Blog Archive for July 2025

Album Of The Day: Freaks by The Hawk In Paris

Album Art of The Hawk In Paris's Freaks album - A color photo of a man in a large brown, brimmed hat at golden hour with the sky and woods in the background. He's got a thick, light brown jacket on but the front open and you can see a light blue collared shirt on his chest. Where his face would be, his face has been cut out and a blue, cloudy sky is there. At the top of the photo, it says the group's name in large white print and and the bottom, the album title in slightly smaller print.

In the early 2010s, Jars of Clay's lead singer Dan Haseltine joined up with producer/musicians Matt Bronleewe and Jeremy Bose to form the group The Hawk In Paris. They released a few EPs, singles and this album. Freaks consists of electronic pop with Haseltine's vocals. Most of these songs are love songs, though some are about love lost. The songs are full of lots of electronic programming, bleeps and boops, etc. It's a lot of fun energy musically, with maybe a bit of sad lyrics, but I like it. Dan Haseltine is one of those artists who is probably always writing music even if he's got no band to release them with, so it's fun to see him team up with others and show a different side of him with this album and this group. And Bronleewe and Bose are great at crafting a unique musical bed to go with the melodies. Check it out if you're looking for something a bit different today.

Release Year: 2013
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Album Of The Day: Fourth From The Last by The W's

Album Art of The W's's Fourth From The Last album - On a black background, a circular photo is inside a blue border in the middle. The photo is a picture of a young man with a white bowling shirt with a bright red collar holding a black bowling ball up towards the camera, such that the hand and the bowling ball come out of the circle border. The man has his right eye closed but his left eye is open and looking way off to the right. Behind him can be seen bowling lanes. Printed in the top right in rough blue print is the band name, 'the W's'.

It was 1998. For a brief moment, the swing jazz music of many decades before came back into fashion. And if you wanted swing music made by Christians, The W's was the band for you. Released 27 years ago yesterday, this is their first album and includes 11 whimsical and fun songs. Their musicianship and songwriting is pretty good, though to be honest, I haven't listened to this enough over the years for the lyrics to be at all memorable. Well, the one exception to that was their big single, the very cheesy song "The Devil Is Bad". It, quite predictably, tells the story of Eve and the snake in the Garden of Eden, with the chorus exclaiming "You are the devil and you are bad!" A few other songs tell Biblical stories, but others like "Alarm Clock" and "King of Polyester" seem to be just fun swing grooves with lyrics about life and love. Is it the best swing album? No, probably not. But it was a kinda big deal among the Christian rock crowd back in the day. It was also kinda legendary because, until earlier this year, it wasn't on any streaming services. Now it's on there in a compilation of their whole discography, so the first 11 tracks is this album.

Release Year: 1998
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Album Of The Day: Counting Stars by Andrew Peterson

Album Art of Andrew Peterson's Counting Stars album - On a dark blue background, the faint artwork of a world map can be seen. In the middle, a classic medieval sailing vessel is illustrated. Above it, the album title is in thin white lettering with the artist's name below the title in a beige color and smaller text. Throughout the dark blue background, golden white stars of various sizes are shown. There is also a border around the edge of the artwork as well.

"I'm a world traveler into these uncharted lands." Released 15 years ago yesterday, this is the eighth studio album by Christian singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson. Mr. Peterson uses the piano and the guitar to perform his melodies exploring his place in the world ("World Traveler" and "Fool With A Fancy Guitar") and longing to know God more, living in hope of a better world to come ("In The Night My Hope Lives On" and "The Reckoning (How Long)"). Incorporated in the lyrics are many literary references and beautiful poetic lines. The instrumentation and musicianship of his band is so good, too; a great mix of pop/rock and a healthy dose of folk/country twang. Like most Andrew Peterson albums, I listen to them regularly, but honestly, before writing this I couldn't really remember exactly which songs were on this album. But on listening again, it's full of great songs, like the Christian radio hit "Dancing In The Minefields" and "Planting Trees" about bringing life to the world. It's not my top Andrew Peterson album, but Counting Stars is a really good one.

Release Year: 2010
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Album Of The Day: The Resting Place by The Resting Place

Album Art of The Resting Place's self-titled album - On what looks like a grey-green sky, a grainy pink cloud is coming out of a dark red haze below it at the bottom. In the bottom right in white print it says the artist name.

