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Album Of The Day: Invisible Empires by Sara Groves

Album Art of Sara Groves's Invisible Empires album - On a light green background, a few white clouds are faintly visible. Below the middle on the left, there's a number of rainbow-colored boxes that look like skyscrapers, and to the right of it that is black silhouettes of actual buildings that are less square. Those buildings and boxes are melded with a waveform design, the visual style of an audio recording, which also in this case kinda mimics the skyline and is reflected below along with the buildings. In the clouds in the top right, in rainbow colors is printed the artist's name in large text, and then in smaller black text below it has the album title.

Released 15 years ago today, this is the tenth album by Christian singer-songwriter Sara Groves. Sara is one of my favorite songwriters, as she has a great voice and writes engaging songs, plus they have an immense depth and thought behind the lyrics that help me understand the truths of life as a modern Christian. "Scientists In Japan" reminds us that we need to talk about the morality of things, not just do it because we can. "Eyes On The Prize" starts with a recording of a choir singing a Gospel song, then Sara Groves reminds us that we need to bring God's kingdom of jubilee and justice to the world no matter how long it takes. "Miracle" is the opener and is my favorite song on this album, maybe because it's the one I've heard played live the most from this album. Producer Steve Hindalong and a team of Nashville musicians make this recording excellent. The music of Sara Groves makes me think and also is a beautiful listen, so I highly recommend you check her music like this album out.

Release Year: 2011
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Album Of The Day: Vanity by Starflyer 59

Album Art of Starflyer 59's Vanity album - On a rough brown paper background, a light-colored box in the middle has the words 'In Search Of Vanity' printed in uppercase at the top, with 'Cat. No. VBM 205' in smaller lettering below it, and 'Starflyer Fifty-Nine' below that. Around the top and sides of the box are lines emanating from the top of the box like rays of sunlight on the top fo a building. Below the box there's a dark line with 'Two Thousand Twenty One' printed on it, the release year. And then in another larger lighter box below it has the track titles, and at the bottom it says 'The Sixteenth LP' as well.

Released 5 years ago this week, this is the sixteenth studio album from alternative/indie rock band Starflyer 59. Jason Martin and his collaborators have been recording for over 30 years now, though I don't think they perform live regularly anymore. Titled Vanity but "In Search Of Vanity" is written on the cover, it seems like Jason Martin's lyrics are trying to grasp his legacy and mortality plus also struggling with self-improvement. Jason is a very talented songwriter, and these songs have lush instrumentation for an indie rock band; at first I thought it was strings but maybe it's just synthesizers. This album is pretty short at only 8 songs and an instrumental intro, but Starflyer 59 is still a bit of an acquired taste and I don't listen to their songs too often. I do think they are worth checking out, though, as you might like their vibe. The vinyl comes in a beautiful paper packaging with embossed lettering and gold-colored foil elements.

Release Year: 2021
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From the shoulders up, a middle-aged rotund man wearing a white T-shirt is holding up a vinyl record in a paper slipcase that looks just like the album cover, but has gold lettering and golden rays that are shining in the light. Behind him is a room with a warm vibe, CD racks off to the right, and lot of random messiness. The man has glasses, a beard and a mustache and is smiling.

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Album Of The Day: Downhere by Downhere

Album Art of Downherel's self-titled album - From way up in the air above, four men are photographed in a grassy field. They are standing apart and looking up towards the camera. The edges of the photo fade to black in a circle. Printed on top of the photo in the middle just to the right and above the band members is the band's name in mostly uppercase white text, though the first letter 'D' is lowercase and taller as well as the 'R' extends below all other letters on the right.

Released 25 years ago today, this is the first album by Christian rock/pop band Downhere. Originally released in 1999 on a small Canadian label, the album was heavily reworked and re-recorded for this Word Records release. Lead singers Marc Martel and Jason Germain have excellent voices and the band are clearly experienced musicians despite this being their major-label debut. Many of the songs are guitar-heavy and have a blues-tinged rock style to them, though a few have a quieter, piano-based ballad to them. The lyrics contain a lot of spiritual references and point to God as the creator of all, but also allude to life's struggles as well. When this album came out, it was one of my favorites for a few years there, but I have definitely listened to it much less in the last few decades. And for some reason, despite loving this album, I found Downhere's next few albums much less enjoyable for some reason; I'm really not sure why. Not on streaming is a funny hidden track on the CD about how "rock stars need money; we can't live on baloney." Marc Martel went on to record vocals for some parts of the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and had a solo career after Downhere disbanded in 2012.

