what is good music?

the other day i came across this article which posses a question about recognizing fine art. its a pretty cool social experiment- a world renowned violinist, joshua bell, plays his best music in a train station as commuters head off to their offices. would anyone notice the world class music, or would they pass it by and not even recognize it for what it is?

the article explains the set up and the results of performing such an experiement. it is a long article, but incredibly interesting. it reminded me of a very important lesson: stop and smell the roses (or, in this case, stop and hear the music).

relient k: five score and seven years ago

finally, a new album. i got into these guys a couple years ago when i got their last album 'mmhmm' for christmas. i wasnt very interested in it, but i was told that i should be. ok. so i gave it a try and it started to grow on me. i began listening to it incessently and quoting the lyrics to friends every chance i could get.

well, the boys have finally released their next album. i am expecting mediocrity, so my sites arent set too high. after getting into 'mmhmm' i went back and checked out some of their older stuff. i picked up 'two lefts dont make a right...' and was sorely disappointed.

i picked up the new one earlier this week. i havent had much time to listen to it yet, but so far i am liking it. it doesnt seem to break any new grounds musically, most of the songs sound similar to the last album, but im going to give it some time and take a good look at the lyrics before it decide if its going on the 'heavy rotation' pile, or the 'at least it makes a good coaster' pile.

brothers martin

a couple weeks ago i picked up an album i had been awaiting for quite some time: the brothers martin. if you are unaware, then i will explain who this is: it is the collaboration between the lead singer of joy electric, and the lead singer of starflyer 59. the reason they are collaborating is because they are brothers. and their last name is martin. clever, huh?
the album is very enjoyable (i like both bands seperately, so it wasnt a big surprise that i would like them together...) and the sound is exactly what i expected. there are mellow guitars, like sf59, and there are blippy synths, like joy electric.
the way the collaborated is a bit interesting. it seems that there is only one song that they sing together on, and the rest of them are split up every other song. its clear that they each took turns coming up with the skeleton of the song, and the other one was in charge of filling up the backgrounds. its sounds strange, but the two styles complement each other quite well.
the songs are very catchy, and i look forward to getting more and more familiar with them and singing along (loudly) in my car!

new joy electric song!!!

last night i finally got to go to the joy electric myspace site and hear the new song 'red will dye snows of silver' from their upcoming 'the otherly opus'. about all i could get myself to say (besides girly shreeks of glee) was 'wow.'
it is very different than what he has done in the past, typically his music is very melody focused, with little or no bass or strong beat. also, the vocals have always been secondary. ronnie martin himself has said that he is not a singer, he only does enough to service the song. it seems that he has gone a very different direction for this song, and hopefully the whole ablum. there is a shift to focusing more on what can be done with vocals- and it sounds fantastic!
on his blog he has stated how rough of a process this album was to make, but the last time he said that was about 'the white songbook' which i would consider his best. so, maybe his frustration means we will be getting another masterpiece from the master of the moog!

the otherly opus

This is the cover art for the new joy electric album. it comes out march 20. ive always loved the covers they have for their albums, they are always interesting, yet simple. i think this one is just plain beautiful. i cant wait for the album itself!!!

newsboys: GO

over christmas i got the new 'newsboys' album called 'go'. ive always had a soft spot for this group, it being one of the first to get me interested in christian music in the first place. i was in high school and my friend nathan brought a few new cds over for all of us to listen to. the highlights were 'take me to your leader' from newsboys, and the first album from audio adrenaline. we all totally loved them! i convinced my mom to get them for me (i figured she would be ok with footing the bill since it was 'christian' music).
i listened to the newsboys album all the time, we even went to go see them in concert a few times. what i liked about them was that their music was catchy, but the lyrics were also witty and a bit silly. (a song about how they dont serve breakfast in hell? rediculous...) over the next few albums of theirs i still loved their sound and catchy hooks, but i grew tired of the lyrics which grew more and more forced in their attempt to be quirky. i still got some of the later album of theirs but i kept them on rotation in the player for less and less time. finally when they totally sold out to jump on the worship music bandwagon, i decided it was time to part company. all the best guys, but this is the end of the road for me...
but then they released this album. i was sceptical at first, but the more and more i listened to it the more and more i grew to love it! there are some really great songs that change up their typical sound and bring into play some new elements that they havent really used before. there is a song called 'your love is better than life' that has an element of spoken lyrics (actually, it kind of reminds me of u2's song 'numb', only happier), and the title track even has a bit of a club sound to it. all of which adds up to some exciting songs and fresh takes from these guys. as far as the lyrics go, the are still thoughtful and well written, but that forced quirkiness is thankfully gone.
its good to see an old favorite return to form and surprise with such a great album!

