Music I Found this Year that I want to Pass On

Here is a list of music I either first heard or just realized how awesome their music really was in 2009.

#10 Sufjan Stevens – “Songs For Christmas”

Labels: Christmas, folk, chillaxin’, deep lyrics, funny lyrics, Christian

So, this one barely made the list cause I’ve heard it a lot, I just never owned it myself.  But what a great deal – there’s over 40 songs on this CD!  All of them sound a little different than the normal Christmas tunes you’ve probably heard.  But, the main reason I love this CD is the emphasis Stevens puts on the reason behind Christmas.  Some of the songs sound more like worship music at times.  Great CD overall.

Lyric from “Star of Wonder”

“Oh conscience where will you carry me?

I found you, star of terrifying effigies

When the night falls I carry myself to the fortress

Of your glorious cause, Oh how I may seek Your fortress.

When the night falls, we see the star of wonder

Wonderful night falls, we see You, we see You there!

I see the stars coming out…”

#9 Family Force Five – “Family Force Five”

Labels: funky rock, fun, dance-party music,

Again, I’ve heard this CD a lot, but finally bought it this year.  This band is it’s own genre.  Imagine some white guys from Arkansas trying to rap and rock.  Apparently, they’re Christians, but you won’t find any worship songs here.

Lyric from “Kountry Gentleman”:

“My momma raised me in the dirty south

A country gentleman, so you best watch your mouth!”

#8 Switchfoot – “Hello Hurricane”

Labels: Rock, Christian

I really loved Switchfoot until “Oh Gravity!”.  I thought they were done for after that album.  So, when they released Hello Hurricane this year, I cautiously checked it out.  And boy, I’m glad I did.  They’ve gone back to more straight ‘rock’ with some great guitar compositions.  Add in some clever lyrics, and boom!  Great CD. 

Lyric from “Needle and Haystack Life”:

“Your breathin’ in the highs and lows we call it living.

In this needle and haystack life

I found miracles there in your eyes

It’s no accident we’re here tonight

We are once in a lifetime.”

#7 William Fitzsimmons – The Sparrow and the Crow

Labels: Singer-Songwriter, Melancholy, Raw

Imagine you go through a long, hard divorce at a young age.  Then, you pick up a guitar and write some songs about it.  That is this album.  Most of the songs focus on lost love, and you can feel his emotion throughout the whole album.  I saw him live this year and I would recommend his show to any.  Great musical talent and lyrics. 

Lyric from “Just Not Each Other”:

“We lost our chance to love one another

Well love again but just not each other”

#6 Fleet Foxes – “Fleet Foxes”

Labels: folky, Medieval mild rock?, sweeping tunes

I really enjoy this band.  Their music is what I imagine a medieval traveling band would sound like.  Very soothing, flowing and relaxing while still inventive.  Good stuff.

If you are NOT in the forge, I suggest you watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1tbX_NJn98

Lyric from “Blue Ridge Mountains”

“In the quivering forest

Where the shivering dog rests

Our good grandfather

Built a wooden nest

And the river got frozen

And the home got snowed in

And the yellow moon glowed bright

Till the morning light

Terrible am I child?

Even if you don't mind”

#5 The Myriad – With Arrows, With Poise

Labels: Radiohead, MAE, Christian, Rock, Great Musically and Lyrically.

Have you ever heard of Radiohead?  The lead singer of The Myriad sounds a lot like Thom Yorke, and the band goes toward that sound sometimes  - lots of deep guitar and high singing, followed by complex drums and piano.  Other times, they sound more like MAE – sort of pop-rock.  They’re pretty new, but they are going places that’s for sure.  Lyrically, you can hear some subtlety Christian messages.

Lyric from “Clean Shot”

“Hey now, oh no, You got a clean shot!

All the words you could pierce my heart!

Hey now, oh no, You run me right through!

With all these words that I’ve sung to You!”

#4 Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns

Labels: Chillaxin’, Mild Rock, Love Songs, Great Lyrics

I’ve liked Snow Patrol’s past albums, but this one takes the cake.  I haven’t listened to it in a while, but it’s a really phenomenal album.  They have some great lyrics on love and distance, while delving into a little rock sometimes.  Love it.  Last song, “The Lightning Strike” is a 16-minute audio-feast – combines three songs going from sad to happy each time. 

Lyric from “The Lightning Strike”

“Painted in flames

All peeling thunder

Be the lightning in me

That strikes relentless”

#3 Edison Glass – “Time is Fiction”

Labels: Creative, Rock/ Hard Rock, Christian, Great Musically

Yes.  I cannot stop listening to this band.  From the opening song “Let Go”, a short song about singing out loud (Open your lips/ Let out a song/ Open your Heart/ And let is sing), to “The Jig is Up”, a hard rock ballad about faith vs. sight, this band manages to infuse very creative sounds and deep lyrics without ever getting stale.  One of the better bands, nay, the BEST band that’s come into the Christian music this year. 

