Music

Holidays Rule is $3.99

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I've been reading about Holidays Rule for several weeks. It includes tracks by Fun., The Civil Wars, Punch Brothers, The Head & The Heart, The Shins, Andrew Bird & others. One of my favorites is by Rufus Wainwright & Sharon Van Etten, "Baby It's Cold Outside." It's mostly a cultural Christmas album, or a "holidays" album (exceptions like Punch Brothers with "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"). But it's fun and includes some really solid stuff. And it's only $3.99.Holidaysrule_20121012_105455

Sojourn Live | Come Ye Sinners

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Our friends at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY who have put out some of the great, new, creative worship music of the last several years now have released Come Ye Sinners, a live album. Along with that, you can get all other Sojourn albums for $5. So it's a good time to fill in what's missing in your Sojourn Music catalog as well as to pick up their new offering.Sojourn live

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."

Sufjan Stevens | Silver & Gold

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Stream Sufjan Stevens new Christmas album, Silver & Gold, free. Buy it, FIVE albums (58 tracks), for $13.98. Grab the first 5 albums while you are at it (Songs for Christmas, $15.49) and you'll have his 100 song collection of Christmas music.

$5 Albums | November 2012

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Headphones

Handful of gems this month. See all 100. Here are my faves, the first half are the most highly recommended.

Music Monday 10.29.12

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  • Propaganda: Excellent | Seriously, my boys walk around the house saying "white men with epic beards" over and over. They can't stop listening. Neither can I.
  • Mumford & Sons: Babel | Album of choice in our living room right now.
  • Daphni: Jiaolong | Probably the album I've listened to the most lately.

Art & The "Precious Puritans" Discussion

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Mona lisa fix

Now Dr. Joel Beeke has weighed in on the discussion on Propaganda's "Precious Puritans." It's a more critical take. And I LOVE Dr. Beeke and own several of his books on the Puritans, including his new, massive work A Puritan Theology. So while I want to respond here to his post, I want my readers to know I highly recommend his books and benefited greatly from hearing him at Desiring God Pastor's Conference on prayer.

Here's my response to critics who are receiving "Precious Puritans" as Dr. Beeke has: Critics are not hearing the song as art, and not discussing art and how it should be critiqued.

Critics are doing exposition of it as if it's a sermon or merely a message, but it's far more creative than that. Critics are discussing the emotional response to the beginning of the song, but not the all-important end! The beginning is designed creatively to get you to feel emotions about the Puritans as a judge and then to smack you down for being a hypocrite! It's a trick, and if you won't view it as art and allow yourself to be tricked, you miss the whole of it and you write blog posts to defend what you find precious, as if the first part of the song is merely propositional. 

Francis Schaeffer writes that one bad way to view art is to see art as "a vehicle for the propagation of a particular message." That view "reduces art to an intellectual statement and the work of art as a work of art disappears." I think critics of "Precious Puritans" are receiving it through that lens, and therefore aren't receiving it well. It isn't seen as art (even when the critics think they are seeing it that way!), and therefore the artist isn't given ground to point to truth creatively.

What I think is great is that so many have heard the song and just loved it, even when it has unsettled them. Art spoke to truth and it was well received. But when someone criticizes the song and misses the truth because they've missed the art as art, I think that says we need more discussion on how to view art.

Interstates: 3=4 Live

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I got a couple of tweets at me this week from folks trying to push Interstates. I knew nothing about them. I should say that I've probably been told about them, but ignored them anyway. And I'm more likely to ignore the tweets of people I don't know. But just for fun I checked them out and like it a lot. Watch this live video of Interstates playing their new album, 3=4. Leave it on in the background while you work. Let me know what you think, and check out all of Interstates' music.

Benjamin Gibbard: Former Lives is $5

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Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie has a new solo album out: Former Lives. It's $5 right now. I wasn't sure I would buy it. I'm not a huge Death Cab fan, though I've enjoyed some of their stuff. But I've listened to this and so far really like it. It reminds me of the sort of Death Cab songs I like the most. For $5, you should check it out for sure.