Released just last month, this album is the first full-length release from a new collective of worship leaders who want to make new music to be sung by church congregations. Unlike the music coming out of most mega-church worship teams today, these songs do not sound like a Coldplay song or any stadium pop anthem. Jeremy Casella, Rachel Wilhelm, Josh Miles and Karin Simmons take turns on the lead vocals and wrote these new songs, all new melodies and some original lyrics with some old hymn tests or translations of scripture. It's refreshing to hear some new music that isn't trying to chase the latest industry trends, but instead focuses on connecting congregations together in prayer and praise to God. I'm looking forward to listening to this album again soon.

Release Year: 2025
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Photo of a middle-aged man from the chest up on the right, holding a vinyl album in a slipcase on his left. The album is The Resting Place's self-titled album. He's got a beard, a mustache, and thick glasses. Behind him is a shelf with many CDs and the walls are a light yellow.

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Album Of The Day: Going Public by Newsboys

Album Art of Newsboys's Going Public album - A black and white photo of thousands of people standing inside a very large tent the size of a gymnasium or larger. They are facing the camera and looking a bit off to the right of the camera. There seems to be lights set up in the ceiling of the tent to light up the scene and there are a bunch of support poles that break up the sea of people a bit. From the dress of the people, the photo may be from earlier in the 20th century, though it seems to have electric lights so it's not too old. At the top, the band name is printed in large, thin white print, with the album title in much smaller letters below the band name.

Released 31 years ago today, this is the fifth studio album by Australian pop/rock band Newsboys. This album brings Christian messages with a modern rock edge for the time, and it was a huge hit for this band. "Shine" is one of the most well-known songs from the 1990s among Christian Music fans and every youth group. The band wrote very catchy pop/rock songs in this era, and with the help of producer/writer Steve Taylor, the lyrics are unique and have the occasional witty phrasing included. I only got a copy of this album about 7 years ago, so this was not one I grew up listening to, but it's a good album that still is is fun to listen to over 30 years later.

Release Year: 1994
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Album Of The Day: New Mexico by Anchor & Braille

Album Art of Anchor & Braille's New Mexico album - An illustration of a rocky terrain with mountains in the background and a large amount of blue sky with the occasional cloud throughout. In the foreground, a wooden puppet is pictured from the chest up and it has a skull face and a black cowboy hat. Above the puppet, it says in small yellow letters the band's name, then on the next line in even smaller 'Presents', then in large yellow letters, the album title, 'New Mexico'.

Released today, this is the fifth album by Anchor & Braille, the solo pop/rock alias of Stephen Christian. He's most well known as the lead singer of alternative rock band Anberlin, and after Anberlin broke up about.a decade ago, Stephen moved to New Mexico. This album is his love letter to the state of New Mexico, with an intro/outro that sounds a bit like a western film and a wide variety of musical styles. Previous Anchor & Braille albums have had a different style on each album, and this one has moments of electronic pop like some previous albums, but it also has hard, driving rock that wouldn't be out of place on an Anberlin album for a few songs as well. It's a musical whirlwind through the rugged terrain of the southwest, and I'm enjoying it on my first listen. Stephen Christian has had a number of different projects and it seems like he's always writing something musically, so I'm not surprised he keeps recording and releasing new music. I, for one, will keep listening to whatever he releases.

Release Year: 2025
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Album Of The Day: Leonard, The Lonely Astronaut by Andrew Osenga

Album Art of Andrew Osenga's Leonard, The Lonely Astronaut album - A photo of a young, white man in a white room with what looks like metal walls, the ones on the left and right tapering in at the top and bottom. There's a dark grey line around waist height. The man is wearing what looks like a white space suit or something, and is moving quickly from right to left across the frame so he is blurry while the rest is in focus. There are a few panels on the wall and air vents/fans on the edges of the ceiling. At the top, it has the album title in large white print, with 'as performed by Andrew Osenga' in smaller, dark red letters below it.

In the fall of 2011, singer-songwriter Andrew Osenga got together a bunch of friends and they made a small recording space that also looked like the inside of a spaceship. There, Andrew recorded this album about a man named Leonard who left his loved ones on a lonely mission into space. It's a lot of love songs, pining for something that he cannot reach and waiting for things to happen. This is a fun rock/pop album full of heart and the occasional instrumental between songs. Even the album artwork photos was shot in this spaceship set where Leonard was recorded. It's not exactly a concept album in that it doesn't tell one continuous story, but it does have a bunch of songs on these themes of love and distance. Give this album a listen if you've never heard it or if it's been a while and make sure to support independent musicians like Andrew Osenga if you can.

