Blog Archive for April 2026

Album Of The Day: Sonicpraise by Sonicflood

Album Art of Sonicflood's Sonicpraise album - An color-inverted, black-and-white photo of a man swimming out in the middle of a very large body of water. The image is just a bit above his head, which is hard to see as it is under the water, but his arms and hands can be seen out of the water, maybe at the moment before drowning. Because it's inverted color-wise, the body is black and the water is grey, and the image is a fish-eye lens, so on the edge of the horizon the water gets a bit darker. Printed above the photo is the band's name in white, and below that in a dark grey is the album name, both with all latters in all-caps except the last letter.

Released 25 years ago this past Friday, this is the first live album by Sonicflood and contains mostly live versions of the worship songs they had on their self-titled debut two years earlier. By the time this released, the band had mostly dissolved and been re-formed by the last remaining member, but this live recording from a Christian music festival in Amsterdam in summer 1999 was released. The band, led by worship leader and artist Jeff Deyo, leads the audience through their two original songs early in the set and then performs covers of popular '90s worship songs from other artists, some of which were on their album and some not. New songs include "Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble" by Delirious? and praise classics like "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High" and "You Are Worthy Of My Praise". The songs pretty seamlessly flow from one to another, and there are moments of spontaneous worship, unplanned jams with prayer. As with their debut, these are not the simple, worship versions on the Hosanna and Vineyard albums, but souped-up, guitar-laden rock/pop versions while still maintaining a worshipful tone. I honestly didn't pick up this album until a few years ago, and it's not required listening in my opinion, but it is an interesting moment in time captured here as the Christian music industry moved from feel-good radio pop/rock to being mostly modern music for church services. Sonicflood and groups like Passion as well as, in the few years after this, artists like Michael W. Smith brought the music of Matt Redman and church collectives like Vineyard Music to a much bigger audience, which in turn brought the music into churches more. The music of Sonicflood was never my favorite and they didn't really stick around in this form long, but they caught a wave of music trends and were riding it well for a moment here.

Release Year: 2001
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Album Of The Day: Jammed! by Phil Keaggy

Album Art of Phil Keaggy's Jammed! album - On a golden background, the left side is a sepia-tone photo of a middle-aged man with short, grey hair playing an electric guitar passionately. He's got a slightly open mouth and his eyes are closed, feeling the notes. His guitar neck extends on to the right side. and behind it a series of sine waves, sound waves. Just above that in the center on the right is the artist's name in large white letters in a handwriting-style font, and above the name in smaller black text is the album title.

Released 20 years ago last month, this is the one of Phil Keaggy's nearly countless albums over his 50+ years of music so far. While his music spans many genres, this one is in the style of a full-band, instrumental jam focused on Phil Keaggy's electric guitar skills. I think these are jam sessions in a studio with bass and drums, and I find them very fun to listen to, both as background music but also as the focus of listening. He gets many very unique sounds out of the electric guitar and can sometimes even sound like a full band himself thanks to some looping tools he uses very deftly in concert. One highlight here is "Joyphil", where Phil performs the melody of Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" on his guitar, making it an energetic rock piece. If you are a fan of electric guitar/rock music and have never heard a Phil Keaggy instrumental album, I highly recommend giving this a listen.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day: Playing Games With The Shadow by Kevin Max

Album Art of Kevin Max's Playing Games With The Shadow album - Out of the black background, the center is illuminated with an illustration of a of a pink tiger on a pale, pink-ish sand colored background. The tiger's eyes are glowing yellow and looking right at the viewer, and the title has a half-open mouth. Above the image in the black, printed in a neon pink handwritten script font is the album title, and below the image is the artist name.

Released 10 years ago sometime this month or next, this is Kevin Max's eighth studio album as a solo artist, though it is the first where he wrote all the songs by himself and didn't have a major collaborator in a Producer that also co-wrote. This synth-heavy pop record really gets good towards the end, with "Panic Button" and "Muzick Is Magic!" firing on all cylinders with fun, energetic vibes. Earlier in the album it's more dark and brooding with songs like "Girl With The Tiger Eyes" and "Election". And not surprising to anyone who knows Kevin Max a bit, there's a song honoring William Blake, one of his favorite poets. It's just pure independent pop music from the guy who mostly did the quirky harmonies in DC Talk in the '90s. And I love that he's been making music that he wants to hear, and that I listen to occasionally.