Gibbard

Music Monday 10.15.12

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WORTH CHECKING OUT - FREE

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SOMETHING NEW

"Baby It's Cold Outside" by Sharon Van Etten & Rufus Wainwright - Like this a lot. Though listening to Chrismas music in October is crazy, it's worth checking out. Sounds like the whole album is worth checking out, Holidays Rule, which is due out at the end of October. Artists on the album include The Civil Wars, Andrew Bird, Punch Brothers and more. Listen...

Giveaway | Stephen Miller: Hymns

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WINNERS! We have our five winners.

Jacob Young
Danny Poyner
Matthew Robbins
Joshua Crabb
Richard Campeau

Congrats guys! Email coming soon.

By the way, the total number of songs on my iTunes is 14,045. Closest, I believe, was WhyArtwork.com with 13,856. How's that for a free plug for your website! :)

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One of the great joys I get as an audiophile with a blog is the opportunity to get some great albums before they release. Since it's better to give than receive, I especially LOVE the opportunity some artists give me to give away their albums.

Stephen Miller, worship leader at The Journey church in St. Louis, releases his new album, Hymns, Tuesday. But I'm giving away 5 digital downloads today! Yeah, five.

It's already getting regular play in my house. Miller gives accessible music updates to several beloved hymns like "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," "I Surrender All," "How Deep the Father's Love For Us," and "Be Thou My Vision." He also offers his versions of "Behold the Throne of God Above" and "In Christ Alone." For good measure he adds "Kyrie, Eleison." There are a total of eleven songs. It's a solid offering to the growing list of young artists making good worship music. It's good for my soul and will be a blessing for my church.

Here's how you enter to win a FREE download...

1. Tweet (or post to Facebook if you aren't on Twitter, or do both!) without the quote marks: " Want to download Stephen Miller's album, Hymns, free? RT & comment at Reformissionary to enter: http://bit.ly/T3FNbJ "

2. Comment below (so I can confirm you did step 1) with your real name and real email (kept private) and For Fun guess the exactly number of songs iTunes says I have. It's more than 1 and less than 20,000. 

*I'll use random.org to pick the 3 winners sometime after 5pm, and I'll announce the winners on the blog & send out emails. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Mumford & Sons on Jools

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Mumford & Sons have made the kind of record they are supposed to make...emotive, heart-on-sleeve, compelling, rollicking, and just plain fun. I've been considering writing a post about why you shouldn't feel guilty for listening to Mumford & Sons (Some indie sites are ripping them, and acting like you are an idiot if you like them). I say you should pick up Babel (or deluxe edition) and tap your feet and clap your hands, or as Jon McIntosh put it in a recent tweet...

Leave your shirt on Jon, but I hear you! :) Below are three live performances on Jools: "I Will Wait" | "Whispers In The Dark" | "Below My Feet."

Music Monday 10.8.12

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CHEAP ($2.99 - $5)

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TGC Podcast: "Precious Puritans" & Much More

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The gospel coalition

The Gospel Coalition has a new podcast, "Going Deeper with TGC." Collin Hansen writes...

The Gospel Coalition's new podcast, "Going Deeper with TGC," has two goals:

  1. We want to follow up on the most widely read, controversial, helpful, insightful resources produced by our council members, writers, editors, and bloggers.
  2. We want to serve you by using a different medium, audio, to provide the same quality of gospel-centered content we publish in blogs, essays, and reviews.

We've assembled an experienced team to produce this podcast, which we aim to record at least every two weeks. I'm joined each time by my co-host, Mark Mellinger, the gifted news anchor of WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

An excellent idea for a podcast, and I'm thankful for this new resource. I've subscribed. In this inaugural podcast there are discussions with Thabiti Anyabwile on same-sex marriage & the Puritans, among other things. We also hear from Jared Wilson & Trevin Wax on The Gospel Project. Listen here.