Jeremy Casella is a great independent Christian folk/rock artist who has been making music for at least 25 years now. In 2003 or so, he signed a record deal and recorded a great third album, but then the record label canned it because it wasn't what they thought the market wanted to hear. (I've heard it, and it's magnificent!) Despite this terrible setback, Jeremy recorded some of the songs from that album in a more stripped-down, acoustic format and released it as this EP, 10,000 Angels (Part One). This recording shows the timeless beauty of these songs as they still work great without the strings, backing vocals, and full band accoutrements. And even after being let down by the music industry, Jeremy kept writing and has released 3 more independent albums in the years since then. I hear more music is in the works as well!

Release Year: 2004
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Released 20 years ago today, Mmhmm is my favorite album in Relient K's discography. Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes and the band kept adding layers of nuance to their earlier pop-punk style, and this album adds a lot of variety to that base. It's definitely very guitar-based and band-heavy, but sometimes they slow it to just a sparse instrumentation with Matt Thiessen's vocals and keyboards going in for a tender moment or even some electronic elements. Lyrically, it's clear that the band was growing as humans, as many of the lyrics talk about relationships, growth and a break-up of some sort. But there's also hope here for future improvement and that there's "Life After Death And Taxes". This one was definitely on heavy rotation for the next few years after it came out, and I still enjoy it all the way through 20 years later.

Release Year: 2004
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