verve pipe concert

this past saturday night i once again had the opportunity to see 'the verve pipe'. they are one of my favorite bands and have been able to see them quite a bit (they are originally from grand rapids). they broke up about five years ago, but i guess they are now making a tradition of a christmas weekend concert at the Intersection.
the concert was a blast. another local band that kind of made it big opened up for them, papa vegas. i had been preparing myself by listening to papa vegas a bit lately, so as to reacquaint myself with their stuff (i dont ever have to reacquaint myself with verve pipes stuff, because i know them all by heart...) and really enjoyed their performance. before they started playing i got a chance to chat with brian vander ark (verve pipes lead singer) for a bit. he actually remembered me from the last show i saw him at (where i was one of 11 audience members. great story, ill share it another time). also, i talked with a guy named brandon- he was one of the people who was on rockstar:inxs last year! kind of strange to see him there. actually, its stranger that i was able to recognize him...
around 11:15 verve pipe came on and it was awesome! they played so many hits. just about everything from their villians album, and two or three from each other album too! they even through in a song they recorded for the soundtrack for 'great expectations' called 'her ornament'. they played a couple of songs from brians solo stuff, but the focus was certainly on the old stuff. one of the biggest highlights was the appearance of griff. if you have ever seen this man in action with a harmonica, then you know who much fun he brings to the stage. at one point there were actually 9 musicians on stage singing/playing/being crazy just loving the fact that they were back together again! it was very obvious that they were enjoying themselves just as much as the audience was. they ended up playing a two hour show- the longest ive ever seen them on stage.
definitely a great time, and i look forward to seeing them again next year.

a strange playlist

im finding some interesting changes in my listening choices since i got an mp3 player. im still in the process of converting all my cds onto it (mostly because i keep forgetting to bring my cds with me when i go online) but ive got a good collection of about a thousand songs on it so far.
the big change ive been noticing is that ive been listening to a lot larger variety of music. yesterday i was cleaning around the house listening to my player. i started off with a little joy electric, then i moved on to our lady peace, then i sang along to jonny cash, which brought me to nirvana, and that oddly lead me to the prince of egypt soundtrack, which of course flows directly into the beauty and the beast soundtrack, and the listening session finally ended with a bit of radiohead. does it get much weirder than that?
i totally love the freedom to switch between my whole collection, but its also really wierd...

bleach: farewell, old friends

back in college a good friend of mine, joel, was totally obsessed with the band bleach. he would always talk about them and try to get everyone else to listen to them and try to see in them what he saw (ive never done that with bands i like...) i tried, but i just never got into them.
a few months ago i was in bakker bookhouse (a christian bookstore in gr) and saw their latest cd, 'farewell, old friends' in the cheap bin, so on a whim i picked it up. i gave it a good listen and really enjoyed it. come to find out, it was their last cd because they broke up. great timing, as always. i guess i owe joel an apology...
since i am back in town i headed back over to bakker bookhouse, and much to my surprise, there was another cd by them in that same bargin bin! its called 'audio/visual' and its actually a best-of type of album. its got 18 songs, and it comes with a full concert dvd with it! i guess i can check out the old stuff that joel obsessed over all those years ago.

