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Like A Million Parachutes
Isn't the snow outside pretty? Oh wait, that picture was taken over three years ago. But hey, it's still a great one and it captures the look outside right now. Not only did we get almost a foot of snow, but it seems to stick to everything. Many schools cancelled today, so not much happened today. Even at my work, the power was only kinda working and the Internet would not start up. So I even left work after a half day. It was a weird and fun day, plus I've been waiting for all this snow for a long time. It was great.
I Never Noticed My Heart Before
Probably the biggest music news of the week is that Mute Math has filed suit against Warner Bros./Word Records for their handling of their debut EP. You can read the Reuters story and the comments at Shlog.com for more information.
What I have to say is that I wholeheartedly support the band. Why? Because I think they have a point.
It has long been a point of discussion, but here's what I believe the "Christian" music industry is defined as:
- It is those that edify the church (aka. the Christian faithful) through their music. MercyMe, Chris Tomlin, Bill Gaither, Rich Mullins, Sara Groves and Apologetix do that.
- It is a haven for bands that aren't good enough to be successful in the mainstream. MercyMe, Sanctus Real, Building 429, and Jeremy Camp are good examples of this, in my opinion.
I guess, you could say, the third category is those who are stuck in the Christian music industry. They started in the Christian world, and since then, they've not been able to escape despite their great music. Recent examples of this include The Listening, The Elms, Mat Kearney, and Mute Math, while older examples include dc Talk, Jars of Clay, and P.O.D.
Thankfully, some of these bands were allowed to escape a little. If they weren't plagued with the "Christian" tag, though, they probably could have made it much farther. There are many who, maybe even subconsciously, associate Christian music with second-rate, not-worth-my-time music.
Some of the newer names on that list are getting the chance to escape. Switchfoot is almost known on its own without being labeled a Christian band. Mat Kearney and Mute Math are making it too, and it looks like The Elms may get their break with the May 2nd release.
But what about Mute Math? Well, I think they have a right to sue their label. The claim that they went into talks with the label under assurances they would not be on Word Records, the Christian arm of Warner Bros. Records. I think they had a right to demand this, because they've been in a Christian band and knew that their new venture, Mute Math, could be much bigger. They may be Christian believers, but that doesn't mean that their music can be only heard by Christians, which is what the Christian music industry is for.
Of course, how long did Mute Math comply with Word's requests? Eight months or so after their Word release, they hit some major Christian festivals and were fairly popular. Does that mean they were admitting to being a Christian band? Were they interested in being Christian then but are no longer? That, to me, seems to be the only hole in their thought.
Best of luck to you guys. I hope that the publicity goes well and that your new CD is well-received.
They'll Know Us By The Way We Point And Stare
I assumed it was just a joke. (Well, hey, the rest of the stuff on LarkNews.com is a joke, so why would I think it's serious?) But even Amazon.com proves it's true because you can buy it.
The authors of LarkNews have released A Field Guide to Evangelicals & Their Habitat. It looks like a invaluable book should you ever encounter full-on Evangelicals. I mean, it preaches the truth: that I am going to hell, apparently (along with the rest of Catholics and the Pope). Just check out the handy chart that was reprinted at Shlog.com.
Hopeless Cathedrals, Blankets and Needles
Another release I was listening to yesterday was the debut album from House of Heroes. It's been out for about six months, and it's pretty darn good.
I remember the old House of Heroes when they were played on RadioU during the indie days. Actually, I think really early they were called "No Tagbacks", which obviously is a kiddie pop-punk band. But with their major-label debut release, they've transformed into an amazing art-rock band. If you want to check it out, find their video for "Serial Sleepers". Great stuff.
Though The Mountains May Fall
So today I took a first listen to Chris Tomlin's Live From Austin Music Hall. And, well, it's a pretty good live disc. The extra touches were, of course, the guest spots. Seth Walker, a Texas blues artist, helps Tomlin out with a more soulful "On Our Side". David Crowder adds his signature voice to "This Is Our God". And, surprisingly, the crowd is miced fairly well for a live disc.
The main gripe about this disc is the running time: 40 minutes with 8 tracks. Is Tomlin still just playing the opening slot at Austin Music Hall? What about the other 40+ minutes he played that night? Either this better be priced at $7.99 or it's gotta be at least 20 minutes longer, imho. And that goes for almost every artist.
Someone Searching For Something
Today I've been researching the world of Search Engines. And it's been interesting. Although I haven't gotten to the real meat of how it all works, I have found some interesting stuff. Most of it was found while searching through technical documents on Google's technology. Here's what I found:
- Directory structure is very important. When Google is looking for related pages, if it doesn't find related pages at
<a href="http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/x&y.shtml">http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/x&y.shtml[/geshifilter-code] then it will next look for related pagest to<a href="http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/">http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/[/geshifilter-code] and keep going up as necessary. (see Finding Related Pages on the World Wide Web) - Google and other companies have gone to great pains to make sure you're just not copying somebody's content, so it doesn't pay. Of course, they're probably getting even better so that they don't have to index the Gigabytes of copies on the 'net. (see Finding Replicated We Collection)
- If a site is hosted on the same IP address, it is closely related. If it's on the same server, it may be related. That's a good reason to have your own server. (see A Comparison of Techniques to Find Mirrored Hosts on the WWW)
- Oh, and some things are too darn confusing (like this paper on finding good sites)
The interesting part is that all of the material I was reading today was a couple years old, if not downright ancient (as in, 1999 or 2000). But hey, if one understands the very basics of the search engines, they'll more easily get the new technologies that are on top of it, I'd wager. All of the sudden, those SEO books written in 2004 that are on sale at Amazon.com don't look so bad. But still, so much has changed since then.
