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Album Of The Day: Armistice by Mutemath
Released 16 years ago yesterday, this is the second album from alternative rock/pop band Mutemath. They are one of my favorite bands because they had such a great sound and a killer live show full of energy and musicianship. The band Mutemath mixes influences effortlessly, melding pop, rock, electronic elements, and much more, tying it together with great melodies and intense drums. I think "Electrify" should have been a Top 40 hit, honestly. "Armistice" has a bit of a New Orleans jazz flavor with an appearance by Rebirth Brass Band. Songs like "Spotlight" and "Backfire" are the energetic side, while "Odds" and "No Response" bring a bit slower vibe. And I love an epic closing track like "Burden". Lyrically, the band is struggling with relationships and their place in life; and years later it may be less about relationships at home than the relationships between the members of the band and struggling to come up with a worthy successor to their debut album. Though the lyrics are a bit dark in spots, it's lots of fun experimentation musically that keeps me listening to Mutemath, one of my all-time favorite bands.
Release Year: 2009
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Album Of The Day: Before The Sun Goes Down by The New Respects
"What make the world keep spinning? Love makes the world go round." Released 7 years ago yesterday, this is the first and only full-length album from The New Respects, at least so far. This is one of my favorite albums of the last 10 years, because it's just such feel-good music. They mix rock, pop, and soul and definitely have a throwback sound that I love. They are great live, playing all the instruments and with tight harmonies. I especially like when the music gets a bit slower on "Come As You Are" and "What Makes The World", some of the best songs on the album. This album captures their excellent sound and doesn't overdo it with over-production, and it's one of my favorite albums to listen to when I need a pick-me-up.
Release Year: 2018
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Album Of The Day: Watch The Rising Day by Matthew Smith
Released on this day 15 years ago, this is an album of old hymn texts given new melodies by Matthew Smith. The hymns have never sounded more contemporary, as Matthew Smith gives them a pop/rock/folk sound in his performances and the instrumentation of his band. There's lots of beauty in these old texts and I love these new melodies and arrangements. They really bring these hymns to life in a new way. Unfortunately, this seems to be not currently available on streaming, but you can find it on his Bandcamp page digitally or on CD and vinyl. Also, check out the interview with Matthew about this album on Caleb's Album Anniversary Podcast via Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Release Year: 2010
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Album Of The Day: Hold The Light by Andrew Osenga
Released today digitally and released last December on vinyl, this is a beautiful session of acoustic versions of songs written by Andrew Osenga (The Normals, Caedmon's Call). This was recorded on his 45th birthday as a present to himself. I'm glad we get to hear this recording as much as it was a treat for him to make it. Andrew's music has always been so honest, so heartfelt, and to explore both the highs and lows of life. One of my favorite songs ever is "After The Last Tear Falls", which was co-written with Andrew Peterson, and it’s fun to hear Mr. Osenga play it here. Other songs featured in this session are from his solo albums released 20+ years ago to even one track from The Normals's final album. Many songs are from his excellent The Painted Desert album and more recent songs are here too. This album acts as a great retrospective of Andrew's career and hopefully a whole new group of fans will check his music out.
Release Year: 2024
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Album Of The Day: The Art of Translation by GRITS
"My life be like, ooh-aah, ooh." Released 23 years ago today, this is the fourth album from this hip-hop duo and it's my favorite album of theirs. They bring the energetic raps right from the start with "Here We Go", and keep it going with "Ooh Ahh", "Tennessee Bwoys", "Believe", and "Make Room". Labelmate Jennifer Knapp provides vocals on one song, and label owner and artist TobyMac makes an appearance as well, among others. It's solid beats with good raps from Bonfide and Coffee, two rappers who perform as GRITS. The lyrical content is at least somewhat spiritual, but also pokes fun at hip-hop culture, how much they love their city of Nashville, Tennessee and that "Gospel rap" is not their preferred way of being labeled as a duo.
