Around the Internets: Restart

Every so often, I catch myself reevaluating this blog and writing in general. It's probably a healthy practice, because I'm convinced a measure of discomfort and self-doubt keeps you honest. But at the same time, it makes me take these unexpected breaks and leave this place for dead. (or, at least, for a nap. A nap sounds more pleasant.)

Anyway. I haven't done an Around the Internets post since July, and I miss it. It's an excellent way to retrace my wanderings, and I enjoy reading posts like this on other blogs (for instance, Friday Faves and Sunday Superlatives). So why not? Here are a few things I've read and/or faved on Twitter throughout the week.

• Two things yesterday reminded me that I'm supposed to be making time to write because it's important. One was an e-mail from my friend Josh that said, "This is your every few weeks reminder that you're supposed to be writing." (as in poetry/lyric writing. we're planning a co-write soon.) Josh is writing a song a week in 2012, and you should listen to them at #52Worship. "Watch Over Me" with the spooky crickets is my favorite so far.
  
• Right after reading the e-mail, I opened Twitter and saw a link to an article on the Art House America blog called "Returning to the Writing Life." Of course, that caught my attention, another small, unexpected nudge toward remembering that I should be writing.
  
  "As I listened in at the gatherings and had conversations over meals, I found that no one has a perfect writing life. Some are university professors who write in the summertime and find it hard to remember what they were writing about after nine months of teaching. They long for sabbaticals. Some have a patchwork of other jobs and keep their deadlines by writing at night, on the weekends, and in waiting rooms. Others are dealing with sorrow, failing bodies, and the changing world of publishing.
  
  It’s good for me to hear these things from people who’ve been at it for a long time, who continue to write regardless of the challenges they face. Through their faithfulness to the vocation of translating experience into words, imagination into story, and scholarship into beautiful writing, the world is blessed and my life is enriched.
  
• One more excellent reminder: "Your Big Idea is Not Enough" by Jeff Goins. Ouch. That's all.
  
• What Makes Art Christian? Or: is the work of Jerry B. Jenkins and Amy Grant any more Christian than Flannery O'Connor's Southern gothic tales and Sufjan Stevens' quirky musical vision? Julie shared this article in the Hutchmoot Facebook group this week, and it was too good not to pass along.
  
  The thing about good art seems to be that sometimes it finds an audience. O'Connor's fiction isn't Christian the way Jerry Jenkins' is. Stevens is not a praise band leader. Flannery and Sufjan resonate in larger circles, yes, but their work, like Tolkien's, casts wide nets of longing, questioning, devotion, anxiety, suffering, redemption, and grace. In this sense it could be no more Christian.
  
• Speaking of Hutchmoot friends... this was posted over a week ago, but it still needs to be plugged and read: "Of Being Made" by Alyssa Ramsey. Beautiful.
  
  "The painting sighs at the touch of new hands – oh, but not new at all. Firm, sure, and so blessedly familiar.
  And now it stops and says no more, for no more need be said. It simply is, and just by being, it tells a story."
  
• My only successful clothing sewing project was a skirt made from old jeans. It's wearing out like the source, but I love that skirt, even though sewing kind of scares me now. For the crafter in all of us that ends up taking ill-fitting jeans to Goodwill... 7 Reuse Ideas for Old Jeans. Makes me want to go through my closet and make a new skirt. Or at least a coffee cup cozy.
  
• Finally, a plug: New PReview at JFH for Audrey Assad's forthcoming album Heart... or: in which I geek out. I freakin' love this record. I can't wait for the world to hear it. Enjoy the teaser review. (Also check out my recent review of Lindsay McCaul's If It Leads Me Back. Interview with her coming soon too!)
  

If you've read, watched, or listened to something awesome this week, share in the comments! I know you have...

Speak up. Shake the Dust.

There is something delightful, weird, and beautiful about performance poetry. I don't remember when I first heard about slam poets, those writers who blur the line between competition, song, drama, and wordcraft, but I do remember attending a few open mic readings and finding it fascinating, even if some of the words were kind of bizarre. There's a rhythm, vibrancy, and streetwise life to it that can't quite be matched in simply writing things down, and I admire the act of getting on a stage and baring the soul like that. These are people who breathe words in and out, the 21st century's wandering bard.

Lately, I've been falling in love with poetry again but hadn't thought much about this genre, until I saw a video To Write Love on Her Arms posted a few days ago. Anis Mojgani performed at their Heavy and Light event for the second time this year. I started to post that video, but I remembered the moment he stole the show at H&L 2010 with a piece called "Shake the Dust." Because I'm biased toward the event I actually attended, here it is.




Imagine for a moment a concert hall filled with a couple thousand people, captivated into breathless silence by, of all things, a scruffy poet. Imagine being told your story matters, and for the first time, maybe actually believing it could be true.

That's kind of what happened here. Suddenly, I'm sort of sad I missed it this year.