the new stuff

over the past month ive gone on a new music buying spree. i didnt intend to, its just the way it worked out! i went a few months without buying any new music, but ive just gotten caught in an avalanche! i havent had time to properly digest any of the yet, because i keep switching between them... as i spend more time with them i'll comment about them here, but until then, this is the current rotation:

jars of clay- good monsters
bleach- fairwell, old friends
andrew osenga- the morning
brian vander ark- angel put your face on
skillet- comatose
starflyer 59- my island
phil joel- deliberate people

a new world awaits!

this past summer my parents bought me an mp3 player for my birthday. it was a really cool gift and i was very excited about it. the problem was that at the time i didnt have a computer and so there was really no way for me to use it! so, with there blessing, i brought it back and just set the money aside for a later time.
well, this weekend the time came. yesterday i went out and joined the digital age and bought a computer. i still had that extra cash sitting around, so i decided to buy an mp3 player too! i didnt exactly know what i wanted, but i knew i didnt want an ipod. i know they are supposed to be the coolest thing and all that, but it just seems like they are more style than substance. so, instead i got a sansa. ive been told that they are pretty decent quality, and the one that they had at the store was an amazing deal. i got a 6 gig for cheaper than a 2 gig ipod.
i have been spending the weekend playing with my new computer and this new mp3 player (oh, it does videos too, but i havent figured out how to do that stuff yet...) and now im starting to see why everyone loves these things so much! im in the process of loading my cd collection on it. i think im really going to test its limits as far as storage goes! ive already got about 4oo songs on it!

sufjan stevens

i never have, nor ever will consider myself a 'hipster' when it comes to music. but i try to at least keep in the loop with who is getting a lot of buzz. ive been hearing about this guy a lot for the past six months or so, but ive never been able to actually hear his music.
well, yesterday i finally did. and i have to ask: whats the big deal? i listened to his illinois album and didnt really care for it. he has an amazing voice, which i loved, but heres the problem: the music is very eclectic. that is usually a good thing, but from what i listened to (about the first half of the album twice) its too eclectic. its all over the place. now, i understand what hes going for here, hes trying to incorporate all the music that is a part of the state and trying to tie it all in to have an authentic representation of the culture that is illinois. i get that part, but im not interested. i like an album with an eclectic feel, but this one seems to have every eclectic feel it can strong-arm into one disc. the way i typically listen to music is by poping in a cd and listening straight through. i dont like 'shuffle', and i rarely like compilation cds. i like albums that have a unified sound. they dont all have to have the same tempo or volume, but i like it when the artist uses the same aural language through out. with this album each song sounded completely different (except that they all sounded like he was trying too hard to be strange). one song would be just woodwinds, the next would have a xylephone and bells, the next would have drums and guitars. i dont know, maybe my musical tastes are a bit more restricted than i thought, but i wont be jumping on the sufjan bandwagan anytime soon. i guess i will remain 'unhip'.

our lady peace: healthy in paranoid times

ive really liked these guys going all the way back to their first us single: superman's dead. i picked up that album, 'clumsy', and really enjoyed it. their next one, 'happiness...', wasnt quite as good. it was mostly just a bunch of angry songs. a very angry album, to be sure. i wasnt sure if i should even bother with their album after that. i am very glad i did. 'spritiual machines' is the best of their career, i still listen to it often. their next, 'gravity', was good, but it felt like they had been forced to loose their original sound so that they could be more sucessful. the best part of the group are the catchy melodies and the totally unique voice of the lead singer. one of his trademarks is that he constantly changes from normal voice to a really high falsetto. which, amazingly, works really well. on 'gravity' we rarely hear that range, instead it seemed like someone told him that he could only sing normally, so he doesnt 'frighten the kids'.
their latest i got a little while ago, but i didnt give it the time it needed. i think i only listened to it once (i really should know better than to buy two cds at once, this happens every time i do...). its called 'healthy in paranoid times'. its good that the singer is back to his old ways with the vocals, but the problem with this one is something else. there are alot of great melodies on the cd, the only problem is that they get cut off. there will be a great set-up for an awesome chorus, but then it just kind of changes its mind and limps of in another direction. one of the starkest examples is the song 'wipe that smile off your face'. the song has a strong flow to it and the vocals are some of his best, and then half way through the chorus the cool flow is dropped and replaced with a crappy lame sneer.
oh well. ill still keep holding out for a proper follow up to 'spiritual machines'.