Release Year: 2001
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Album Of The Day: New Creation by Mac Powell

Album Art of Mac Powell's New Creation album - On a background that is more a powdery yellow at the top and more of an aqua blue at the bottom stands a middle-aged man wearing blue jeans and a matching denim shirt. He's got gray-brown hair with some spots of all gray/white and a full beard, all of them pretty short. He's looking up and to the right and has his right arm crossed over his chest to hold his left arm which is hanging down. To the right of him, there's his name in a large, dark green text, and then the album title in much smaller dark green text below.

Released 5 years ago today, this is the third album by Christian country/pop artist Mac Powell. First and primarily known as the lead singer of Christian rock band Third Day, Mac Powell had a number of releases in the years after Third Day disbanded, starting with two independently-released country albums, then a few albums as the lead of country group Mac Powell And The Family Reunion. On this release, Mac is on a major Christian record label for the first time since Third Day and doing more straight-laced pop/rock with a bit of a country tinge to it. Mac is the primary songwriter on all 10 tracks and they are fairly mission-focused songs, using his personal experiences and songwriting abilities to point the listener to Jesus. Some tracks seem to include lyrical callbacks to classic hymns and/or scripture such as "Be Praised" and "Jesus You Are". Mac is known for his deep baritone voice and it features heavily on this album. The final track, "Baptized", includes guest vocals and songwriting from another Christian pop singer, Matt Maher. With each song being only 3 minutes long, it's a quick album and seems to be a play at poppy, Christian-radio-friendly songs, so it's not my favorite as it feels a bit too polished. But overall, this is an experienced songwriter and musician and it's not bad.

Release Year: 2021
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Album Of The Day: Georgica Pond by Johnnyswim

Album Art of Johnnyswim's Georgica Pond album - In front of a beige-white painted wall, two people are facing each other and very close together. The man is on the left and is looking down to the woman's chest, while the woman is looking up at his forehead. He's wearing a brown brimmed hat and has a navy blue suit and a powder blue shirt on with no tie. She is wearing a black top with sleeves and has he right hand on his chest. She is black but fair-skinned and he looks to be Latino with a short beard. Above them is printed in thin, tall white text the duo's name in large letters, with the album title in smaller letters. There's a white border around the edges.

"I wanna write a song the drunks all sing / And the sober sing along / A song for you and me." Released 10 years ago today, this is the second album by husband-wife pop/folk duo Johnnyswim. This couple met in Nashville and it's clear that they have a lot of different musical influences they are mixing in their music. "Touching Heaven" has a bit of a Gospel choir bit and every song has some acoustic guitar, but there's elements of blues, soul and folk here as well. Both Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez are excellent singers and often their harmonies steal the show. But other times they switch off on lead singing, and there's some excellent instrumentation and production to back them up. These are mostly love songs, though there's the occasional songs about struggles in love. The album ends with a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" after a dozen other original songs. I've had a few opportunities to see them live and they were really fun and very talented. Johnnyswim isn't a group I listen to a lot, but I do enjoy them when I do give them a listen.

Release Year: 2016
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Album Of The Day: Anybody Out There? by Burlap To Cashmere

Album Art of Burlap To Cashmere's Anybody Out There? album - A grainy black-and-white photo with lots of motion blur that looks like it was taken from a moving vehicle on a bridge. In the foreground there are a bunch of barriers on the bridge that are silhouetted against the water and sky beyond them. The huge structure of a tower of a nearby bridge, maybe the Brooklyn Bridge, with cables coming of each side of the top, can be seen clearly, with a deck below that and the buildings being covered by some writing so harder to make out. In the center, there's a white outline of a rectangle, and inside that it has the band's name on one line and the album title on a line below it, both the same size white text.

Released 28 years ago today (or at least sometime this month), this is the first album by the eclectic pop/rock band Burlap To Cashmere. Hailing from New York City, Steven Delopoulos and Johnny Philippidis and a cast of other musicians weave together beautiful melodies, some religious lyrics, and a variety of musical styles from acoustic pop to Latin and other world music. One of my all-time favorite songs from any artist is "Eileen's Song", a soothing ballad of love and friendship in this sometimes dark world. And there's a bunch of other great slower songs here, from "Treasures In Heaven" to "Mansions". Most of the most well-known songs, though, are the upbeat, energetic songs with a driving beat a lots of excellent guitars and drums. "Digee Dime", "Basic Instructions" and "Anybody Out There" are the most well-known from this album, but there are also some other great ones later on the the album. "Divorce" tells of someone exiting a strained relationship and I have no idea what "Scenes" is about, but it's an interesting picture described and Delopoulos is almost yelling as he passionate sings these. Steven Delopoulos is one of my all-time favorite songwriters, the whole band is excellent and this album is definitely worth a listen.

Release Year: 1998
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Album Of The Day: Hanging By A Heartstring by Mat Kearney

Album Art of Mat Kearney's Hanging By A Heartstring album - On a peachy-pink background, a middle-aged man's face and neck is printed in the middle in a dark blue, just various layers of blue on the orangish-pink color. He's photographed from the side, so he's looking to the left and is wearing a dark hat and has a short mustache and beard. It's not huge so it's only about a quarter of the size of the entire area, a head surrounded by the light pink color, and no text is printed on it anywhere.

