Let's Not Think About the Election! Let's Listen to Music!—Songs of Protest, Satire, & the Apocalypse

The current political season leaves bloggers like me with a dilemma. In what can only be viewed as the most polemicized election of our lifetime(s) do we even bother with bothering people about our piddly little blog posts? Personally, I have a few articles I've been working hard at for the past several weeks, but at the moment I hardly see any point in adding to the noise. I'd like my thoughts to actually get heard and considered, so why waste the effort of putting out another article when people's psyches are already over-saturated with the latest scandal or with attempting to sift through what is fact and fiction in the media's neverending truth manipulation game? 

More than anything, I believe people are increasingly weary of the whole thing. We are tired of fighting each other. Tired of the lies and cover ups and conspicuous tactics of both sides. We've all been spun by the media's spin and I believe if we slow down enough we'll become horrified that often we are the ones doing the spinning ourselves. Having been spun we continue on spinning others... That is, if we are wounded as a nation, a lot of the wounds are self-inflicted...

With all this in mind, I have decided to hold off on my "important" articles for a couple of weeks (or more....We'll see where everything settles in the aftermath of the election). Instead, as a blogger, with something of a public forum for propagating the importance of art and faith in our culture, I am asking us to slow down and listen and ponder and take in some truth, beauty, and goodness. So...

Let's not think about the election! Let's listen to music! 

This is a sincere call. If you happen to find yourself reading this article, please take a few moments to stop what you're doing and click play on the tracks below. I have curated a play list worthy of your consideration. May they work their way into your soul, embed themselves into your mind, and stir your strength into edifying action.

Today's list (Part 1 of 3):
Songs of Protest, Satire, & the Apocalypse
"Listen to the words of the prophet..." These are finger-pointing songs. These are songs that hurt us to our core. They catch us at our most hypocritical. At first we think they are singing about Someone Else, but if we keep on listening we come to find that no, they are singing about us too. Yes, we are culpable for the same crimes we accused others of committing. It would seem some repentance is in order.

But these are also songs that make us laugh...uncomfortably so...at the horror of it all. Sometimes a good bellyache can help us see the world differently and in seeing the world differently we begin to live differently and thus a laugh is never just a laugh. Sometimes a joke can change the world. 

Today's list includes: Bob Dylan, Larry Norman, Keith Green, Randy Newman, Arcade Fire, and Steve Taylor.

When Will the Christian Music Industry Get Its Act Together? (especially when there is money to be made)

The release of Steve Taylor's new album Goliath last week reminded me of something that has continued to irk me for a few years now.

As far as I see it Taylor's old record labels (Sparrow/Geffen/Warner Music) have missed a prime opportunity to:
1. Make a decent amount of money (which I assume they are interested in)
and
2. Introduce a whole of new group people to his music and give old fans a chance to reconnect with the music they have come to love.

The Christian Music Supergroup

The release of Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil's new album Goliath has got me thinking of an interesting phenomenon in the music world: SUPERGROUPS

5 things I'm wondering about the new Steve Taylor album Goliath

Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil release their new album Goliath today (you can purchase it here on itunes and Amazon). I've very much been looking forward to this album since they announced their Kickstarter campaign last winter. But really I've been looking forward to this album for over 20 years. Taylor's released two songs ("Shortstop" from the Roaring Lambs album and "A Life Preserved" from the Blue Like Jazz soundtrack) since his last proper album Squint from 1993. This means us fans have been salivating unsatiated for years upon years, left perpetually mumbling to ourselves "When Steve, when?". I mean, Taylor even had the audacity to launch his own record label in the mid 90's (also called Squint) and did not even release one of his own records on it. The nerve.

Steve Taylor Helped Me Grow Up (and he used humor to do it)

Today the legendary Steve Taylor released his long-gestating new album Goliath with his something of a supergroup backing band The Perfect Foil (Peter Furler, Jimmy Abegg, and John Mark Painter) [you can purchase it here on itunes and Amazon]. Thus, it's obviously time to do some reflecting on Taylor's past work.

As a kid Rich Mullins taught me how to lose myself in the wonder of God but Steve Taylor forced me to grow into a mature Christian. And the funny thing is he usually did so by making me laugh.

