Music
If this is the new direction of Vampire Weekend, I'm in! These two songs have me all worked up over the awesomeness. New album, Modern Vampires of the City, out in May. Here's "Diane Young" and "Step."
Here are albums streaming free this week that I think are worth checking out...
Josh Garrels is still giving away 5 albums FREE.
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
This is so good. Josh Garrels, the dude who made the excellent 2011 album Love & War & The Sea In Between (my #5 of 2011), is giving away his five albums free. FREE, I say. All "tips" go to World Relief, so don't be afraid to give if you have the means. This is a really cool thing for Josh to do!
Stream Low: The Invisible Way | One of my favorite bands, one of my favorite styles of music (slow, heavy, thoughtful). You need to check this one out. Some background from NPR Music...
In 20 years, Low's basic ingredients haven't changed much: Guitarist Alan Sparhawk and drummer Mimi Parker swap and sometimes layer their vocals, with a third member joining the married couple on bass. The pace, for the most part, is kept deliberate, even glacial, with strategically deployed silence hanging between notes in order to enhance their power. Low songs don't often change tempo noticeably, instead achieving tension through variations in volume.
But that seemingly limited framework still provides ample room for experimentation: Low can be a sweetly chiming pop band, or it can seethe and unsettle with an almost industrial buzz. It can express emotion by drawing out the barest fragment of a phrase, or it can expound thoughtfully on life, death, secrecy, war and the way humanity collides with itself.
Low's 10th full-length studio album, The Invisible Way, was produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, who avoids any temptation to radically stretch the Minnesota band's boundaries. But he wisely dials up the interplay between Sparhawk and Parker — who's too often underutilized on Low records — while letting bits of piano and spare percussive rumbles provide the portent. "So Blue" and "Just Make It Stop" give The Invisible Way a bit of a jolt by laying Parker's vocals atop unusually jumpy arrangements, but most of these songs land squarely in that sweet spot where darkness and worry are swathed in pristine beauty.
If you haven't seen someone sing and break glass before, this is pretty cool. It's cool even if you have seen it! Jim Cornelison sings the National Anthem at every Chicago Blackhawks game, one of the most rousing Anthems around. Here he is singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame," starting at just the right point to show the power of his voice. Awesome.
That's 74 free songs, folks! Amazing. Go now! It's a staple in my house!
New music streaming free from some artists I've enjoyed in previous albums...
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.
Two songs from Jack White at the Grammys. First, "Love Interrupted" with his all girl band. Second, "Freedom at 21" with his all guy band. So great. Best performance of the night.
Jack White - Love Interruption & Freedom At 21... by IdolxMuzic
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,
The Bifrost Arts conference, The Cry Of The Poor: A Conference About Worship, Community, & Mercy, is coming up in April in Philadelphia. To get your attention (and this should do it) they are giving away their excellent worship album, Come O Spirit. IT ENDS TODAY. Please grab it while you can. I think you'll love it. I do. And consider going to the conference. Early registration discounts end this week!
Several circumstances led to this post. I saw Challies posted an interview a few days ago with a band. I ignored it. Then I got a Facebook message telling me I should check out the same band. I figured after two pointed me to it, I should go ahead and check'm out. I went to the website and something started looking familiar. Wasn't sure what.
Come to find out the band, the Gray Havens (Dave & Licia Radford), live in Crystal Lake, 20 minutes southeast of us. Dave was also on American Idol back when we used to watch it. After watching his audition again, we remembered him as someone who didn't do "pop music" like everyone else. And that was a good thing. Our northwest suburbs newspaper also put out an article at about the same time called "Haven Sent."
Honestly, I was still skeptical. 1. I don't generally go for "Christian" music or even music made my Christians. I was worried whether it would be creative. You know, art. 2. Can anything good come out of Crystal Lake? ;) I had that feeling that for the band (duo) to be this local, it couldn't be that good. In other words, my stereotype buttons were being pushed.
I have really enjoyed listening to the Gray Havens, enough so that I felt I needed to give them their own Music Monday post. Right now their album, Where Eyes Don't Go, is still FREE! I want my readers to pick it up. It's folksy, lyrical, redemptive, and joyful. I like every song. You can also support them buy buying on Amazon.
As I post this my family is loading in the van to meet Dave and Licia and enjoy dinner together tonight. I had to meet them. I hope you'll take a few minutes and introduce yourself to the Gray Havens. Stream and download free below.
If I could force everyone to check out one album today, it would be from On An On. Haven't been on my radar until today and just loving it. Stream Give In for free today, buy it tomorrow, and watch the video for "Ghosts." Love this song...
A bunch of good stuff to check out this Music Monday...
My #16 album of 2012, Mumford & Sons: Babel, is only $3.99. Get it!
What have I been telling you? The Lone Bellow is THIS good. Watch them play Conan, then get The Lone Bellow for only $5.99.
Two albums I've been talking about coming out today are cheap! I'm grabbing both.
Other new albums you need to check out because I like their previous work and/or because of some really great reviews...
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!