Released just today, this is the ninth album by pop/rock singer-songwriter Mat Kearney. For over 20 years now, he's been making pop/rock music, and this is another batch of good songs. Many of these are love songs and some are love letters to his home state of Oregon, though he has lived in Nashville for most of his life now. Songs like "Big Man", "Catch A Fire" and "I'm Going To Nashville" do seem to have a bit of a rock edge over most of his songs on his last few albums, and there's a few verses that get into some fast-talking, almost hip-hop-inspired lyrics. There's some great slower folk-pop songs here too like "As Long As I Live", "Fall On Me" and "Pacific City". I doubt this is Mat Kearney's best album, in my opinion, but it's a good new release and I'm always happy to have new songs from one of my favorite singer-songwriters. It was so much fun seeing him play songs from his Nothing Left To Lose album, other hits and the track "Gotta Have You" on this album last month on a beautiful night in Oregon!

Release Year: 2026
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Album Of The Day: Colorblind by Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Album Art of Robert Randolph And The Family Band's Colorblind album - On a blue-ish purple background, a large circle of leaves are visible around a circular center, maybe to look like a large flower of golden leaves with a bright light behind them. The middle of the flower has been digitally altered to look like the cone of a speaker though it is still the same golden colors as the flower. There's also stray leaves and debris around the flower, like this is all an explosion. Printed around the speaker cone on the left and right are white lightning bolts, and a line of electricity goes between them into the speaker. Printed above the speaker is a large double-R logo and the band's name in white text, with the album title below the speaker.

"It's a party, y'all. Come on." Released 20 years ago on Saturday, this is the third album by rock group Robert Randolph And The Family Band. This album is a non-stop party. Randolph started playing pedal steel guitar at his church and he was so good at it, he kept playing at other kinds of venues like clubs, Bonnaroo festival, and more. After a live album and a studio album that were mostly just jams and showed off the band's skills, they released this album with more traditional song structures along with the non-stop excellent musicianship. This album is a blend of rock, R&B, funk, soul, and much more. The band does jam a bit on their cover of "Jesus Is Just Alright" which features Eric Clapton on guitar as well. But the rest of the songs are 3-4 minute songs about life, love and more. Dave Matthews also joins the Family Band on "Love Is The Only Way". This album is a ton of fun and I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day: Down Goes The Day by Chris Taylor

Album Art of Chris Taylor's Down Goes The Day album - A very close-up photo of the bottom of a man's face, the chin with black, short beard hairs and his pink lips. HIs neck can be seen and a bit blurry in the background is the green shirt and his dark, shoulder-length hair. Printed on top of the photo just below his jaw is the artist's name in large white text, a thin black line right below it, and the album title is printed in black lowercase text at the bottom on what looks like a crumpled strip of paper.

Released 28 years ago yesterday, this is the first solo album by rocker Chris Taylor. The lead singer of rock/alternative group Love Coma, he's released a number of solo albums since this one, but this is the first time I've ever listened to this one today despite enjoying his second solo album a bunch of times before. This is quality rock and I love his vocal delivery; it gives a bit of a "this is just rock 'n' roll—who cares?" vibe but still sounds very passionate regardless. The lyrics have lots of religious language in them, but also come from someone who understands that life is not easy or straightforward. Many of the songs are a good 5-6 minutes long or even longer, and the album ends with a 15-minute extended, blues-y jam song called "Salt Of The Earth". I love it. The title track and "Learn To Pray" definitely connected with me, but I'm going to have to listen to it again sometime soon to digest more of it.

Release Year: 1998
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Album Of The Day: Trench by Twenty One Pilots

Album Art of Twenty One Pilots's Trench album - On a grainy yellow background, a photo of a large black bird that has a partially white beak that takes up the whole frame. On the black of his wing on the left is printed the band's name in small yellow text, then the album title in uppercase is black outlined with yellow. Below that is small text of the track listing and a few logos of the band and related entities.

Released 8 years ago yesterday, this is the fifth studio album by alternative rock/rap duo Twenty One Pilots. Drummer Josh Dun and frontman Tyler Joseph create an engaging mix of electronic sounds, industrial rock and hip-hop to tell about Tyler’s insecurities but also do it in a fictional dystopian world. It’s loud and in-your-face and sometimes I’m into that. They also put on a really fun tour after this album was released which I was able to catch. Highlights from this album include "Jumpsuit", "Levitate", "Chlorine" and "The Hype". I think it’s still in my top 3 Twenty One Pilots albums and is better than their last few albums in my opinion.

Release Year: 2018
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