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Album Of The Day: Drawing Black Lines by Project 86
If you've been following me, you may have noticed I like lots of styles of music. For example, yesterday was a Sara Groves album (adult contemporary/folk), but today's a nu metal album that was actually released around the same time, but had mostly a different audience, I expect. Released on this day 25 years ago, this is the second album by Project 86, which has been fronted by Andrew Schwab for nearly 30 years now. As with most of Project 86's albums, there's lots of emotion, anger and angst to Schwab's vocals and lots of screaming over the roar of guitars. The vocals are pretty dark and bleak, but there is some light and hope hidden deep in there, I think. I don't listen to this band very often and I don't know this album well, but it's pretty good, and I remember hearing "One-Armed Man (Play On)" and "Me Against Me" on Christian rock radio/TV a bunch back when this came out. If you ask me, there's something to music like this that amps you up and questions authority a bit, and it's fun to rock out sometimes. If it's not your cup o' tea, come back tomorrow for something different and maybe you'll like that more.
Release Year: 2000
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Album Of The Day: Conversations by Sara Groves
Sara Groves is one of the best songwriters in Christian music, in my opinion. This is the first album of hers I heard and is one of her many albums that I love. Released independently in 2000 and then re-released on INO Records on this day in 2001, Conversations is a very good title for this look into the many conversations Sara is having in song with God primarily, but also with friends and family. Musically, Sara's sound is contemporary folk-pop. and the band along with producer Nate Sabin do a great job with the sound here, making every song unique and fresh and working perfectly with Sara's gorgeous vocals. Lyrically, Sara's songs wrestle with faith and doubt, listening to God, but also proclaim God's love and grace. And it ends with a fun live recording of her singing about an old-timey revival "Tent In The Center Of Town". It's a great hour of music and I can't believe it's been 24 years now of enjoying and learning with this album.
Release Year: 2000 / 2001
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Album Of The Day: The Cannonballers by Colony House
Colony House is the band I've seen play live most in the last 10 years, I think. (I fact checked myself and this is correct. Colony House 9 times, Switchfoot only 7.) This is Colony House's latest album, a short but quality set of new songs. The album starts out sounding like a surf rock album, but after a few songs it seems to go back to just standard indie rock. Though I certainly don't mind. Many of the songs are just fun celebrations of life, while some others are encouragement and commiserating through hardship. And there's of course a few love songs as well. These four guys put on a great live show, and I enjoy all their albums a lot. Give them a listen if you haven't yet.
Release Year: 2023
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Album Of The Day: Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens
Along with the Album Of The Day highlighting albums I love, it's also a chance to listen to albums I don't listen to much, like today's album. I really enjoyed Sufjan Stevens's Illinois album, but didn't give his earlier works too much of a chance. Released yesterday 11 years ago, this is Sufjan's 4th album and the album between Michigan and Illinois, his two albums about different states. I've only listened to this a few times and found I didn't like it as much as some of his other albums; I found it very mandolin-heavy and a bit slow. But upon today's listening, I found I liked it a bit more than I remember. There's lots of Biblical references here, from reflections on Jesus's life and death to some interpretations on the Book of Revelation. And it's not as slow as I remember. In fact, "Sister" in the middle of the album has an extended rock portion. Sometimes I'm not a fan of Sufjan's somewhat melancholic style, but his songwriting is excellent and I probably should listen to his catalog more.
Release Year: 2004
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Album Of The Day: Bright City by Bright City
Released on this day 10 years ago, this is the first album from Bright City, the worship team at St. Peter's Brighton in England. More than most modern worship teams today, this album has a pop/dance feel, though the lyrics certainly are worshipful praise and conversation with God. "Force Field" and "Forever Yours" are definitely dance praise and are really fun. As the songs get a bit slower deeper into the album, it feels a bit more like a normal modern worship album, though there's a very high level of musicianship. This team has many songwriters and worship leaders, so they switch off on lead vocals, which also keeps the songs from sounding the same throughout this album. It's a solid debut from a quality new band, and I hope they are able to continue to make great new music.