Release Year: 2012
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Single Of The Day: What A Time To Be Alive by The Elms

Album Art of The Elms's What A Time To Be Alive single - A photo of four middle-aged men in a black room, which soft blue lighting illuminating them from the right side of the frame. They all have at least stubble on their face or full beards. Three are looking at the camera, while one is looking down and off to the right. In the bottom right quarter, it has the band's name printed in white with the album title in a dark blue spread over two lines below it.

The Elms are one of my all-time favorite bands. They just create timeless rock 'n' roll that champions the life and grit of everyday Americans like themselves. In 2010, they announced they were retiring from being a band full-time after a full 10 years doing so. In 2015, they reunited for 2 nights only in Indianapolis, Indiana, and they are doing it again this fall. Released this past Friday, it's my first ever Single Of The Day (a much shorter version of my regular Album Of The Day series) and the first new studio recording from The Elms is over 15 years. "What A Time To Be Alive" finds the band back at it without missing a beat, with excellent guitars, bass and drums and great vocals. Fans of the band might be surprised by the band wearing their politics a bit more on their sleeve than in the past, but I think it's accurate and apropos for them to have a character say, "What the hell, man? Times are wild," because it's true. The song is not epic like "Speaking In Tongues" or "The Towers & The Trains" and it's not my favorite song of theirs, but it's still fun to hear new music from artists who have been doing other things for years. I'm looking forward to seeing them live again this fall!

Release Year: 2025
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Album Of The Day: When I Was Younger by Colony House

Album Art of Colony House's When I Was Younger album - A photo of a young boy sitting in front of a gray-ish white wall. Only seen from the chest up, he has a denim shirt on and looks fair-skinned with curly, red hair. He looks to be only 3-4 years old and has a fairly blank expression and is looking directly at the camera. At the top, above the boy's head, the band's name is printed in large, white letters. The album title is printed over the photo in smaller white letters across the bottom.

Released 11 years ago today, this is the first album from Colony House, the band I've seen play the most times live in the last 10 years. Some fans consider this their best album, and while it set the bar for this rock band pretty high, I like their newer albums even better. If you're looking for rock, it's here with "Keep On Keeping On" and the "2:20" jam, among others. Slower, heartfelt songs like "Waiting For My Time To Come", "Learning How To Love" and "Moving Forward" about, and they point to the band's desire to connect with fans and speak honestly about life's struggles. And I consider "Lose Control" one of those epic closing tracks, though it's not even 5 minutes long. It's a beautiful debut album and the band has become even more of a rock 'n' roll band since then, while also losing none of their heart. The deluxe, 10th anniversary LP version includes a second LP of rarities, remixes, new orchestral versions, and more with a lenticular cover for the ultimate fan of this album.

Release Year: 2014
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A photo of a middle-aged man with a short beard holding the Colony House LP and the CD in his right hand up towards the camera. On the right, he's smiling and wearing a dark shirt. The room behind him has large racks of CDs, various knick-knacks and and yellow wall.

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Album Of The Day: Brother's Keeper by Rich Mullins

Album Art of Rich Mullins's Brother's Keeper album - The border around the edge seems to be a repeating photo of clouds on a blue sky. Inside that, it looks like a mixed media piece, with what looks like wires connecting various lights inside that border and between the vertical portions inside the border. The top third has red paint in the left and right, with what looks like the outlines of a dog painted on each side. And In the middle is a wintery scene of a snow-covered field, a picket fence, and a lone tree. The bottom third has red paint in the left and right as well, with a series of circles inside each other painted in white on the left and the outline of a hand painted on the right. The wintery scene is repeated again in the middle of the bottom row. The middle third of the vertical area has a photo of a man with dark hair in the middle, and clouds on both sides, with the artist name and album title handwritten above the clouds on the left side.

Released 30 years ago yesterday, I think, this is the 8th album from Rich Mullins and the final studio album released before his death in 1997. Rich Mullins is one of the best songwriters I've ever heard, and songs like the title track, "Cry The Name" and "Let Mercy Lead" are so good. And wow, "The Breaks", "Hatching Of A Heart" and "Wounds Of Love" are just beautiful as well. It's not my favorite Rich Mullins album, and I feel it probably could have sounded a bit better had it not been self-produced, but like any Rich Mullins album, the songwriting and his performance is definitely worth a listen. Really, it's all good songs, even if I have some minor quibbles about the way it was recorded or that it started getting a bit more country than I prefer. If you've not given this a listen or if it's been a few years, I recommend you try giving this album a play, though I could say that for almost every album I mention here. Maybe I just can't wait to hear what Rich Mullins is writing in heaven, I guess.

Release Year: 1995
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