At Becky’s request, I checked out Frightened Rabbit. I was impressed. It sounds kind of like Adam Duritz singing lead for a somewhat-upbeat indie band. Good stuff.

I did some digging and also found Ra Ra Riot. It’s a mix of indie rock and chamber music.

Also, just five minutes ago, I discovered Cabin. They come recommended by Sufjan Stevens (or so it says on their MySpace page), and while I actually can’t stand Sufjan Stevens, Cabin is alright.

I tried cutting this list down to ten, but I just couldn’t cut any of these. So, in no particular order, 13 essential albums for listening:

1. Recovering the Satellites – Counting Crows – Most people will say that their debut album, August and Everything After, was their finest. I disagree. While August was certainly a good album that may even be more emotionally rich than Satellites, Satellites is a much more musically complex album. It manages to be angry, but not overbearing; upbeat, but not optimistic. In my opinion, their greatest album.
2. OK Computer – Radiohead – This album is about as perfect as an album can be. Every song is beautifully complex and unique, from the angry and chaotic “Paranoid Android” to the deeply moving “Let Down” to the emotionally desolate “Exit Music (For a Film).” This, to me, is the album that truly defined Radiohead and gave them a permanent spot in the list of most influential musicians.
3. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend – If you can imagine a band that gives off the same vibe as a Wes Anderson movie, it’s these guys. Take The Kinks and add in a little bit of reggae and classical music and you might get something like Vampire Weekend. Fun, fun stuff. Also voted by the guy from Stuff White People Like to be the whitest band of 2008.
4. The Crane Wife – The Decemberists – The storytelling on this album is great, both lyrically and musically. I won’t say it’s the best, but the music and lyrics are woven so perfectly together that I have to mention it. It also helps that the music is great. Maybe not as upbeat as Castaways and Cutouts, but the emotional depth and musical integrity of the album win out.
5. Plans – Deathcab for Cutie – Admittedly, I’m not as familiar with Deathcab’s entire musical collection, but I have heard bits and pieces of most of it. Plans probably has the most widespread appeal, with a few pop-friendly songs scattered in amongst the usual slightly bitter angst anthems. It just seemed like, for this album, they knew how all the pieces fit together before they wrote the songs, so nothing seems forced together. Maybe not their most inventive album, but my favorite for casual listening.
6. Lost and Gone Forever – Guster – Ah, the bittersweet taste of Guster. Never before has angst been so much fun. For this album, they took great care to layer tracks upon tracks to weave a complex musical web that appears effortless. Having a hand percussionist rather than a drummer makes them inherently cooler than most bands. Also, “Happier” is probably the most fun song to sing at a concert, ever.
7. Absolution – Muse – An uplifting album about the end of the world. The odd but effective blend of alt rock with classical elements and a flair for the dramatic comes together beautifully in this album. It also helps that Matthew Bellamy has a voice you can drunk off of. The songs run the complete gamut of rock: “Butterflies and Hurricanes” dissolves into a classical piano solo and then returns full force to the aggressive rock song; “Apocalypse Please” balances Bellamy’s smooth voice with a banging piano and wailing guitars; “Sing for Absolution” is an emotional ballad that can stand with the best of them; “Stockholm Syndrome” rocks harder than most bands would even aspire to. A very diverse group, and this album is the perfect example of it.
8. Funeral – Arcade Fire – Sometimes upbeat, sometimes depressing, but always highly expressive and emotional, Arcade Fire is a very different band. French (Canadian?) musical influences can be heard on the album. Mix that with some interesting instrumentation (piano and and strings alongside the electric and bass guitars and drums) and you get a band that breaks the indie band mold. Take that, hipsters!
9. The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place – Explosions in the Sky – Deep, emotional, moving instrumental post-rock. (If you don’t know, post-rock is actually a somewhat dated term for music which departs from traditional rock structure and function while retaining rock instrumentation.) Basically, the group (comprised of three guitarists and a drummer) composes a 45-minute symphony in five or six movements, meant to be listened to from start to finish. Structually, it’s most similar to classical music. Meant to be played loud.
10. Good Dog, Bad Dog – Over the Rhine – After getting fed up with their record label, Over the Rhine ditched them and recorded tracks in basements and living rooms with friends. The result is a dark and beautiful collection of home-grown songs free from restraint and overproduction. The album contains what is possibly the best rainy day song ever (“Latter Days”) and what is possibly the most uplifting song about suicide (“Poughkeepsie”). The album does have its fair share of not-so-depressing songs as well.
11. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me – The Cure – The first song alone (“The Kiss”) is enough for this album to make the list. “The Kiss” is one of their darkest songs, and it’s amazingly well-done. Oddly enough, the album is also home to one of their brightest songs, “Just Like Heaven.” The Cure were competent and comfortable in their form by this album, and the songs just seem so natural to the musicians playing them. My favorite Cure album.
12. The Sunset Tree – Mountain Goats – When John Darnielle set out to write an album about his life with an abusive step-father, he surprised everyone by putting out an optimistic album that displays a deep respect for the man while not excusing his behavior. The album offers hope to any who find themselves in the same spot. The album also represents a musical milestone for John, bringing his music to a new level by showing a skill and depth not seen on earlier albums.
13. The White Album – The Beatles – I don’t profess to be familiar with the entire Beatles catalogue—I know a lot of songs, but I don’t know their album contexts. So this choice may be based on some silly reasons. One, it has some of my favorite songs on it: “Happiness is a Warm Gun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” to name two. Two, this is a double album, so you get more songs (thirty, to be exact). The album is fun, but not off-the-wall like Sgt. Pepper’s. It also contains some very clever social commentary in the form of satire in songs like “Happiness is a Warm Gun” and “Piggies.” Overall, a great album.