Feeding My Kickstarter Habit: a spring music preview

I don't buy as much as I used to. This has mostly to do with having three kids, a house, and a long stretch of future to think about.  So, when I do make the choice to purchase music it is somewhat of a bold step in that I want to be sure my decision will be backed up with something high quality.  Well, over the past couple of months I have made a number of music purchases and looking back at those decisions I realized there was something pretty unique about all of them: they were all either promoted and funded on Kickstarter or released independently (the Kickstarters are also all independent releases). Adding to this, at the moment I have only received the actual music to one of these releases, meaning I "purchased" the music well in advance of the actual release and sometimes in advance of its actually being recorded.

Record Review: Peter Furler Band's Sun and Shield

All I have to say is I sure am glad they're still making Newsboys records.
And by that I mean I am glad Peter Furler is still making music.

Whereas Furler's first solo effort, 2011's On Fire was fully a dance-pop record with tinges of rock thrown in, his current album Sun and Shield is a rock-pop record with some hints of the previous album's dance tunes thrown in. Dance and rock were always the ever-shifting yin and yang around which Newsboys pop music was based. At their best they always merged the two so that you would not be able to say one way or the other whether their songs were rock or dance or pop—they had somehow merged them all into their own unique sound (follow this link to hear some examples of this). Furler's current album, which released on March 11, while never quite reaching the height of Newsboys in their prime, is still packed with compelling musical ideas and the clever lyrics (mostly co-written with Steve Taylor) he has come to be known by.

Peter Furler: his new album and 15 greatest songs

Uh huh. That's my very own autographed copy right there.

Today Peter Furler releases his latest album Sun and Shield, a solo record under the moniker of Peter Furler Band.  For those who do not know Furler fronted and played drums for the band Newsboys throughout the 1990's and on into most of the 00's. He was also one of their chief songwriters, along with Phil Joel, Steve Taylor, John James, and Jeff Frankenstein. Throughout his tenure in Newsboys Furler composed more of the music than anybody else, and should be credited with shaping the idiosyncratic Aussie-tinged dance rock that became the classic Newsboys sound. Furler was his most prolific lyrically with Steve Taylor and musically with Phil Joel, but he was the creative anchor through it all. Leaving Newsboys in 2009 (which is now fronted by Michael Tait), Furler took some time off to regroup, simplify, and get some direction. Since then he has gone on some bike trips (a much-loved hobby of his), explored the visual arts, and (now) released and toured two solo records. He is also in Steve Taylor's new band (Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil, something of a Christian music supergroup) which will be releasing an album later this spring, and is currently on tour with Third Day and Skillet as an opening act (he will be touring with Taylor this summer).

Furler on a bike trip to Baja in 2013

You can read my review of his new album here, but today I wanted to give a survey of some of Furler's greatest songs. In my opinion, as someone who has ingested years of pop/rock music, both "Christian" and "secular", Furler deserves to be put in the same category as some of the all-time greats.  He may never be considered part of the upper upper echelon of the demi-gods of pop/rock/folk music—the Lennon/McCartneys, Paul Simons, Michael Jacksons, Keith Greens, and Rich Mullins (sorry Dylan) of the world—but he should be the first guy they let in should anyone in the pantheon shed their deity and become a mortal.  

Here I will make a statement that borders on hyperbole: of anyone in the Christian music world (a muddled term, I know) and perhaps in the general music market, Furler has consistently crafted the catchiest, most hook-laden music in both quantity and quality. His work is an example of pop music at its finest. I hesitate a little to say this, but the man's a bit of a genius when it comes to crafting songs. Let me put it this way: out of all the music I listened to as a kid (which was mostly "Christian), other than Rich Mullins Newsboys is the music I continually return to for enjoyment and to mine new meaning from. That is, I haven't got sick of the music yet. To me this is telling.

The Return of Burlap to Cashmere

Burlap to Cashmere released a new album a few days ago, which is something I am very excited about. I guess I have been excited about it for about 12 years now, since it has been 13 years since they released their first (and previously only) album, Anybody Out There. I remember first hearing about Burlap to Cashmere on my local Christian radio station when the music programming director talked about a visit he made to Nashville during GMA week (http://www.gospelmusic.org/), and they played during a new artist showcase that totally blew him away. You do not often hear descriptions like these, especially not in the Christian music world, so I made sure to keep my eye out (ear open?) for when I might actually get to hear them myself.