All Categories - DANformation (Formation in life. Information for life)

Owl City does worship music?

9/1/2010

If you're a fan of Owl City, the Postal Service or Death Cab for Cutie, then you've GOT to check this out! "An Epic, No Less" (ANOL) have put out an album of worship music that, if I didn't know any better, I would swear it was Owl City (if you're wondering who Owl City are, the odds are you've listened to the radio over the past year or two. If so, you've probably heard the catchy "Fireflies". That's Owl City). It's not just clever electronic music either, ANOL have some pretty deep lyrics. My favourite is their treatment of the hymn "The Love of God" - there's something special about hearing the following lyrics repackaged for today's teens / twentysomethings:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

My tip to you: check this out. Click the picture at the top of this page. For trading your email, this album can be yours for free (or pay what you want). In addition you can help promote it on your Facebook page.

Tallowood Kids: Writing God's word on your heart

8/5/2010

I downloaded this for my children. I know how much they love the songs at Vacation Bible School - long after the week is over, my oldest (aged four) can be heard singing the songs, even if she does get some of the words wrong (but insists that she has it correct, and I'm just deluded). For this year's VBS, she's convinced that the chorus to the VBS anthem goes "Oh, oh, oh, let the past voyage begin". Upon trying to correct her "It's VAST voyage", she will have NONE of it... She's right and I'm wrong.

Nevertheless, I digress...my point was to say that these songs write themselves on the children's hearts. I'm 30 years old and still catch myself singing songs I sang when I was in Sunday School...songs I've not sung for 20+ years! One that springs to mind (just so you know I'm not making this up) is:

In the stars His handiwork I see
On the wind He speaks with majesty
Though He ruleth over land and sea
What is that to me?

Then by faith I met Him face to face
And I felt the wonder of His grace
|And I knew that He was more than just a
God who didn't care
Who lived away up there

And now He walks beside me day by day
Ever watching over me lest I stray
Helping me to find that narrow way
He's everything to me

Songs that we learn as children can mark us indelibly. As Shashank Nakate writes, regarding memorization: "The process of singing helps in binding given words in a rhythm. The word then fits permanently into our memory. Singing is one of the earliest tips and techniques being used".During the dark times as we grow older, it's often these songs that can spring up unbidden (or Holy Spirit bidden) to minister to us when we do not have the words, when we do not have an answer. These are the sources of encouragement. This is why God commands us over and over and over again to sing songs! (see Psalm 104:33, 1 Cor 14:15, Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:16, James 5:13). Did you know that God even sings over us? (Zeph 3:17)

So what better thing to do than to find some Christian kids music that's based on scripture (or rather ripped, virtually word for word, from scripture? I mean, can you imagine your children / grandchildren as they grow up finding themselves caught in a period of doubt: "Does God really love me?", especially when circumstances seem to indicate otherwise? Or they've sinned and they loaded down to the ground with a profound sense of guilt. Well imagine if the following lyrics float to the surface of their consciousness at that moment?

Even his own son he did not spare
Even his own son he gave for us
How will he not also give all things to us?

So what then shall we say?
What then shall we say?

If God is for us, who can be against us?
If God is for us, who can be against us?

They would be drawn out of that pit of despair by the lifeline of scripture, embedded in a song. It's happened to me over and over again. I'm sure many of you have held tight onto a favourite hymn or worship song that just serves to reconnect you with your heavenly Father.

Click on the play button below to listen to the first song on the album "If God is for us" (based on Romans 8:31-32)

A few things about Tallowood Kid's "The Doorpost Songs (Next Generation)" that I like:

The kids don't overwhelm the songs - they sing them very well
The adults singers (Dave and Jess Ray) do a great job of complementing the children. I actually enjoyed listening to Dave and Jess's voices.
The songs are very well written, and steer well clear of the trite or cheesy. The melodies are fun, easy to sing but surprisingly complex (which keeps the songs interesting for a music snob like me)
The orchestration / instrumentation is fairly rocky with a heavy dose of pop. "Jesus love me", this ain't!
The songs are based on scripture and can aid in bible memorization

But the best, BEST thing is that you can get it free and legal. All you need to provide is your name and email address. If you're worried that, by supplying this basic info, you're opening yourself up to a floodgate of spam, don't worry. I downloaded the album quite a while ago, and I have yet to receive a single email from Tallowood Kids.

