River James Band: Arlington

Good song from a local band.

Scoundrels: Outta Town Blues

Funky song with strings, horns, and an accordion.  I like it!  Download it here for free.

Magdalena

K, so the reason I entitled the previous post Wambach Killers is because I was going to include this song by the lead singer of the Killers and come up with something clever to tie it in.  Alas, I lost inspiration and that never happened.  Anyhow, this is a song from Brandon Flowers’ solo album that I have been listening to a lot and I think you should too.

Clarensau: When I’m With You

Small clip of a really good song.  Love this girl’s voice.

Newton Faulkner

Good wake up song.

This shows a little taste of his guitar chops.

Donovan Frankenreiter

His last name is totally fun, and his music is perfect for the beach.  He sings about the no worries lifestyle, and he looks the part.

If you like Jack Johnson, you should like him.  Jack Johnson actually plays with him on Free, and they are longtime friends and surfing buddies in Hawaii.

Josh Garrels: A Breath of Fresh Air

Confession:  Sometimes Christian music annoys me.  The below is my personal opinion.  Read on at your own risk.

It might be just be me, but sometimes I feel like half of the artists/bands in the Christian music realm wouldn’t last half a second in the music industry if they weren’t identified with the “Christian” music genre.  I certainly like and listen to plenty of very Christian music, but there is a whole lot out there that I think is a little boring.  It sometimes feels like the Christian music industry sets the bar pretty low and rejoices over what I think is pretty bland music.  To be fair, there are a few secular bands that make me wonder who they paid to get on the radio as well.

There are glorious exceptions to this rule that have their own sound and in my opinion are quite talented, David Crowder Band and Derek Webb being great examples.

I used to wonder if it was because the talent just wasn’t there, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Recently I have heard plenty of fantastic artists who create quality music, but most of them do not identify themselves as “Christian” artists.  They are indie artists or work with secular labels.  I don’t know if this is because they are shunned by the Christian music industry, but I think they probably just want to reach the most people possible with their music.  Either way, I’m glad that there is new, original Christian music being created.  I don’t know about you, but even I Can Only Imagine and My Redeemer get really old after a while.

Anywho, that diatribe was much longer than anticipated, but now I will proceed to the real reason I am posting.

My new favorite artist is Josh Garrels.

I think he is pretty awesome, and his new record is available for FREE here.  A few of his songs are below, but I highly recommend songs like Pilot Me, Revelator, Million Miles, and Beyond the Blue.

He is what got me thinking about the Christian music topic, and even though he is very much a Christian, I don’t think the Christian music industry would know what to do with him.

Unexpectations

I love it when things turn out way better than you planned.  A dreaded social engagement turns into a great night, a person with a bad reputation is not so bad after all, or in my case tonight a Netflix queue filler is actually a really good movie.

I would like to point out that these surprising and pleasant outcomes can not be realized unless you take the risk.  So many times in life we make excuses, and avoid situations that we see as boring or awkward.  Just try to say yes a little more than no, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

The Icarus Account

They have a good amount of music out there, but after listening to all their stuff these are the only 3 songs I would recommend:

My favorite part is the intro on this one

Heavens to Betsy

I like the name of this band, and their music ain’t half bad either.