I should be including a link for a page about the Search Engine Optimization that is built into Drupal, but I can't find one immediately.
Lost In A Sea of Faces
So today's new release that I listened to was Kutless's Hearts of the Innocent. And, well, it's exactly what I expected.
I liked Kutless because it was fairly good rock. Sea of Faces was good too, but a bit softer. Strong Tower was fairly disappointing, although the rock mixes of some worship songs are nice. But this new one is just too much of the same. There's no growth; no progress.
Maybe that's why everybody on the Cmcentral.com forum hates Kutless. Because they're just the typical rock band. And maybe that's all they'll ever be.
Linux and Drupal Time!
So what have I been doing in the past month with computers? Well, of course, at work I've been doing PHP development and other exciting stuff. But that's nothing new.
Mostly, I've been playing around with Linux. Not only did I install and screw it up on an old Pentium MMX machine -- twice -- but I also decided to start renting a dedicated server to play around with. It's great to know that nodody else is running anything on that server, although it can be somewhat disconcerting to know I'm completely in charge of it. But hey, there's no better way to learn how to manage a server besides just doing it. I'll probably move this blog over to there soon.
Despite some dislike from my coworkers, I've been getting more into Drupal on my free time. I think I'm still fairly far away from contributing to Drupal, though, because I have yet to figure out how to use it well. Drupal will, though, power the inReview.net release that will come later this month. Thanks to the help of all the good folks at Lullabot (and espeically their podcast), I have been learning a lot more about it, and this weekend I got to play with some of the new modules like CCK, Views, and Workflow modules. I can't wait for all these to be done, because with a little practice, then I'll be able to throw together a website pretty quick. Plus, I'll be able to make inReview.net very good and tons easier to manage.
Break The Vice of Stereotypes
This week I'm gonna start trying to comment on pre-releases I get in the mail. Well, at least the ones worth commenting on. And since the Cindy Morgan album doesn't fit on the list of ones worth commenting on, I'll give you a little bit on Sanctus Real's The Face of Love.
In some ways, I hate it when people just compare their new CD to their previous album(s). But, with Sanctus Real, I can't help it. If you ask me, Say It Loud is easily their best. I guess it's the rock 'n' roll production by Pete Stewart, which I always dig, but I think it's also the songs too. In my opinion, Fight the Tide and the new The Face of Love just have that subdued, pop feel that just doesn't get me energized. And along with that, I just find the band falling into too many clichés. One of the songs on this album is just a bunch of analogies that kinda work but left me looking for my copy of God so I could listen to "Me Without You".
I'm not knockin' the guys in Sanctus Real: I've met them a couple times and they're cool. And although their CD just seems to be non-stop regurgitating of the theme of love, I guess it just failed to grab me the first couple times through.
We've Got To Come Together
Last night I went out with my parents and saw the Third Day/David Crowder Band concert. It was pretty chill.
Although we didn't really get there until 7:10, if they started right at 7 Crowder's set was just too short. It was great, though. They did a great job with their "rock opera", "You Are My Joy". And, of course, we had fun with "Foreverandever Etc..". They only played 40 minutes or so, though, but oh well. The opening band never gets any respect.
Third Day came out after a half hour. The lights were fairly cool, even though we were up on the second level of the Target Center. Third Day had the guy who has played keyboards on their studio albums on tour, and dang, he was good. At the end they redid "Come Together" with an entirely different melody that sounded more like a Gospel/piano-rock tune. They also did their rockin' cover of Rich Mullins' "Creed", which I always like.
Mac Powell said they were doing some stuff for old-school fans, but of course they were just songs that were re-recorded for Offerings. No songs from one of my favorite albums, Conspiracy No. 5 were played, and only the obvious, slow hits from Time were present. It still rocked when they "took it to 11" for "Rockstar", so much that my mom and dad had to leave the arena for a minute. ;-)
The best moment though was inviting David Crowder and his band back onstage during the set for Crowder's bluegrass Gospel tune, "I Saw The Light", where Mac sang the second verse. It was awesome. After that, Mac said, "If you buy one album this year, buy the new Third Day album. If you buy two albums this year, buy the latest from David Crowder Band." In my opinion, he shoud have said, "If you buy one album this year, buy David Crowder's. If you buy two, get our old album, Time." But that would be too gutsy.
All in all, though, it was a great evening with my family and that's what is important. That is, even if the service at Old Chicago was less than stellar.