Soundtrack of 2010

Following my soundtracks of 2008 and 2009, here is 2010.  It's a shorter list than normal, I'm not sure why.  Links go to Youtube videos.  Alternatively, search Spotify.

Anberlin - Dismantle.Repair
Classic Anberlin - quality rock music and lyrics with depth.  The drums alone are excellent, but the vocals and guitars complement them and each other perfectly.  The relentless repetition of the chorus from 3.15 onwards is brutal and inspiring.  D.R links wonderfully with 'Fin', the following track on the album.

Athlete - In between 2 states
This track has no lyrics so it is unexpected that it draws my attention so strongly.  For some reason, this song just got inside my head this year.  It's the best instrumental opening track to an album that I know of.  I only wish it lasted longer!

Athlete - Rubik's Cube
What excellent imagery (listen to it and you'll understand)!  Genuinely superb.  Very clever, and the song builds brilliantly.  A song you can lose yourself in.  A high point of the Black Swan album.

Evanescence - My Immortal
An old song, but wow.  The simple piano, the famously haunting vocals, the subtle build through the bridge, and *that* crash at 3.04 - the best musical explosion ever?  Certainly a contender I think.  This song not only made my soundtrack of the year, but also entered my 'contenders for greatest song of all time' list.

Hurts - Devotion
This song makes the list because I think it is the only song I've ever heard that treats lust as a problem to be dealt with.  A refreshing change from most popular music.  It also has an interesting (and I think very wise) idea of how to battle it.  Big respect to Hurts for this one.

Jesus Culture - Your love never fails
Jesus Culture both inspire and annoy me, but this song definitely falls into the 'inspire' category.  Musically and lyrically it does everything that Jesus Culture do best.  As a congregational song it could work but would be tricky, but as a standard piece of Christian rock worship, it is exemplary.

Muse - Invincible
Yes, I know you know who Muse are and I know you know this song.  It's one of their most famous.  But I just love the unabashed positivity.  It brings a nice change from Muse's usual mood.  It has the upbeat optimism of cheesy pop, but without any of the cheesiness or poppiness.  A great example of Muse's quality.

Muse - Map of the problematique
Very different from Invincible, but no less excellent.  Musically, possibly my favourite ever Muse song.  It is not possible for me to not get excited about this song.  The beat, the drive, the riffs, all of it.  And at 2.18, an incredible moment of music.

Sixpence none the richer - Still Burning - sorry for the lame video, it was the only one I could find!
Lovely, just lovely.  I struggle to find other words.  Beautiful song.  I won't try to preach from it at the moment, but one day I might.

Sixpence none the richer - Tension is a passing note - video is a cover but an ok one
What an interesting idea...'tension is to be loved when it is like a passing not to a beautiful chord'.  This song never ceases to make me think.

StrangeDay - Wonderful - no video available
A wonderfully positive song.  Fun, catchy, upbeat, great melody, and a really good message.  Unfortunately you can't hear it, but trust me, it's a great song.

Soundtrack of 2008

As the end of the year approaches, it seems appropriate to list my ‘songs of the year’. These are not (necessarily) my favourite songs at the moment (though most of them are), but they are songs that I have been very into this year, songs that have in some way shaped the year for me. And they’re all songs I didn’t know before about a year ago.

Click on the links to listen to the songs - they're all on Youtube, so some are official videos and some are fan made. Sorry for the awful ones - just close your eyes and enjoy the music.

Anberlin – (Fin)

I discovered Anberlin in the summer via my sister, and was addicted to their 3^rd album, Cities within about a day. (Fin) is the final track, a many-layered epic masterpiece, full of stories, honesty and truth. Immense.

Barlow Girl – Enough

Barlow Girl are very average, but their version of the worship song Enough has the most amazing 3-part harmonies I’ve ever heard, that start on entry to the first chorus and continue for much of the song. Beautiful stuff.