"For the ones who are told to speak only when they are spoken to
And then are never spoken to
Speak every time you stand
So that you do not forget yourself"

Awesome of the Year: Music Part 3

For all the music I covered in the last two posts, if I'm honest with myself, there are three records that really defined the year for me. Whether the rest of the music world thinks so or not, these connected deeply with me in some season of 2011, reminded me why music matters, and continue to move and surprise me with every listen. I hope you'll forgive the lengthiness of this post and hear nothing but my enthusiasm.

Spring: I always sort of liked Paul Simon. I Just didn't know it until this year. As a kid nurtured on the music of my parents' generation, I was familiar with a number of his songs from the Simon & Garfunkel days -- "The Sound of Silence," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Homeward Bound" -- and more recently, my dad showed me the delightful video "You Can Call Me Al," which I'm pretty sure was in rotation when he rocked to sleep with MTV. (True story.) It took a very convincing review from The Rabbit Room to finally make me investigate his solo work, starting with his newest record So Beautiful Or So What. And oh, I'm glad I did.

As impressive as his creative sounds and career longevity are, there's a reason he's considered one of our greatest living songwriters. He's a modern bard for sure, with lyrics that are evocative and ring with truth. In a few lines, he can create a character you care about and weave a story with incredible wit and pathos. "Rewrite" is a fantastic example, in which a father holding down at a car wash talks about "working on a rewrite" that reveals itself to be a reimagined life.

I’ll eliminate the pages 
Where the father has a breakdown 
And he has to leave the family 
But he really meant no harm 
I’m gonna substitute a car chase 
And a race across the rooftops 
When the father saves the children 
And he holds them in his arms

I could cite many more songs that captured my inner poet's heart and imagination, but why do that when I could send you to the review that made me buy it? After this, I picked up Graceland, saw him in concert, and started digging into the Paul Simon: Songwriter set. Needless to say, I'm a fan now.

Listen to "Rewrite"

***

Summer: It all begins with 8 seconds of silence, a pregnant pause before a wandering lone guitar melody cracks through. Ambient vocals add atmosphere, a soft yet militant drum beat and layers of plaintive falsetto join in. This is "Perth," setting the stage for Bon Iver's eponymous new record, and taking Justin Vernon and his band far beyond the "broken hearted indie folk singer in a cabin" lore surrounding his career. 

Up until now, I was largely unfamiliar with Bon Iver, but this... This was magic to me, a record I revisited over and over. It's neither flashy and bombastic, nor is it simple. It builds layers of sound, vocals, and instrumentation so thickly you can hear something new with every listen. Pitchfork described it as an album about memory, and given the abstract nature of everything from the cover art to the song titles, I can see no other explanation. The tracks are named after places real and imagined; the lyrics are largely nonsensical, until a powerful line stands out in stark relief, grabs the heart, and holds on. For example, these from "Holocene": "And at once I knew, I was not magnificent... I can see for miles, miles, miles..."

I can't express what I love about this in words beyond that. Sometimes, I play it on my drive home, as the sun is going down and the world becomes a darkening dream. I play it loudly in my car and forget, or remember. Sometimes I listen close for new sounds or let myself get caught up in the music. That kind of music is a rare sort of magic.

Listen to "Perth" / Pitchfork Review

*** 

Autumn: It was a rainy, gloomy Saturday morning (at least, it's gloomy and rainy as I remember it) at the end of a draining week, at the start of a day marked by a tired, empty feeling. I slipped a CD into my car stereo just to break the silence. Part of me wanted to pray, vent it out, but the words wouldn't come. And then by chance or maybe grace, words I knew by heart broke through my clouded thoughts and settled there as if I heard them for the first time: 

"I've spent some days looking for a length of rope
And a place to hang it from the end of my hope
Where I thought hope had ended, I always find a little bit more."

So I cried. And found the words to talk to God... or maybe they found me. And my quieted soul said thanks, mostly because somewhere a writer had the courage to commit them to a record and send his own pain, hopes, and fears out into the world. For that, Jason Gray's third album A Way To See in the Dark is, if I'm honest with myself, my album of the year.

I've already written enough about this record from the music reviewer's perspective. When I received my pre-release six months ago, I confess that excited as I was to hear what a favorite artist had been up to all year, I was a little scared of it. Would it be the best, or, in my mind, eclipsed by his last record? And how in the world would I keep myself objective?

So I listened, with walls up. By the third spin, I was realizing that it really just might be his best work. By the fifth, I was emailing Jason just to tell him thanks.

Over time, this quiet, unassuming album, so catchy and poppy on the surface, eased its way into my heart and stayed in rotation long after the review was posted. What I respect most is the difficult balancing act he manages, somewhere between keeping it accessible enough for the masses, but honest and true his folk singer roots and convictions about great art. In a way, the lyrics in this album do the same thing Bon iver's music did for me; they unfurl slowly, a new turn of phrase or perspective emerging on every repeat. (once, just a month or so ago, I yelled out loud because I finally understood the second verse in "Without Running Away"... Or do I?) 

