Vagabonds
by
The Classic Crime The title to The Classic Crime's latest long player implies a certain need to travel; and while the alternative rock act is no stranger to touring, the inspiration actually comes from a more missions-minded...
Eternity Invades
by
Vicky Before UK born and bred singer/songwriter, Vicky Beeching, began her pursuit of professional music she enrolled as a theology student at Britain's renowned Oxford University to ensure her spirit-led songs...
Miracle
by
Robbie Seay Band Quick disclaimer: What I don't mean to say is "if you've heard one Robbie Seay Band album, you've heard them all." At the same time, RSB's latest batch of worshipful pop/rock tunes, entitled Miracle, features...
THE CURE FOR COMMON ILLS | Posted September-29-2008
Continuing a 13-year career, music mogul Bryan Winchester (aka Braille) hits the pavement again for his fourth solo release. The IV Edition speaks to societal issues and the needs that each of us face in life, while keeping with Braille’s personal and honest approach to songwriting.
The title track offers a call to action for listeners, stating that we can each be an “IV” that delivers the remedy for social ills. Later, “The Cure” explains that the remedy goes beyond the basic needs of life in the physical sense, but extends into our spiritual lives and our need for grace, forgiveness and redemption that can only come from Christ. Braille also includes personal verses about his recently passed father and the importance of family.
Musically, Braille mixes things up nicely, pulling from beatsmiths such as Marco Polo, The Are and fellow Lightheaded crew member, Ohmega Watts, among others, as well as including guest verses from the likes of Mr J (The Procussions), Speech (Arrested Development), Theory Hazit (Scribbling Idiots) and others. The result is a sound that appeals to fans of all varieties of hip-hop music and lyrical content that reaches listeners from every walk of life. –Brenten Gilbert
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
TRIBBETT & G.A. | Posted September-29-2008
Tye Tribbett & Greater Anointing’s (G.A.) latest effort, Stand Out, lives up to its moniker with driving rhythms that differentiate this gospel album from most. Stand Out sounds more like a rock album than a typical gospel-flavored record. The title track opens the CD and firmly reiterates the themes of Tye’s last project—authority and victory in Christ.
Though the album was recorded live, the choir and band sound flawless. As various singers offer up their respective pieces of praise, their voices are also captured well, which is impressive for a live recording.
For those unfamiliar with gospel music, Tye Tribbett & G.A. are a good starter group to introduce new listeners to this genre. “I Need You” and “Let Us Worship” make great corporate worship songs. The instrumentation and haunting vocal arrangements of “Prodigal” depict the urgency of coming back to Christ after a time away from Him. The music of “I Made It Through” is comparable to a sonic circus, but it works considering the subject matter of the song; life is often chaotic and feels like a three-ring circus, but God is faithful to bring us through.
The final track, “Good In The Hood,” is a restorative reminder that not every person who grew up dealing with hard things in life is on drugs or in jail somewhere. As Tye himself says in the song, “I know there’s a lot of bad out there, but there’s a lot of good, too.” “Good in the Hood” could fare well at mainstream rap and hip-hop radio, and it would do listeners a lot of good to hear it. –Lindsay Scranton
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
INDIE STALWART | Posted September-29-2008
Prolific indie mainstay Justin McRoberts scales things back on Deconstruction, his seventh album and fifth as an autonomous singer/songwriter. Unlike his previous opus, the striking Grace Must Wound, McRoberts steeps this new set of ruminations in an understated folk motif, not unlike the work of fellow faith travelers Derek Webb and Andrew Peterson.
The idea behind this low-key approach is to not distract from the disc’s overarching premise: the fragility of humanity when removed from the context of the divine. McRoberts is unafraid to take a stab at the world’s deep-set notions about religion, particularly the misconception that belief in God—not man’s self-sufficiency or misplaced affections—is to blame for the plight of this age. Naturally, tackling such a heady subject matter renders Deconstruction a somber, at-times glum disc: one can only take so much dissection of one’s own decadence without beginning to feel sorry for being caught in the human predicament.
But McRoberts doesn’t dwell on the now. Progressively, hope somehow begins to shine through, ultimately breaking forth in the expectant, near-apocalyptic “Until There Is No Tomorrow” and the declaratory “My Only Victory.” That last song is perhaps the closest thing to a battle cry on the entire record, as well as the best indicator that Deconstruction, in the main, is intended as a signpost for Christ—the quintessential example that a human was never meant to trust his own devices, but rather those of the One who sent him. –Andree Farias
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
DECENT AMBIENT MODERN WORSHIP LP | Posted September-29-2008
As a worship leader for West End Community Church in Nashville, Bryan Brown certainly has practiced and sung countless modern worship classics and knows them well. This much is evident on his latest, Shine, as hints of almost every staple epic, atmospheric worship artist introduced in the last decade is found here in abundance (though all the songs are personally penned by Brown).