Lyric from “The Jig is Up”:

“Your eyes see further than mine

I can see as far as the sun and moon in the sky…

I’ll wait for your words

I’ll trust, You’ll say!”

#2 MuteMath – “Armistice”

Labels: Rock, Christian, Groovin’

Do I have to tell you why this album is awesome?  For the two people that don’t own it, just go take a little listen on iTunes. 

Lyric from “Spotlight”

“Because everyone would rather watch you fall

(And we all fall, we all fall)

Just take a fall, you’re one of us -

The spotlight is on!”

#1 mewithoutYou – “Brother, Sister”

Label: Complex sound and lyrics, biting lyrics, Christian, hard(er) rock

Welcome to the perfect christian rock album – intricate rock compositions and un-matched lyrical complexity (which the listener must untangle at times).  Altogether, this album tells a story from the perspective of a shipwrecked guy and his musings on life.  The whole thing has this ‘swashbuckling’ feel.  With this constant theme, each song sounds wholly different and engages deep, complex issues of faith, sin and praise.  Most of the time they’re rocking out, but you must listen to the lyrics!  They are downright cutting while still complex.  You won’t hear ‘praise Jesus’, but listen close cause most songs talk about God’s character in some way. 

The whole album’s lyrics flow together just like the music – the first song announces “I do not exist… if ever you come near/ I’ll hold up high a mirror/ Lord I could never show you anything as beautiful as you”; to the last song, repeating “I do not exist, only You exist.”  I had to look up a lot of the lyrics beccause he sings fast at times, but it’s worth it to see the complexity they put into their songs. 

Lyric from “A Glass Can Only Spill What it Contains”

“Like peacocks wandering the walkways of the zoo

Who have twice the autonomy the giraffes and tigers do

Saying:

"No one can stop me (no one stop me)

No one clips my claws!

now everyone watch me (everyone watch me)

Scale these outside walls!"

[Begin Rocking]

Oh you pious and profane, put away your praise and blame!

A glass can only spill what it contains!

To the perpetually plain, to the incurably inane

A glass can only spill what it contains!

What new mystery is this?

What blessed backwardness??

The Immeasurable One is held and does not resist!

Struck by wicked words and foolish fists of senseless men

The Almighty One does not defend!”

Or another favorite from “In a Sweater Poorly Knit”:

“You’re a door without a key, a field without a fence.

You made a wholly fool of me and I’ve thanked you ever since…

But if I’m a crown without a king, if I’m a broken open seed

If I come without a thing, then I come with all I need.”

New

New years resolutions are an interesting thing.  From them, I see our desire that we are seeking: a fresh start. 

There's nothing mystical about Jan 1st.  We could actually go on a diet or learn to be nicer to people any day of the year!  So why wait until this one day? And then, we never fail to complete these resolutions, right?  Yet each year, we make more promises... So, why do we do this?

I think I know why.  We want a fresh start.  We've messed up somehow this past year, so its time to start things right.  Not only do we want a fresh start, but we want a good one, a perfect one.  We don't want to 'sort of' stop drinking pop, but we want to do it perfectly, completely.

So, why do we have this desire to obtain a perfect, fresh start?

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Cor. 5:17)

"He opened a new and living way for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh" (Heb. 10:20)

Starting the new year with new resolutions reflects our desire to become a new (and later perfect) creation.  And, becoming new doesn't have to happen only one day a year, but continues everyday!

"For you have delivered my soul from death,
Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God
In the light of the living." (Ps. 56:13)

Bryce

Christmas 2009

Christmas has been good.  Very good.

My grandfather was selling some old lenses he had for his old FILM SLR.  I managed to talk him out of two lenses:

Tamron 20-40mm f/2.8-3.5

Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3

So, I've been playing around with them, to say the least.  Here's the first batch, more later.

Happy New Year's!

-Bryce

Bryce v. The Draining Battery

Come children, and let me tell you the tale

Of the battery that was not all well.

Instead of purring, like a small kitten

Bryce’s car started like a dog, bitten;

For, under the hood, there lived a small beast;

Upon the battery, he loved to feast.

For many weeks, Bryce went out with cables,

But each time, returned fazed and unable.

He called on his prudent, parental allies,

To help him escape a certain demise.

With new unknown ideas, fresh in his head,

He thought and concentrated, then went to bed.

He came out early the very next morn’

And readied for battle, his mind reformed.