Get the album HERE (for free or a donation / tip)
Visit the Tallowood Website HERE
For more scripture-based songs (female singer with guitar) click HERE

Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine (Mumford

6/14/2010

Mumford and Sons = worship music? Not really. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find any online connection between English epic bluegrass band Mumford and Sons and the concept of sacred music. Sunday morning worship this is not. Yet since being turned onto these guys, it's proving to be quite tough to frankly not keep hitting repeat on my MP3 player. They are that good. I like music. OK, I love music. And these guys are something special.

This is how I heard about them: I was sat in my office chatting to my mate Andrew about the duo, The Swell Season, when he told me to check out "Mumford & Sons". "This is my kind of worship music" he said. Another mate of mine, Phil, a few weeks before had mentioned Mumford & Sons to me. Funny thing is that both these boys are in their early twenties and struggling with where it is they fit in the Church. Yet they both dig Mumford & Sons, and to me (as Andrew), Mumford & Sons do worship music. Just read some of the select lyrics below:
Roll away your stone
Cause you told me that I would find a hole,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals

Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see

It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart

Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I won't give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul

Sigh no more

Love it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be
There is a design, an alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be

Serve God, love me and mend
This is not the end
Lived unbruised, we are friends
And I'm sorry
I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more
One foot in sea and one on shore
My heart was never pure
And you know me
You know me

The Cave

Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears

As you can probably tell, this isn't worship music in the traditional sense. It's a totally different animal to what we sing on a Sunday morning. I doubt you will ever hear Mumford & Sons call their epic songs "worship music". Yet to me, that's exactly what it is. Perhaps I'm taking it personally, but the boys in the band seem almost willful in their determination not to allow anyone to pigeon hole them or lay claim to them. Take the song, "Little Lion Man" for instance. One of the best songs on the album, yet many church goers would write off the whole album on account of this song. Why? Because of the repeated, emotionally-fraught and powerful repetition of a "cuss" word throughout the song. Could they have replaced it with a different word? Probably. Why didn't they? No idea. I'm just a little more careful that I otherwise would have been in who I recommend this album to.

As that being said, I would heartily recommend this album. It's powerful, it's fresh, it's melodic and harmonic, it's anthemic and tender, it's emotional, it's filled with good truth (packaged more poetically than most of the prosaic truth w're used to hearing), it's stirring and moving, it's bluegrass + folk played with the energy of rockers.

You will just have to decide whether to skip over, or listen to, track 7.

Luna Roslyn

6/8/2010

I first downloaded "Queen of Cities" over a year ago, and was instantly struck by a number of things

a) How the descriptions of Turkey, of the Bosphorus and Istanbul seem to draw me into a landscape where East meets West and where so many of the Church's roots can be found (this album, though sonically different, has a similar effect on me that Loreena McKennit's "An Ancient Muse" has on me...I begin longing for the bazaars, the camel trains and the connection with all who have gone before me)
b) it is an album of exquisite poetry and gorgeous orchestration, both of which serve to undergird the message of God to His church
c) it channels the spirit of Sigur Ros at their most elegant and understated; yet also has the feel of an acoustic Pearl Jam session

