The cassette tape of this album is some of my earliest memories of listening to modern pop music. My parents were too busy raising five kids to listen to much music, so I think I had heard of this Michael W. Smith guy and asked them to buy the tape for me, if I remember correctly. In the previous decade, Michael W. Smith had been busy, putting out 6 studio pop albums, a live album and a Christmas album. This compilation takes the best of the 6 albums, such as "Go West Young Man", "Secret Ambition", "Place In This World" and his ever-popular "Friends", plus two new songs stuck at the start to make sure the fans have a reason to buy it. It's Christian pop at its best and worst: lots of Christian culture clichés like stories about Jesus, talk of abstinence and an end times reference, but also some personal love songs, edgy power pop considered "not Christian enough" by some, and a choral hymn at the end. This was released 31 years ago today, so take a trip back in time if you want the best of '80s Christian pop from a talented musician and songwriter.

Release Year: 1993
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20 years ago today, this EP was released and it declared the start of one of my favorite bands for the next 13 years. Mutemath started out as a few friends doing remixing, producing, etc. and turned into one of the best live bands I've ever seen. And this Reset EP started it all. The title track is a 5½ minute instrumental jam with amazing drum work and a beautiful mix of guitars, bass and keyboards as well as production tricks. "Progress" and "OK" showed they could write vulnerable ballads that the masses could connect to. And "Control", "Plan B" and "Peculiar People" were such energetic songs, they should have been the next big thing in electronic pop/rock, in my opinion. Sadly, despite a good amount of success, they never became a well-known name in popular music before breaking up in 2017. This EP started it all and it's still some of their best songs, though sadly it's never been available on streaming services to this date.

Release Year: 2004

Released 15 years ago yesterday, this is maybe not an album either; it's a mixtape. In some places called the The Blueprint 3 Outtakes (Deepspace5 Version), this is now sold on Bandcamp as the 5PRINT Mixtape. Deepspace5 is a underground rap super-group, so here you'll find cool beats and beds and fast-paced raps over the top of the music. This type of underground stuff from labels like Uprok Records about 25 years ago was some of my first exposures to rap/hip-hop music, and I still enjoy this type of underground hip-hop from time to time. I only picked up this release on Bandcamp recently, and I need to listen a few more times to catch half of what was said and break it down, but I love the fast-paced, clever wordplay and the fun beats.

Release Year: 2009
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I'd never really listened to the music of Fernando Ortega much. I think I knew that he was most well-known for his versions of hymns. But then in 2004 I came across this album, his self-titled release, and I found that yes, there were a few hymns on the album and they are beautiful, but there's also a lot more. Fernando Ortega's smooth vocals are mixed with country, folk rock, and other styles on this release. Some of the songs lyrically talk about nature ("Dragonfly" and "When The Coyote Comes"), some about daily life ("California Town" and "Mildred Madalyn Johnson"), and some about the days where we struggle ("Shame" and "Noonday Devil"). It's a beautiful album and one I come back to on occasion. I really do need to check out Mr. Ortega's other albums one of these days! (I even have a few other of his albums I recently bought used on CD and I haven't listened to them yet.)

Release Year: 2004
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