Bloc Party – Kreuzberg

I’ve really got into Bloc Party this year, and went through a phase of absolutely loving Kreuzberg. There’s just something about the way it builds, with the guitar and vocal parts, that I love. Especially while driving.

British Sea Power – Waving Flags

On each of their albums, BSP produce one stand-out track, one true all-time great song. Waving Flags is the latest of these, including everything that is great about BSP – truly inspiring music and wonderfully odd lyrics.

Casting Crowns – Stained Glass Masquerade

Casting Crowns are often described as ‘prophetic’, and Stained Glass Masquerade is the most insightful of all their songs. It’s one of those songs I think every Christian should hear, and then take a really good look at themselves. Very challenging stuff.

Coldplay – Viva la Vida

Coldplay have produced another very good all-round album, but Viva la Vida is the stand-out track. Just the ability to produce such a driving rhythm without a drum kit is pretty special, and then there’s that insanely addictive riff.

David Crowder Band – The Glory of it All

I only have two David Crowder Band songs, but The Glory of it All is rapidly heading towards my top few songs of all time. It’s a complete worship experience which links us into God’s story in a wonderful way that we should think about a lot more.

Delirious - God is Smiling

Delirious just keep producing brilliant songs. God is Smiling is an immensely positive song, capturing so much of what is great about knowing God. The music and lyrics are each Delirious at their best.

Editors - Weight of the World

Editors always make great music, but Weight of the World has their best lyrics too. It’s one of those songs that contains so much truth, I suspect unintentionally. A very emotionally intense song, and awesome live.

The Kissaway Trail – Smother + Evil = Hurt

The Kissaway Trail are a bit weird, and the bizzarely titled Smother + Evil = Hurt is probably their most normal song. The music has a certain je ne sais quoi that makes it addictive to listen to, and the lyrics, especially in the verses, are enchanting.

Lifehouse – Easier to be

Easier to be is the latest example of Lifehouse’s lyrical brilliance. It’s not an outstanding song at first, but its message is so uniquely beautiful, it's an idea I've never heard in a song before, and it’s become a very important song to me.

Live – Run to the Water

Live are as unique as, and better than, RHCP, and Run to the Water is nothing less than genius. The music subtly draws you in and then explodes in your face, and the lyrics are just as enticing and powerful. The combination of the two is majestic.

Rock’n’Roll Worship Circus – Blessed Tune (sorry, couldn't find a video)

You wouldn’t think that the beatitudes put to music would be so amazing, but Blessed Tune by RnRWS proves that it can be. Soothing music, very nice and remarkably honest lyrics, and a simultaneously comforting and terrifying message.

Stellastarr* – Lost in Time

Stellastarr produce the best rock I’ve heard for a long time, probably since Muse made it big. Lost in Time is a powerful and potentially painful song, with fantastic musicianship and vocals, and lyrics that really make you stop and listen.

Strangeday – Fogpilot

Strangeday are the least well-known band on this list, but many of their songs, especially Fogpilot, are actually amazing. The openness and honesty here is refreshing, and the music is completely without weakness. And the middle eight is huge.

Bluetree - Greater Things

British Christian Rock is in decline.

The days of Kato, Steve, Quench, Bottlerockit, Jars of Clay, Jennifer Knapp, Rebecca St. James etc are gone, and the likes of YFriday are left trying to fly the flag alone.






















Of course, there is one band who were around before any of these and are still going strong. They have a total of 13 studio and 4 live albums, a mix of heavy rock and calm worship, and have broken into America. I’m talking, of course, about Delirious, who number among their songs such brilliance as Lord You Have My Heart, Thank You For Saving Me, Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble, Obsession, Deeper, History Maker, King or Cripple, Investigate, My Glorious, Awaken the Dawn, Rain Down, Majesty, Inside Outside, Now Is The Time and Our God Reigns. Just in case you needed reminding. Delirious have single-handedly dominated the British Christian Rock scene for well over a decade. No-one else comes close. Fact.