Queen of Cities is an album that is in no hurry. It languorously moved from the glockenspiel led intro to the almost primal urgency of the title track, a wedding song from God to His Bride. Then we ease back into the Mogwai-esque build of "Asleep in the Breakers" before slipping into a simple acoustic guitar-driven picture postcard of the city of Kadıköy. We then follow the songwriters into the daybreak (or is it twilight?) of "A Dwindling Dawn", replete with gentle hand claps, echoing guitars and a repeated musical theme that gives the song a beauty in structure. The album continues with perhaps one of the most beautiful, and heart-breaking, songs, I've ever heard, written from God to His unfaithful bride, the Church. Hosea could have written this song. Finally we are left on a note of hope: "I crown you with my love, for all eternity. i see who you've become, most fair of all queens"

This album affects me on many levels: I am reminded of when I was 16 and I visited my pen friend in Rijeka, Croatia. For some reason, "Kadikoy", and "A dwindling dawn" instantly take me back there. On the other hand, the love-letters from God, not as Father, but as Husband, speak into my soul - words of pride, intense passion, utter heartbreak and finally hope restored.

Do yourself a favour, download this album, and tell your friends about it. Not only is it musically one of the most stunning albums I've yet to hear, but it is also one of many layers - all waiting to be peeled back to reveal yet another layer of alluring depth. Oh, and it's free!

Thank you, Luna Roslyn for this gift.

Dan

Downloading instructions are at the bottom of this review.

Queen of Cities

Into the water running down your center aisle
I nudge the sun off her shelf--turn it all to gold
Glittering with your crown
I sing over you with shouts
They echo down the mediterranean fringe of your gown

Queen of Cities, you shine, dressed in minarets
I’m spinning under your lights
Tracing your silhouette
Bridges separate and divide your heart
Lift your ancient gates
And let down your guard, my love

You curtsey caught between two continents
And line ferryboats of red up as a sash
Now blushing you're off your feet
Ruined castles line your sea
I'd make a ballroom floor to turn you round and round

Of all the cities, you are the queen

The Love You Had at First

Our screen door unhinged
and woke me late one morning
Clouds trailed above
Gravel roads you turned to dust

Winding up the sky
Mistresses all climb
Toward a gold veneer
Promising a joy just sweeter

From of all time i set
My love upon you like handwoven dress
It drags behind you up these spiral steps
But you find no rest

On a rusted box spring
Wet mascara smears your cheeks
The underwater caves
Once in your eyes collapsed as graves

"The heart of a whore"
I hear cannot be won as yours
But I hope against all hope
Spilling my blood I stained Calvary rose

Cut every penitent line
You're rehearsing my darling, my bride
I became your curse
To bring you home
To the love you had at first

The band writes:

One November afternoon, while on a visit to Turkey, Mark had the idea to write a song about the city of Istanbul from the perspective of God speaking to His bride, the Church. Alex was immediately smitten with the notion and, over the next few days, that concept quickly morphed into a three song EP.

From there the two of them enlisted the talent of several friends and, in the ensuing ten months, further developed the idea, communicating mainly through an endless stream of emails. This past spring and summer, the full band, under the name "Luna Roslyn", recorded the songs, which had expanded to a total of seven tracks.

Entirely self-written, produced and engineered, we are excited to finally share our music. The album, is entitled "Queen of Cities - EP"

Luna Roslyn is: Mark, Seth, Mike & Aaron Kates, Nick Mimikos, Rob Barnes, Ryan Stringer, & Alex

To download Queen of Cities for free click here.
To download their brand new single (Michigan) for free click here.
To read their lyrics (in English and Turkish) on Facebook, click here.

"There's a pure and faithful groom proposing to a prostitute..."

4/27/2010

Click play below to hear the song "What love" in it's entirety

There's a beggar in the Prince's throne
There's a child on the King's throne
There's a Saviour singing lullabies to orphaned ones

There's a blind man speaking of sight
He's pointing to a coming light
He's says there's an end tonight on the horizon

What love is this that calls the broken "chosen ones"?
What love is that kneels and whispers to the tired and alone?
Who is this that leaves me shaking and falling to my knees?
I hear His voice as I'm falling to sleep

There's a pure and faithful groom
Proposing to a prostitute
He says "Would you be my bride, beautiful?"