But as he approached the fiend’s lair,

His heart turned to stone, to his great despair

The monster had taken control of the locks,

And hidden himself down under the shocks!

Defeated again, Bryce left in a race,

And hurried toward home, to solve his case.

Finally, he sought out wise man Google;

Who he knew, rightly, to be no such fool.

“You must seek Expert Auto Electric

If you wish for your car again to tick.”

So, Bryce went and found this very strange place,

Who knew of some with a similar case.

Carlos, the leader, came out with his tools,

But the coward beast thought all of them fools.

Still, Carlos came at it, all full of smarts,

And he wounded the beast into two parts!

Seeing defeat, right now before its eyes,

The beast hid deeper, down in the dark lines.

Again came Carlos, with pliers in twos,

Checking each and every single fuse.

The beast was found among the power-locks,

But croaked quickly upon Carlos’ knock.

Therefore, the battery-beast being slain,

Bryce leaped in the air, but only in vain.

For brave Carlos, having destroyed the beast,

Now wanted his money, for fine treats.

So Bryce paid up, ecstatic with cheer,

Since the beast was gone meant nothing to fear.

So, What’s Going on Now?

Right now, we are in the midst of Robinson Crusoe. The book makes people pretty polarized – and I’m on the side that loves it. Most of what I love is how Defoe writes. He wrote when English was used properly, and doesn’t go easy on the reader with his long, complex sentences. Still, I love it.

I’m working this weekend at the Timbers. It’s really cool to work the retreats right there alongside the full time staff. In fact, it’s hard to think of it like ‘work’. More like serving and playing in good fun. If that’s work, let me know where you can do that!

Next week we’re going on a trip. We don’t know where.

In other news, I’m in love with the band mewithoutyou. You need to listen to their album Brother, Sister. The entire album is told from the perspective of a shipwrecked guy and has this ‘rock-piratey’ feel all throughout. Also, it’s all about his lyrics – the man is a fine wordsmith. So, here’s a few lyrics, but really, they are just the tip!

“If ever you come near I'll hold up high a mirror,

Lord, I could never show you anything as beautiful as You”

“what good is each good thing we think we do?”

“Shadow am I!

Like a suspicion that's never confirmed

But it's never denied.

Wolf am I,

no, "shadow" - I think - is better

cause I'm not something - more like the absence of something -

So SHADOW AM I!”

“you're a door-without-a-key, a field-without-a-fence

you made a holy fool of me and I've thanked you ever since.

…

but if I'm a crown without a king, if I'm a broken open seed

if I come without a thing, then I come with all I need

no boat out in the blue, no place to rest your head,

the trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead!

I do not exist

Only You exist”

Those last words have been on my mind a ton during the forge. I do not exist, only You exist.

The Covenant

Okay, so, the Covenant is a major part of the Forge. As a group, of 24 guys and girls, we had to come up with rules regarding how we will relate to different topics such as media, the outside world, alcohol, etc. All of the rules we created were not because these things are inherently bad, but we chose to not partake in a lot of things so that we could focus on each other as well as other important things while we are in the Forge. This being said, you should know some things that I won’t be doing along with my Forge class until May 1. We decided to only listen to not watch any television, not watch any movies, only listen to christian music, not drink alcohol or smoke tobacco, not do any Forge work on Sundays, and not date each other or resident staff. Again, none of these things are bad, but for each one we have a specific reason. For instance, we are not only choosing to not watch TV to rid ourselves of distractions, but we also decided to challenge one another by forcing us to change how we relate to our families, and friends when we go home. Trust me, we’ve had hours of discussion about each of these topics.

That being said, we’ve been ‘practicing’ the covenant for two weeks now. It was hard at first, but now it’s easy to follow. It was tough when I went home, but I looked at it as a challenge. I think I was able to communicate with my family much better by not watching TV.

So, yeah… that’s the covenant.

The First Two Months Real Fast!

• · First two weeks – introductory; lots of getting to know names; ropes training*
• · Began Covenant meetings (see next post).
• · Knocked over a huge, dead tree… found baby squirrels living there… [bad times]
• · Started P2 in the mornings… [soreness]
• · Started classes.
• · Began reading Life Together.
• · We went somewhere.
• · More classes, more assignments.
• · Finished Life Together.
• · I’ve worked 4 weekends so far – 1 conference, 3 retreats [tons of fun!]
• · Went home this weekend for med school interview at MU!
• · Visited Rolla for about 3 hours after said med school interview.
• · Finished Covenant. (see next post)
• Yeah, that pretty much covers it.
• *NOTE: I hate heights, but ropes training mitigated a lot of that fear. Did you know a zip tether’s breaking strength was around 10,000 pounds?