hearing it I'd happily pay $10 for this album. You need to run, not walk, and download this gem. And check out Josh's other albums: Over Oceans | Jacaranda | Lost Animals.

Beirut: Gulag Orkestar is $5

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Beirut

My first listen through Beirut's May 2006 album Gulag Orkestar was in June of 2006. Joe Thorn and I were driving our way toward Greensboro, North Carolina for the Southern Baptist Convention and I HAD to make a stop by ear X-tacy in Louisville, Kentucky for some CDs. I found Gulag and 7 others from my list. I think we listened to all of them on the way, but Beirut stuck out for both of us. It was such a different sound, international flavor, unexpected instrumentation. Both of us were blown away by it. We want to recommend it to you. So go get it for $5 and tell us what you think. When you love it, go pick up Lon Gisland EP, The Flying Club Cup, and March of the Zapotec. All are outstanding, and the flavors beautifully change a bit along the way. New album, The Rip Tide, due out August 30.

$5 Albums for July 2011

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Some outstanding albums for $5 for July. Go grab some!

Frank Turner | "I Still Believe"

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Frank Turner's new album, England Keep My Bones, is getting a lot of play on my iPod. I posted his atheist hymn of sorts, "Glory Hallelujah," last week. Here's the video for "I Still Believe." Frank writes some interesting songs worth hearing. Plus, it's just great music. Check out a few snips of lyrics...

Now who'da thought / that after all / something as simple as rock'n'roll would save us all

And I still believe / in the need / for guitars and drums and desperate poetry

And I still believe / that everyone / can find a song for every time they've lost and every time they've won / So just remember folks we're not just saving lives, we're saving souls, and we're having fun

There Is No God, So Ring That Victory Bell

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I just love the new album by Frank Turner, England Keep My Bones (I have the extended edition). It's like The Gaslight Anthem mixed with Flogging Molly mixed with David Ford. One of the songs all my Christian brothers and sisters need to hear is "Glory Hallelujah." It's an atheistic anthem (worship song) and instructive of the new atheism. Lyrics are below the video.

Brothers and sisters, have you heard the news?
The storm has lifted and there's nothing to lose,
So swap your confirmation for your dancing shoes,
Because there never was no God.
Step out of the darkness and onto the streets,
Forget about the fast, let's have a carnival feast,
Raise up your lowered head to hear the liberation beat,
Because there never was no God.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We're all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.

No cowering in the dark before these overbearing priests,
Not waiting until we die until we restitute the meek,
No blaming all our failings on imaginary beasts,
Because there never was no God.
No fighting over land your distant fathers told you of,
Not spilling blood for those who have never spread a drop of blood,
No finger pointing justified by fairies up above,
Because there never was no God.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We're all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.

And I know you're scared of dieing man and I am too,
But just pretending it's not happening isn't gonna see us through,
So just accept that there's an end game and we haven't got much time,
And then in the here and now we can try and do things right.
Forget about the crazy things that people have believed,
And think of wondrous things that normal people have achieved,
'Cos I've known beauty in the stillness of cathedrals in the day,
I sang Glory Hallelujah! Won't you wash my sins away?
But now I'm singing my refrain and this is what I say,
I say there never was no God.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We're all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We're all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell. 

Don't Miss The Art You Missed

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Art

Was pointed to a new podcast that I am thoroughly enjoying. It's called The Art You Missed. From the website...

The Art You Missed explores, freely and with an open mind, acts of creation that are in danger of being overlooked amidst the ever-widening stream of the world’s new art... 

The Art You Missed embraces the artistic impulse and adds this premise: all art is forever new...

The Art You Missed is not merely an academic or historical exercise, but is rather an active meditation on the permanent revolutionary impulse at the core of art...

The hosts, Samuel Melden and Fritz Byers, talk music, poetry, and various other kinds of art. 

If you like the podcast, and I think you will, check out their Kickstarter Campaign. Also follow and "like" them out on Twitter and Facebook.