joy electric: montgolfier and the romantic balloons

last week i received an early christmas present. granted, i bought it for myself, but it still counts. in the mail came the latest release from joy electric (which, by the way, is the greatest band of all time.) and it is great!
joy electric is a very prolific band (20 releases in 11 years and counting...) lately the pattern for joy electric has been to release a full length album every year as well as a companion album that is shorter and more experimental. often the companions will have very unique songs as well as a few remixes from the full length. also, lately there has been at least one 'extra' release each year as well. last year it was a christmas album, this year it was the 'workmanship' vinyl.
the last full length album was called 'the ministry of archers', and it was really good. ever since the misstep of the tick tock treasury joy electric has been growing steadily stronger, including all the inbetween albums. 'ministry of archers' was his best since 'the white songbook' and this newest inbetween album continues the rising quality. the new songs are really good and surpringingly memorable, and the remixes are spot-on (which hasnt always been the case...) all in all, an excellent addition to the ever-expanding library from joy electric.

collective soul

dang. i forgot how much these guys rock! over the weekend directv was showing a free concert of collective soul. i guess it was just highlights from an upcoming live dvd. it was totally rocking good though. the coolest part was that they were being backed by the atlanta youth orchestra. which meant the four guys ripping it up with their guitars, and about 150 teenagers playing orchestral instruments behind them. it was totally awesome! some of the different renditions of their songs were mindblowing!
ive really enjoyed collective soul for many years now. i first gained an interest around the time of 'precious declaration', but i wasnt totally sold until the first time 'dosage' hit my ears. every thing since i have loved. they are actually one of the rare examples of a band that i actually enjoy their back catalog.
one of my favorite songs of theirs has always been 'crown' from dosage. and it just so happens that they best part of the concert is during this song (go figure...) during this song ed (the lead singer) dedicates it to his father who just died last year. he proceeds to sing the entire song without any guitars (which is shocking for collective soul) and only the music of the strings in the orchestra. wow. a truly moving moment. and they end with a rock your socks off finale with 'feels like' from 'youth.'

joy electric: ministry of archers vinyl

one of my favorite bands in the whole world is the genius known as joy electric. my passion for them cannot really be explained. so i wont bother. the reason i even bring it up is that i finally (after about 3 months of waiting) have received their latest full length album on vinyl! i already have the album on cd, but the vinyl one has two extra songs on it, so i of course had to buy it. i am really excited to finally have it. the only problem now is that i dont actually own a record player. oops. probably should have thought that one through, huh?

weird...

yesterday i heard what might be the funniest thing ever. i heard the music group hanson doing a cover of 'optimistic' from Kid A by radio head. wow. i dont think i could have ever put those two together. what a strange combo... and you know what? i kind of dug it.

reliant k: apathetic ep

i know that reliant k has a certain image among many people. most people see them as a group for 12 year old girls. and for the most part i would agree with you. i would, at least, until i got their last cd "mmhmm." it was actually given to me by one of my student for christmas last year (at the time, she was a 12 year old girl. oh the irony...) and i figured id give it a try. im glad that i did. ive heard their old cds and dismissed them as bubble-gum pop that was trying to be silly. for the mmhmm album they totally grew up! there are amazing songs about love, life, death, and taxes. a fantastic album. probably one i would put on a list of must-haves if stranded on an island.
anyway, they just put out a follow-up ep called "apothetic." i picked it up yesterday and its pretty cool so far. there are three accoustic versions of old songs, and four new songs. one of them , called in like a lion is inspired by the narnia books. (actually, im not really sure if it is, but it sure sounds like it...) on first listen, i would say that its a good ep, but it feels really lopsided. the first two songs are more agressive and rocky, but then there are three accoustic songs, and the last two new ones are fairly quite as well. ill keep listening and write again when i have a better feel for the disk.

kevin max: the imposter

i got into christian rock when i was in middle school. my first introduction was the self titled cd by audio adrenaline. (i know, i know, i apologize, but back then i thought it was cool...) another band i thought was cool (and i will still defend this one) was dc talk. i got into them with the jesus freak cd, but really loved the supernatural album. when they announced they were breaking up i was pritty disappointed. then they all released solo stuff. like most people, i was first drawn to toby mac. his song extreme days totally rocks. but i thought the rest of the album was crappy "i want to be a hip hop star" filler. so i moved on. next, i checked out tait. i dug it actually. i really enjoyed his first album, and rather liked his second. i liked it, but never really got into it. on a whim i decided to check out kevin max's album. i gave it a listen, and decided it sucked, so i tucked it away for about 3 years. this spring i happened across it again after all this time. figured id give it a spin, an fell in love! wow! for some reason, all these years later, it really connects with me. i tracked down his short 7 song cd, and now have just gotten his latest from northern records. ive only been through it a few times so far, but i really like it! ill keep listening and get back to you about some of the details...

institute: distort yourself

i am a fan of the music group bush. i must admit that i came to the party a bit late. i wasnt really listening to that kind of music when they showed up on the scene. when i first got into them was actually after razorblade suitcase. unfortunately i had totally missed out on songs like come down and machine head. i went back and picked them up and really liked their first one, sixteen stone. i really got into them, for reasons i cant really explain, with the song the chemicals between us. i think it was the cool title of the album, the science of things, and the rad video for that song. but, i got that album and really dug it. years later they finally released a follow up with golden state. i didnt really care for it at first, but then it started to grow on me and i listened to it alot. actually, everytime i would play ssx3 video game i would put it on mute and listen to that album (i still instantly think of snowboarding every time i hear that cd) then the band broke up. doh...
i really dig gavin's stuff and was getting frustrated that he hadnt put any solo stuff out. his wife was getting all the attention, and the real musical genious of the family was playing second fiddle. well, finally this summer he released another album with a new band called institute. kind of a dumb name, but i can get over it. anyway, its totally awesome. ive had it in my car cd player for about the last month straight. it sounds exactly like bush, but the songs are so good, it sounds like a disc of bush's greatest hits.

a brief summary

i figured i would share a little bit about what i like to listen to. my musical tastes arent very strange at all. they are perfectly normal. if you think they are strange, perhaps it is just you who is the strange one, no?it would probably help to explain my music listening background. i grew up listening to country. not this crappy country thats so popular now, im talking REAL country music- like jonny cash, ronny milsap, oakridge boys, statler brothers, marty robbins, conway twitty, etc. as i began to choose what i wanted to listen to i was introduced by a couple friends to this whole 'christian rock' type stuff. so i started listening to stuff like audio adrenaline, newsboys, dc talk, etc. but i soon grew weary of the generic cookie cutter music and cheap lyrics. i started to explore the more offbeat christian music like joy electric, starflyer 59, ln, pony express, andrew osenga, etc. and still enjoy some of it. otherwise i like some of the stuff on the radio, but the past year or two i have found very few bands that i have any interest in. instead i just keep up with some older bands and enjoy their new stuff. bands like u2, our lady peace, black lab, bush (or now institute), nine inch nails, smashing pumpkins, verve pipe (or now brian vander ark), hootie and the blowfish, michael jackson, and a few others. anyway, thats my musical tastes in a nutshell. that should give you an idea of what kind of stuff i dig...