What love is this that calls the broken "chosen ones"?
What love is that kneels and whispers to the tired and alone?
Who is this that leaves me shaking and falling to my knees?
I hear His voice as I'm falling to sleep

It could only be You...

There's a pure and faithful groom
Proposing to a prostitute
He says "Would you be my bride, beautiful?"

There's something about the Riverside Worship Project that just gets me in a way that a lot of worship music just fails too. Channeling the soul of Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen and John Mark McMillan (writer of "How He Loves"), RWP sound like a bunch of ragamuffins in love with a passionate God. At times coming across like Canada's "The Arcade Fire" and at other times just beginning to separate from the shadow of the Ragamuffin Band, there's one thing that cannot be argued - RWP have a burning passion for God, and lots of it. I love a band that's not afraid to shout, to sound raucous without apology and to just give it all. Not only that, but their fresh lyrics, their unique take on the entire concept of worship, and their live sound seems to somehow move me closer to God. I have a sneaking feeling these guys would be something special in a live setting.

This album is just one of the MANY reasons why I think noisetrade.com is one of the best and most underrated resource for unsigned / under-the-radar music.

Official website, click here
Facebook page, click here

Click on the art below to get hold of this fantastic album for free!

Jen Bluhm: Setting scripture to music

3/23/2010

The first I listened to Jen Bluhm's music, there was something intimately soothing, natural and powerful about her voice and easy-as-you-like guitar style. Her voice reminds me of Lori Chaffer (Waterdeep) - a nice, clear alto. It all seems to come so easy to Jen - her guitar style, her intonation, but mostly her ability to set scripture to music in a way that defies triteness - it all seems so natural. She's not out to showcare...just to use her God-given incredible talent to bless the Church.

I've listened a lot to her Old Testament tracks and have been pleasantly surprised in the way that she has focused in on some of the more obscure texts in the Pentateuch. She employs the minor key for many of her songs and this somehow serves to undergird, in my mind, the Jewishness of the scriptures she's wrapping in music. I could quite easily imagine an ancient Jewish family singing some of these songs around the Passover table.

Jen's guitar playing leaves a lot of space...that is, she does not overplay and for that I am thankful. After all, the purpose for Jen's music is scripture memorization. However, considerable effort is put into the production of a number of these songs - you just have to be quiet to listen for the nuances of the djembe / bongos, the harmony voices or the second guitar.
This to me is the worship equivalent of mainlining - taking the truth of God and sticking it straight into your veins. I don't have to 'get into' this music - I just dive right in. There's no interpretation of lyrics needed, no wondering what the writer meant by that...just the knowledge that these songs are the sonic version of the Shema:

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6)

Listening to this music, I find scripture beginning to write itself on my heart, to bind itself to my forehead, to become part of the fabric of my day to day existence. Which I think it what God intended all along!

Jen keeps adding new scriptures to her "Anti-Emporium" and has recently started a New Testament section to her website. Every song is free. Jen's gift is an incredible resource and, indeed, gift to the Church.

Tip: Listen to this music on your MP3 player while doing household chores and transform the mundane into the sacred.

Some of my favourites:

The Lord goes before you
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

To access Jen's free music, just click on the pictures of Jen at the top of the post!

A sample of Jen's music (just hit play)

For fans of the movie "UP"

3/16/2010

Check out this video. Maybe it'll bring a smile to your face as it does mine, every time I watch it. It's created by a guy from New Zealand called "Pogo". He takes snippets of audio from movies and creates brand new songs from these soundbytes that somehow retains the magic of the movie from whence they came! He's done lots of other songs too. You can see the videos on his official website here. You can even download (for free) a lot of his songs here, (including songs taken from Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Mary Poppins and more). These downloads made are available with Pogo's permission.