I thank God every day I go to church and don’t hear these guys.

“He is like a Mountie
He always gets his man
And he’ll zap you any way he can—zap!”

Silly or genius? We may never know.

I just realized that even though I have a list of recommendations on my site for music, movies, and such, most people will never listen to the bands I have listed there because it’s hard to find music to sample before buying a CD. Well, here are some songs from bands I like. Check them out and see if you like them too.

Explosions in the Sky – “The Birth and Death of the Day”:

The intro’s a little weird, so make sure to listen past that to get to the real song.

Mountain Goats – “This Year” (although the intro is from another song):

The video’s a little cheesy, but the song is great.

Neko Case – “Maybe Sparrow”:

Neko was featured on the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums. I don’t know which song exactly, but she was on there.

Tilly and the Wall – “Rainbows in the Dark”:

Yes, that’s a tap dancer instead of a drummer.

Mogwai – “Friend of the Night”:

Ambient rock at its finest.

Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)”:

Wholesome indy rock for the whole family!

Dropkick Murphys – “The Warrior’s Code”:

The greatest Celtic punk band of all time. Punk + bagpipes = awesome

The Shins – “Phantom Limb”:

Great band. Check ‘em out.

The Pillows – “Hybrid Rainbows”:

Fun Japanese rock. There’s actually an anime show (FLCL) with the whole soundtrack done by these guys. It’s awesome.

The Seatbelts – “Tank”:

This band, along with Japanese composer Yoko Kanno, did the entire soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop, one of the best animes ever produced. Most of the soundtrack is killer jazz.

Radiohead – “Let Down”:

Sad and beautiful and moving all at the same time. The album this song is on, OK Computer, might be my favorite album of all time.

Muse – “Butterflies and Hurricanes”:

Imagine a theatrical version of Radiohead and you get Muse. Make sure to wait for the classical piano solo. In the studio, it’s the lead singer doing all of the piano work as well as lead vocals and guitars.

Observer comme ce concurrent de concours de beauté joue le thème de Star Wars sur sa trompette:

Sacre bleu! Qu’un embarras aux concurrents de beauté et le métal cuivre!

Ce texte est en français parce que Janelle et Nathan ont écrit déjà de lui dans l’anglais. Poste prochaine: Yoda en Espagnol!

Killer worship set by the Slackers of Valhalla! Jason Watson led, and I played the crap out of my congas. Also joining us were Cory Ryan on guitars, vocals, and keyboard; Amy on violin and vocals; Roberio on drums; and Wagner (I think that’s his name… seriously!) on bass.

I really miss playing with a whole band. Don’t get me wrong—playing with Melanie is great—but I miss playing with a larger group as well.

Ok, a quick aside: Franny totally just grabbed Zoey’s tail and bit it. I think she’s going to do it again. She did.

Anyway, I’m exhausted. Good job, Slackers! Good night!

Justice Jam 2008 is in the planning stages right now, and we’re getting ready to start promotion. Check out the website:

http://www.justicejam.com

Apparently, the Beatles were the first Christian rock band.

Very, very interesting for a lot of reasons—mainly because of the general disdain between the Beatles and the church, despite both claiming to be “Christ’s biggest fans.”

Today, I look at bands like Creed and Guster—both of whom use religious symbolism in their songs—and wonder how many closet Jesus bands there are out there. And I’m not trying to say that this is purely the fault of the Christian community at large. Many people outside of the Christian camp form their opinions of Christianity on the outbursts of a forceful, vocal minority. Disgusted or no, you have to be pretty calloused or blind to miss all the good that religion is actually doing in the world. (And yes, I believe that it has historically been one of the most destructive forces in the world. That’s another discussion altogether, but I think the tides are turning.)

And on the flip side, I wonder how many Christians would embrace modernity (or, more specifically, Postmodernity) if they understood how much it defined what they already believed (and how in line it is with the Bible). In the book Finding Common Ground, Tim Downs verbally attacks Postmodernism in one chapter, and then spends the rest of the chapter talking about how art is the new instrument of truth and how we need to appeal not only to people’s intellects, but also to their emotional imaginations—extremely Postmodern concepts.

An interesting fact: John Lennon was actually the original choice to play Jesus in Jesus Christ, Superstar, but turned down the role. Just saying.

Tonight, I played “What if God was One of Us,” “I Hope You Dance,” “I Dare You to Move,” and “How Great Thou Art.” With the same group. For the same audience. At church.

Check it out—the SEO rapper:

http://theseorapper.wordpress.com

I want to see someone apply for a job in search engine optimization, and when they ask you what experience you have, you say, “I learned this stuff in the streets.”