Release Year: 2016
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Album Of The Day: Easter Lily by U2

Album Art of U2's Easter Lily EP - On an orange and golden yellow background with vertical lines of streaking black, kinda a vertical blur, is a picture of a white Easter Lily and its shadow plus maybe the shadows of neighboring flowers. It's a pretty simple image, with the bright white flower contrasting the dark black shadows and the vibrant background color. At the top, in black letters, it has 'U2 Easter Lily EP'.

Released this past Friday, this is another surprise EP from long-time Irish rock/pop band U2. Just a month and a half ago they released their first EP of new songs in nearly 8 years, and they already have another EP of 6 more new songs. A few songs like "Resurrection Song" and "Easter Parade" do have an Easter theme as the title alludes to, though as is often the case with U2 lyrics, many Christians find they do not use enough of the religious language they like in a way they understand. Still, it's poetry that speaks of love, life, and God. The album ends with a nearly 7-minute track that includes the chorus "I will bless the Lord at all times", quoting the Psalmist, while the verses wrestle with the things we as humans cannot control. I'm not sure what to think of either of these U2 EPs, because they're not bad in my opinion, but I also don't hear the energetic, iconic singles that the band was known for in the 1980s into the 2000s. Though maybe that's OK if the band never ascends to the heights they once did, I suppose. I guess I'm not sure if I like these EPs or if the novelty of new U2 will wear off and I'll find they are just mediocre songs from a band that was once on top of the world.

Release Year: 2026
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Album Of The Day: Resurrection Letters Vol. 1 by Andrew Peterson

Album Art of Andrew Peterson's Resurrection Letters Vol. 1 album - On a dark red background that kinda looks like an old red book cover and has decorative gold lines framing the edge, it says the artist name in gold letters across the top, and in the middle in gold is the album's title. Around the title is a series of illustrations, with the dark red background and the color of white and gold. On the top row is a picture of the Temple with a darkened sun in front of it, then a golden heart that is glowing on an arrow and shooting up to heaven, and then a city in the clouds. On each side of the title is a golden cup, the left one burning and the right one sitting with bread and grapes next to it. On the bottom is the large stone wall and the round stone in front of the tomb, in the middle a golden sprout of a flower or tree with a bit of roots showing, and the temple wall with people standing at its base. On a gold banner across the bottom, it says 'Christ has died', 'Christ is risen' and 'Christ will come again'.

"Christ has died / Christ is risen / Christ will come again!" Released 8 years ago this past week, this is Andrew Peterson's tenth studio album. Released nearly 10 years after the Resurrection Letters Vol. II album that was released without a first volume, this album is a fitting first volume even though it was unwritten for years. Like the Prologue EP released shortly before this, it tells the story of Jesus and his followers as they go through these turbulent times; this time it's jubilant celebration and realization that God had foretold these fantastic happenings. Many Christians may have heard the song "Is He Worthy?" from this album, but there's so much more in these 9 tracks that is worth listening to. "His Heart Beats" and "Risen Indeed" speak to the surprise and delight of Jesus's resurrection, and "Maybe Next Year" connects the Jewish longing to meet in the holy city of Jerusalem with the idea of being with Jesus in the New Jerusalem someday. "All Things Together" triumphantly closes out this album with a celebration of God's awesome power making our world meaningful. It's an excellent album of songs celebrating the Easter miracle.

Release Year: 2018
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Album Of The Day: Resurrection Letters: Prologue by Andrew Peterson

Prologue EP - On a square, dark green background that has gold edging and kinda looks like a fancy leather-bound book or hymnal cover, it says in the middle the album name, and at the top, the artist name. Above and below the album name is an illustration that seems to be just whiter color lines etched out of the dark green background. It depicts two crosses, one with a sign on the top and no one on the cross, while the other still has a person on it. A soldier seems to be on a ladder pulling the cross down, and at the foot of the cross a few people hold the body that came off the cross.

Released 8 years ago this past February, this is an EP released as a Lenten prelude to the larger Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1 album. It has four songs and an instrumental mourning the death of Jesus and honoring His works. This mimics the traditional Christian act of, before Easter Sunday, reflecting on the torture and death of Jesus in which He took upon Himself all our sins. Andrew Peterson writes beautiful songs recalling those moments and ruminating on them, and even in the quiet instrumental moment, it hints at what will happen just a few days later by including the melody of a song of praise from Vol. 1. The songs on this are somber and reflective and lead the listener to think deep on Christ's great sacrifice and faithfulness. We grieve and wait for the triumphant events of Easter, where Andrew Peterson will have more to sing.

Release Year: 2018
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