However, Delirious have announced that they will be finishing as a band at the end of 2009. That is going to leave a huge gulf in the Christian music market, and I wonder which new bands will appear to fill it.

Well, until someone realises how great Strangeday are, I expect that one such band will be Bluetree. Bluetree are a 6-piece from Northern Ireland, whose debut album, Greater Things has been out for a few months now. I genuinely think these guys could be as good and as big as Delirious. That’s how much I rate them.

Greater Things has 13 tracks, but given that track 8 is a one-minute interlude and track 13 is a remix of track 11, the album basically divides into two halves – tracks 1 to 5 are lively, upbeat, passionate, and tracks 6 onwards (with the exception of Standing Out) are more chilled, calm and reflective. The two halves are very different in style, but the quality runs throughout. The songs are slightly more ‘churchy’ than the usual Delirious stuff – more like the old Cutting Edge albums. Some of the songs could be used in worship sets, others as reflections, but all are God-centred, which tends to be fairly standard for Christian debut albums.






















I could go on with a detailed breakdown of the album, but I can’t be bothered. All I’ll say is:
1. Visit the Bluetree Myspace to sample three of the sample tracks, God of this City, Life’s Noise (the opening track) and Each Day.
2. Order Greater Things from Bluetree’s shop or Purashop
3. Go to the website to see what the band is all about
4. Enjoy the album!

This could be the biggest Christian album of the decade – no exaggeration!

Strangeday - Please Intervene

Strangeday have the privilege of being the subject of my first post here.
Strangeday are a band that I first saw in the summer of 2004 (I think) at a Chrsitian music festival in Milton Keynes called H3. Steve were headlining the weekend and most of the other acts were being watched in a politely interested kind of way without any audiences getting too excited. Then these four young men got on stage and started playing and ten minutes later the area was packed with people. The band was met with huge approval, and arguably stole the show from Steve. At this time they had 2 EPs recorded, and I bought both immediately.
I've listened to Strangeday's music regularly since then, until last autumn I heard they had recorded a full-length album entitled Please Intervene. I had to hear it!

Strangeday are Toby (vocals, guitar), Aaron (guitar, vocals), Ally (bass) and Paul (drums). They play what they call 'smackface rock'. I have no idea what this means, but it's flippin' brilliant.
It's hard to compare the sound to anything mainstream; Greenday might come the closest. It's generally very guitar driven but the bass and drums are by no means just a rhythm section. They're not a band who you would say play a huge variety of music but, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, this doesn't matter, because it's just great to listen to. On the heavier side of Indie, it would be easy to just crunch out quality riffs and cool bass lines, but song after song the melodies and the sheer energy steal the show and keep you listening repeatedly. One thing you can say is that they have talent, but instrumentally and in terms of song-writing.

The guys are all Christians and the lyrics reflects this brilliantly but very subtly. If I didn't know about their beliefs I doubt I'd pick them up from the music, but given that I know, the songs make a lot of sense. Like U2 really, but more subtle. The songs are mostly about living as Christians day-to-day, often focusing on the hard stuff - if I had to sum up the album in a word I couldn't, but in two words I'd say 'integrity' and 'struggle'. The lyrics are very honest so it doesn't get depressing to listen to but actually is quite inspirational.

I realise I've compared these guys to Greenday, the Chilis and U2, arguably 3 of the biggest 5 bands in the world (maybe with Foo Fighters and Coldplay?). Personally I think they could hold their own with this lot. For a debut album, Please Intervene is very impressive in its maturity. And the EPs, 'Blink and Miss It' and 'Before You Go', are just as good.
they've been together for at least 5 years now which makes me think they aren't going to make it big, but maybe that's not always a bad thing.

To have a listen to Strangeday, go to http://www.myspace.com/makerocknotwar
There are a few songs on there, though sadly not many of their very best. The pick of the bunch is Fogpilot, one of my favourite songs ever.
They also have a few videos on YouTube, just search for Strangeday.