Echoes of Phil Wickham, Hillsong United, Tim Hughes and standard Brit-rock tendencies are all over Shine, including the title track, “Glorious,” “Breaking Me” and especially “Sing.” The acoustic “Nothing” closes the album and is worth getting to, featuring Brown’s fine guitar work and simple, pretty refrain. It’s a heart’s vulnerable prayer that brings the listener back as well as anything on Shine.
All the songs here will fit well into the modern worship canon, and that’s both the good and bad for Brown. There’s not much here that will stand out from other projects already on your shelves, but then again, some new songs to sing amidst the retreads is a nice option. –Matt Conner
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
ROCKING IS ELEMENTAL | Posted September-29-2008
You have to admire Thrice’s compulsion to push the envelope. Given the aggressive and progressive music of the band’s fine last effort, Vheissu, who could blame them for keeping things simple this time out. But the breadth and depth of The Alchemy Index, musically and conceptually, suggests this immanently modern rock quartet will continue display a grasp that exceeds its reach.
Vocalist and lyricist Dustin Kensrue put his faith in simple, straightforward terms in the solo singer/songwriter disc Please Come Home, but with Thrice he tends for the larger metaphorical question. No less spiritually insightful, Kensrue asks “Are you free?” as the Fire disc begins. In “the Arsonist” he explores a pyromaniac’s self-destructive urge in the assertion: “I love this city enough that I’ll set it ablaze.” Fire offers fierce examples of the band’s hardcore aggression (Isaiah never sounded more punk than the shouted response in “The Messenger”), while Water moves into the quieter, moody, more ethereal “Digital Sea,” where keyboards and computerized “ones and zeros” replace organic rock instrumentation.
Even as we anticipate Vols. III and IV: Earth & Air—already recorded and to be released in April—the first two chapters suggest a band with a big vision and the patience, commitment and creativity to achieve greatness. - Brian Quincy Newcomb
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
AIR AND EARTH COMPLETE THE SET | Posted September-29-2008
Concept records are by nature a tricky business—requiring a subject matter vast and challenging enough to get the creative juices flowing, and yet something that lends itself to manageable musical interpretation. By focusing on the four essential elements in The Alchemy Index (Vols. I & II dealt with Fire and Water), post-modern rockers Thrice have sought to match their musical approach to that which they want to explore.
Thus, Fire rocked with ferocious intensity, and Water bubbled with digital fluidity. Here, in the two EP length six-song discs that finish the series, Thrice lets Air float and drift on lofty melodies, while Earth takes a darker, wooden acoustic turn. But concepts can bind as much as inspire, and Vol. IV especially lacks the higher energy level and intensity that worked to give the previous sets a greater weight.
In Air, lyricist singer Dustin Kensrue continues to grasp at spiritual concepts while grappling with the current fixation on terror. “Broken Lungs” chronicles the debilitating illness that follow World Trade Center workers in the aftermath of 9/11, while “The Sky Is Falling,” a musical high point, reveals the struggle to not be ruled by one’s fears. “Daedalus” addresses the Icarus story from Greek mythology and the dangers of flying too close to the sun.
The folky blues leanings of Earth sound the closest to Kensrue’s solo record and faith witness, Please Come Home. “Moving Mountains” rewrites 1 Corinthians 13 as a confession that, “I don’t know the first thing about love.” “Come All You Weary” finds the singer offering the invitation of Jesus to those burdened and hungry to a welcome table of friendly communion. “Digging My Own Grave” and “Child of Dust” are drawn to the final resting place of our bodies, while our souls long to be set free. –Brian Quincy Newcomb
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
THE PERFECT SUMMER SOUNDTRACK | Posted September-29-2008
Sweeping piano melodies, haunting strings, ethereal vocals… Wait, this is a rock band? Yep. Superchick is back. After three years void of new studio content, the girl-powered innovators have emerged with an album so good it virtually demands listening. Don’t get the wrong idea, though, they’re here to rock. Tracks “Rock What You Got,” “Alive” and “Cross the Line” rely on the hefty guitar riffs that Superchick is happy to provide. On “So Beautiful,” the Brock sisters give girls everywhere another anthem with lyrics like “We were meant to be more than these shadows of girls,” backed by a gutsy guitar that definitely means business.