andrew osenga

oh, where to begin? lets try the beginning... (this is going to be a long one) music is a powerful thing. it can change a mood, it can shape an experience, it can altar a way of thinking. some music i listen to is just for the good tunes and the catchy lyrics to keep my mind busy while driving or hanging out, bands like joy electric would fit that role for me. but then there is another side to music; the side that challenges me and challenges my mind and heart. for that i go to andrew osenga.
here's the story: back in college i used to get free stuff from forefront records (i have no idea how i pulled of that scam, but i got a few good cds out of the deal), one of the cds i got was called 'better than this' by a band called 'the normals'. i gave it a spin, but wasn't very impressed. i pushed it off to the side and instead listened to the skillet cd i got. my college buddy bob asked if he could borrow it. sure, so he did. after a week or two he kept talking about that cd and how great it was. just to shut him up, i told him i would give it another try. i did. slowly the songs got to me and seeped into my head. they were catchy and deep, definitely a rarity in christian music at the time.
as leaders on dordt's campus, bob and i were in charge of planning some student activities. we used our pull to convince the people in charge that we should invite the normals to come and perform at our college. and it worked! mostly it was a ploy to meet the guys and hear them live. they guys were as cool as i could have hoped for, and i got to meet the lead singer, named andrew osenga.
after a time i heard that they were releasing a second album, and bob and i got really excited. when it arrived (miraculously free, again) i was blown away by the change in sound. their album 'coming to life' was one of the richest, deepest, most lyrically challenging album i had heard up until that point. i thought it put their first record to shame with the leaps and bounds of musical growth evident on the new record. oddly enough, bob disagreed and soon lost interest in the band. me, on the other hand, i was obsessed! again, i pulled a few strings, and arranged for the band to come to our college the next year. this time, it was even better, they were the headliners, their lineup had changed a bit, and they were now able to create that full lush sound in concert. (one of the highlights for me, which i had never seen done before: there was a part of one of the songs where the guitarists put their guitars up to their faces and yelled into them to create a stunningly haunting and beautiful sound) they must have made other fans as well, because the following year, at which point i was no longer involved with planning events, they were asked back for a third year in a row! (at that concert andy announced 'we have decided that we are now the official band of dordt college!')
eventually the band released a third album. by this time i was out of college and living on my own far from anyone i knew. because of this fact, their next album became a very important one to me. its title 'a place where you belong' became a safe place in the storm i was going through. i was entering a new chapter in my life, beginning a job in the working world, in a new place on my own, and not knowing anyone. the song 'ill be home soon' helped me make it through many long and lonely weeks. it became a bit of an anthem for me.
then i heard the bad news. the normals had split up. i was crushed.
but soon after i found out that andrew osenga was going to continue writing and recording on his own. i have been following him ever since, and each release has been better than the last. he has since put out a full length release, 'photographs', and a short release called 'souvenirs and postcards'. now, he has just released his latest self-produced album 'the morning.' i haven't heard it yet, but i know it will be filled with truth, depth, and beautiful music.
if you have any interest in andrew, or his music, check out his website, or check out a few songs you can listen to for free.

third eye blink

ive been digging out some of my older cds. mostly mid/late 90s stuff. i pulled out this cd by 'third eye blind' and gave it a spin. wow. i had forgotten how many great songs this album has on it! i am almost ashamed to admit this thought, because i remember my friends and i making fun of people who liked this band. but i think i am going to officially chance my opinion on these guys. i dont really remember them having any more hits after this album (but thats ok, because this album had about 5 #1 hits on it), they burned bright, but burned out fast. maybe i will have to hit up the used cd shop and fish out some of their other stuff, see if there might be some undiscovered gems.