A Free Man's Song (Stephen Gates)

3/16/2010

I stumbled across Stephen Gates record quite by accident (can't even remember how I got there. All I know is I'm grateful this rabbit trail transpired!

Gates offers a worship record unlike any I've heard. It's quiet, powerful - just one man and his guitar, yet it never feels sparse or empty. I don't know why it's not available anywhere else on the internet except for a single blog - it seems a shame not to give this artist the coverage he deserves (note to Stephen: put your music on www.noisetrade.com at least!)

"I know You don't take a broken heart lightly
I know I can trust you to stand by me
So have mercy on my heart and soul
I know I've been running hard and getting cold
But there's nowhere to go when my heart is in pieces
I know I've been living my life without reason
So I'm asking now
Take me, take me"

These are all songs of redemption, songs of hope. Coming across like a mixture between Jack Johnson (his guitar style) and Jeff Buckley (his vocals - listen to Buckley's "Lover, you should've come over" for a comparison - it's quite striking), Stephen Gates does something special. He manages to sing songs of repentance without slipping into a dirge - the emphasis always seems on hope. His effortless guitar style is a balm to the ears, and his beautifully understated vocals hint at restrained power. I would like to hear Gates really showcase his vocals off now and again (to see if the Buckley comparison bears out in the louder side of the musical register), but then that wouldn't be true to the timbre and flow of the musical style he obviously excels in.

I think this is a fantastic record, and you can check it out (and download it for free) by clicking on one of the pictures above.

Hope for a tree cut down (Songs about fumbling into God's grace)

3/16/2010

OK, so I thought I was excited about "Sweet Sacrifice" (see post below). And then I heard "Come Holy Ghost", and felt my heart turn upside down and inside out. My first impressions are "Damien Rice does worship music". Reminiscent of my other favourite offering of the mysterious, almost eerie side of worship Bifrost Arts , this album raises the hairs on the back of my neck. It's pure honey, yet totally absent of any hint of anything saccharine. Majoring on the minor key, and highlighting the hope found in the dark night of the soul, it stirs something deep within - a reminder that worship music exists outside of CCM's top 50 and that my God is wild, my God is a consuming fire, my God is not safe, my walk with God is not a walk in a rose garden....
Before wasting any more words on recommending this, I just say to click on the image above and follow the instructions.

Here's what the website itself says:

The book of Job is the oldest book of Scripture and it asks one of the oldest questions, 'Is there hope?'

'Is there hope for a tree cut down? ...Yes. At the mere scent of water it will bud and grow green shoots.'

That is what we are discovering together at Church of the Beloved - a hope. Hope that something new is beginning that has very old roots. Hope that God is growing life out of our devastation, trust out of our cynicism, love out of our fear, community out of our isolation.... And that's what this album is about - fumbling into God's grace. It is a seismic and humble shift when our heart can hear the words that God has been saying to us for all our lives, '...nothing can separate you from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus'. These songs say 'Yes' to God's claim upon your life that, 'You are my Beloved.'"

Sweet Sacrifice (songs for Lent)

3/16/2010

Sweet Sacrifice touches on the themes of lament, loss, slavery and freedom in worship songs created for Lent.

Seattle-based artists Molly McCue, Kurt Dyrhsen and Brian Moss collaborate with longtime Christian artist Michael Card on this project.

Click on the image above to be taken to the website.
Each song is available for download for free. Plus you can download jpeg images of the song lyrics, powerpoint slides of the songs and, for many of the songs, even the written music / chords.

I love particularly these words, from "A Better Freedom"

Christ revealed Himself to me
Enslaved my soul to set me free
I was bound to at Him at Calvary
And found a better freedom

That Soul who suffered in the dark
Has purchased and unchained my heart
A shining slavery did impart
To find a better freedom

The production is flawless, understated and will aid anyone looking to create space for contemplation during Lent. This really is a treat, and a wonderful addition to anyone's Lenten journey.