Release Year: 2015
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Album Of The Day: Paper Horses by Paper Horses
This isn't an album, but a debut EP from folk music collective Paper Horses. Four accomplished songwriters (Taylor Leonhardt, Leslie Jordan of All Sons & Daughters, Jess Ray and Sandra McCracken) recorded this EP of songs together and released it early last year. The instrumentation is simple but beautiful, with acoustic guitars, strings and other beautiful instruments. But the highlight of this is the vocals of the women, with different persons taking lead on different songs, and very deeply felt, tight harmonies making each song something really special. Lyrically, these songs speaking of Jesus's saving love and calling on Christians to love their neighbor better, among other things. But even if you're not looking for a spiritual reflection, you probably still will enjoy the musicianship and heartfelt vocals.
Release Year: 2024
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Album Of The Day: Shimmer by Luna Halo
Released on this day 25 years ago, this is the debut album by rock band Luna Halo. Nathan Barlowe's ethereal vocals mix really well with Jonny MacIntosh's spaced-out guitars, and the two wrote great lyrics that touch on the divine as well as personal, down-to-earth relationships. All 12 tracks are solid songs, in my opinion. This was an album I loved immediately and listened to often for years after it came out, and I still listen to it somewhat regularly. Nathan Barlowe continues to create music with a band called Luna Halo, but none of the other band members from this album remain and their sound has changed a bit over the years.
Release Year: 2000
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Album Of The Day: The Road To OneDay by Passion
For nearly 30 years now, pastor Louie Giglio has put on Passion Conferences that gathered young, mostly college-aged Christians from across America and the world. In the spring of 2000, they had a very big event planned called OneDay 2000. Released 25 years ago tomorrow, this is the first studio album from Passion, the modern worship collective that usually records live at the conference events. This was released in preparation for their OneDay event as a way to get those attending some new music to prepare with. Like on many of their live albums, it contained a mix of original, new songs by the Passion worship leaders, plus covers of other worship songs written by people like Martin Smith (delirious?) and Paul Oakley and performed by the Passion team. It is fun to hear the Passion crew in a studio setting, and Producer Nathan Nockels does a good job adding some of those touches you don't usually get from a live recording like strings and programming. I love the instrumental interlude before Christy Nockels sings "Holy Roar", and it's kinda fun to hear Matt Redman sing "Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?" If you want to hear some of the best of the early days before modern worship took over Christian music, this is a good snapshot of it.
Release Year: 2000
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Album Of The Day: Discovery by Daft Punk
Released on this day 24 years ago, this is the second album by French electronic music duo Daft Punk. Notoriously private, the two men in this group almost always wear robot helmets at any public appearances and prefer to let the music speak for itself instead of do interviews. This is one of their best albums, with hits like "One More Time" and "Harder Better Faster Stronger". Unlike their later hit album Random Access Memories, this doesn't feature many collaborations with pop/R&B industry music makers, though they do definitely collaborate with their peers in the electronic music scene. Daft Punk came up with very unique sounds for this album, using instruments in ways that no one tried before and using instruments like guitars that you don't usually expect to hear in electronic/dance music. This album is a modern classic, and is on many lists of top albums, although it's not something I listen to that often. Still, it's a fun listen full of a lot of energy and style.
Release Year: 2001
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Album Of The Day: New Way To Be Human by Switchfoot
Released on this day 26 years ago, this is the second album from rock band Switchfoot. This was the first album of theirs I heard and purchased, thanks to the "New Way To Be Human" music video, and I got to see them play live for the first time later that fall. At this time, the band was still a lean three-piece band and the simple production of guitars, bass and drums lets the simple but brilliant songs shine through. Folks might be drawn to this album for the pop/rock jams like the title track, "Company Car", or "Something More (Augustine's Confession)", but it's the slower songs like "Let That Be Enough" and "Only Hope" that bring a very personal touch to Jon Foreman's songwriting and vocals and keep me coming back to this album. This album cemented Switchfoot as a band to watch in the 2000s, and a few decades later, they're still putting out music just as good or even better. Fun fact: The album artwork is designed by Shepard Fairey, years after his "Obey" giant sticker but years before his Barack Obama "Hope" posters.
Release Year: 1999
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