Creative genius and member Max Hsu dons the role of producer on this album, and he somehow outdoes himself on every track. His meshing of crisp vocal stylings looped through orchestral arrangements is flawless, and it reaches a crescendo on “Stand in the Rain (symphonic mix).” Here, Hsu proves Superchick has evolved well beyond its “Barlow Girl” days by masterfully mixing an urgent and beautiful vocal with soaring strings and a piano solo that marks this track as true art. This project will surely become the band’s defining moment, and listeners will be hitting repeat on tracks like “Hey Hey” all summer long. –Grace Cartwright
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
FALL AND WINTER | Posted September-29-2008
It takes about three full spins to rinse the Switchfoot expectations from your mind. After all, Jon Foreman isn’t a solo artist, but the well-known figure of a prominent band—so no excuses are necessary if you take the requisite moment(s) I did. But after the mental shift, you’ll be glad you stuck around; Foreman’s solo turns are absolutely brilliant.
The first two of four planned seasonally-titled EPs, Fall and Winter, spin largely acoustic yarns of bedroom solitude. Yet, seasonal depression never sounded this good. Foreman now has permission to dive deep into the dark places that a radio rock band (and a Christian one at that!) won’t allow, and he takes full advantage, exploring the melancholy side of his own life (“Lord, Save Me From Myself,” “Learning How To Die”) or those he sees (“Somebody’s Baby”).
Musically, Foreman stretches his unplugged wings as wide as he can, from the guzheng—a Chinese zither of sorts—on “In Love” to the slow gospel march on “I Am Still Running.” The straight-from-Scripture approach of “White As Snow” melds harmonics with popular Psalms. The haunting “My Love Goes Free” seems to utilize a piano that hasn’t been kept properly. All in all, Foreman keeps a potentially sleepy EP from being just that.
But the primary beauty of these seasons is in the lyrical confessions found in a vulnerable front man allowing you into his heart. Foreman’s delicate falsetto, especially on “My Love Goes Free,” expresses pain in ways most artists don’t even attempt to strive toward. Foreman is indeed the humble genius we believed he was, with Fall and Winter serving as some of the strongest evidence to date. - Matt Conner
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
FOREMAN SHINES BRIGHTLY ON NEW SEASONAL EPS | Posted September-29-2008
The seasonal artistic responses of Jon Foreman absolutely come alive on the final two of four entries, Spring and Summer. And, given the themes represented, that much should be obvious before even listening to them.
But for those who found Fall and Winter a few too many shades toward the dark side, these two EPs are just what you’ve been waiting for. The material gets sunnier on the Summer EP, and that’s where the most fun is had. “Resurrect Me” reminds the listener of Jars of Clay’s “Revolution” for its on-stage frivolity. “A Mirror is Harder to Hold” is a lighter, Sufjan tune with acoustics and horns matching wits, and Spring’s “Baptize My Mind” shifts its unplugged time signatures brilliantly. Summer’s “Instead of a Show” is a slightly Western-themed hammock tune, and “In My Arms” is a simply sung ballad of love and longing.
So far, each disc in the Foreman solo collective seems to possess one signature piece, and the same is true of these EPs. Spring boasts “Your Love is Strong”—a five minute, alluring acoustic build that uses strings, rhythmic strumming and Foreman’s vulnerable vocal reach to haunt the listener long after the song has ended. Summer responds with closing track “Again.” The song is a beautiful refrain asking God to remind his people of what He can and will do for them. And so again, Foreman displays brilliant sonic works of art for those willing to enter into his solo gallery. –Matt Conner
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
PERFECT BLEND OF ORIGINALS AND RARITIES | Posted September-29-2008
Hard to believe it’s been a decade. And I certainly never figured they’d last this long. The maturation of Relient K from its childish, gimmicky (yet completely valid) tongue-in-cheek delivery toward intelligent modern rock territory has caused most original critics to place foot-in-mouth, myself included. The band’s discography has charted such impressive growth that Five Score’s Top 6 Billboard debut wasn’t that surprising.
So to celebrate the last 10 years, Gotee is releasing The Bird and the Bee Sides—a 26-track mega-release of new material and rarities featuring both the laugh- and thought-provoking. Did you expect anything different? Each member takes turns with the songwriting and vocals on the disc’s first half, which is where 13 all-new originals are found.
Vocalist Matt Thiessen’s “At Least We Made It This Far” stands as the clear highlight and seems to serve as foreshadowing (hopefully) for a future side project. Bassist John Warne’s “The Last, The Lost, The Least” is a solid fist-raising anthem a la Sherwood, and “No Reaction” goes lo-fi, ska-influenced punk. “Curl Up And Die” features a perfect string arrangement to appropriately back the acoustic tune, while “There Was Another Time In My Life” continues the serious side on a beautiful piano number.
But Relient K certainly knows how to lighten the mood, and those tracks are plentiful here. “Bee Your Man” is predictably silly, maybe too silly with Taco Bell references included. The same can largely be said of “A Penny Loafer Saved Is A Penny Loafer Earned.” With all involved, it’s an overwhelming project, but one deserving of your dollars. These are more than just throwaway tunes; instead, the album is a fan’s dream before the next Relient K studio project releases. –Matt Conner
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
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