Release Year: 2002
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Album Of The Day: Chrysaline by Josh Garrels
Released six years ago this past Saturday, this is the ninth studio album from Josh Garrels, an independent folk-rock singer-songwriter. When it came out, I wasn't a huge fan. It's more mellow than his previous albums, I think, and I'm a bit of a rock fan. As usual, the lyrics have very spiritual content, and the instrumentation is beautiful. Much of Josh's vocals are a bit into his upper range, which works well. Over the years, the album has definitely grown on me, and despite the fact that he doesn't rock as much or break out into a spoken word verse like previous albums, it's still a solid listen.
Release Year: 2019
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Album Of The Day: The Blues Brothers Soundtrack by Various
Released 45 years ago earlier in the summer, this is the soundtrack of the John Landis-directed comedy/musical/action film. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd often appeared on Saturday Night Live as a blues duo from their beloved Chicago, and along with opening for other bands and some touring, this ridiculously funny film was made. This album includes all the major musical numbers from the film recorded in a studio, and a few bits that are not in the film are included too. Most of it is Jake and Elwood Blues, their characters names, as The Blues Brothers, but they are joined by Ray Charles on one song and Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Cab Calloway get their own tracks from the film. Classic songs like "Jailhouse Rock", "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Gimme Some Lovin'" are just a sample of the classics on this album. The Blues Brothers are great performers even if they are actors first, and they love the music. And the band they assembled for this album and the movie is top-notch as well. If you've not listened to much blues, this is a great place to start. It's even a fun listen if you haven't seen the movie. And if you're a fan of classic blues music, you'll probably find this not bad as well, I think.
Release Year: 1980
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Album Of The Day: Kingdom Of Comfort by delirious?
This is the seventh and final studio album from Christian rock band delirious?. By this time, the band from a small town on the English coast had been all over the world and seen many things, so this album brings a bit more socially conscious lyrical content than their previous albums. The title track, most notably, is a prayer to look beyond ourselves and love our neighbor. Much of the other songs are religiously-themed rock, with the band's veteran musicianship shining through to make many songs an all-out rock fest. Slower anthems like "We Give You Praise", "Love Will Find A Way" and "My Soul Sings" are interspersed with the rock tracks like "Give It What You've Got", "Break The Silence" and "Stare The Monster Down". It's not their best album, but it's still a good album worth a listen. A year later, delirious? announced they were saying farewell to the music scene, though they left a very lasting mark on Christian music worldwide.
Release Year: 2008
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Album Of The Day: Ctrl by Derek Webb
Released 13 years ago yesterday, this is a very unique concept album from Derek Webb. Maybe a bit ahead of its time, this album is a bit of a sci-fi story about someone who is so enamored with his computer and disenchanted with his life, he desires to upload himself to the computer and discontinue his human life. He seems to succeed and finds it's not exactly what he hoped for, and is able to get back to his human life. The music is a very unique and somewhat disconcerting collection of vocals, nylon string guitar, electronic beats and other elements, plus brief bits of discordant shape note choral singing. (If you do some research, you can also find a related side-project where the computer tries to become human along with a short narrative story to go with the album.) This is not an album I listen to often, but it's definitely a unique, ambitious concept album that is an interesting listen, and may even seem a bit more relevant today than ever before.
Release Year: 2012
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Album Of The Day: My Utmost For His Highest by Various Artists
Released 30 years ago today, I think, is this album celebrating the Christian devotional book by Oswald Chambers of the same name. First published about 100 years ago, the book has 366 one-page reflections and prayers. The album has 11 songs written by artists, each based on one of the pages of Chambers's devotional. About half of the songs are co-written by Michael W. Smith, though he lets other artists perform all but one of those songs. The biggest Christian pop artists of the time are here along with Smith with original, new songs, from Amy Grant to Steven Curtis Chapman to 4Him to Twila Paris. I only picked up this album a few years ago, so it's not one that's well-known to me, but it's got some pretty good songs. One song I heard about 10-15 years ago sung by a choir at church is the final track, "Shine On Us", here performed by Phillips, Craig & Dean. Like many songs on this, it's a very worshipful, adult contemporary hymn. It's not an amazing album by any means, but I think it's a good example of where Christian music was 30 years ago.
Release Year: 1995
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