I know this didn't top a lot of last year's lists, and perhaps, even in CCM circles, it may be woefully left behind with so many higher profile releases surrounding it. But for me, this is a special record and a kind of grace. My friend Emily said it "meets you in the dark, then takes your hand and shows you the way out." I say I started out listening because I needed it for a review, then never stopped because I needed it for my soul.

Listen to "Without Running Away" / Again, my JFH review.

***

Honorable mentions (because my list was too long and ridiculous): Eisley - The Valley (indie rock with beautiful harmonies), Mutemath - Odd Soul (grungy 70's funkified indie rock), Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials (the best things about Lungs turned up to 11), Sara Groves - Invisible Empires (a truly beautiful and quirky songwriter folk/pop record), Hyland - Weights & Measures (fun alt-rock that reminds me of old-school Anberlin and fills a void in my collection) The Hawk in Paris - His + Hers EP (80s throwback synth side project by Jars of Clay's Dan Haseltine and friends) and M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (22 tracks of grand and glorious electronic soundscapes)

Next Awesome of the Year: Books. It won't be this long, I promise.

Awesome of 2011: Music Part 2

Continuing Awesome of the Year: Music Edition with some more favorites of 2011.


Christian Music Doesn't Have to Suck

When I tried to sum up the records I listened to most over the past year, I noticed a really strong return to Christian music, not just in a "it's my job" way. I suppose it's because if you dig hard enough, beneath the sound of the radio charts is a thriving world of artistic, deep, faith-based music. Once again, John Mark McMillan and Gungor infused life in the worship scene with amazing albums. Gungor's Ghosts Upon the Earth is epic in scope, a sprawling sonic journey through Creation, the Fall, and Redemption that's even stranger and more beautiful than their last record. (Highlights: Let There Be, Crags and Clay, When Death Dies, Ezekiel) JMM didn't change it up too much with Economy, but his gritty, moody Southern rock style and stunning lyricism is a step forward from last year's The Medicine, and perfect the way it is. (Highlights: Sheet of Night, Daylight, Love You Swore)

This was also the year I figured out that I really, really like Downhere. They've been around ten years, and I've known about them almost that long, but mostly in the sense of hearing a song, thinking "yeah, that's nice," and forgetting to really check them out. When I picked up a review copy of On the Altar of Love for JFH, I realized just how much I'd been missing. Downhere is a bit of an anomaly; they're almost too different and good musically to fit in the Christian music world, but they're writing is so ministry focused, it's hard to imagine them anywhere else. (Highlights: Rest, Let Me Rediscover You, For Life, Seek)

Of course, with one of their lead vocalists Marc "Hey You Sound Like Freddie Mercury" Martel on the upcoming Queen Extravaganza tribute tour, I doubt the obscurity will last for long...

Returning Favorites

There are some bands that can simply do no wrong, that you look forward to every new release just on principle. Switchfoot is one of those for me, a band I've been following for over a decade that consistently puts out great music, whether they're pop or rock or somewhere between. Vice Verses has yet to take over the "best SF ever" spot in my mind, but it's easily the most solid rock project I heard this year and is every bit as infectious and anthemic as it should be. (Highlights: The War Inside, Restless, Dark Horses, Where I Belong)

And Needtobreathe... I got hooked on their music maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and fell completely in love with their last record and incredible live shows. So it was a bummer to find The Reckoning slightly disappointing at first, because I wanted it to blow my mind. Over time though, it continues to grow on me and just may be a new favorite in time. It's musically adventurous, simultaneously carrying a darker tone while reaching to bigger arena rock heights, but it doesn't lose the Southern rock charm. If nothing else, get "Oohs and Ahhs" for their experimental best. (Highlights: Oohs and Ahhs, White Fences, Drive All Night, Keep Your Eyes Open)

Kiss My Cred Goodbye

Sometimes, playing the snob can get exhausting. You know what, Internet? I like Coldplay. I like their subdued classic Parachutes, I get choked up listening to "Fix You," and even though it's big and pretentious and rips off approximately 22 other artists (or three), I freakin' LOVE Viva La Vida. While it doesn't measure the epic of Viva in my mind, I am totally on board for Mylo Xyloto. They have this exuberance that's lacking in a lot of the more "important" music of the year, and when I listen to it, I smile and dance inside. (Highlights: Hurts Like Heaven, Paradise, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall)

And while I'm confessing my uncool tendencies, I really dig All Things Bright and Beautiful from Owl City. I didn't want to like it, but I was convinced to give him a chance, and this album caught me off guard with how delightful it is. Sometimes cheesy, always fun, bubbly synthpop that highlights a quirky personality. His songwriting is a little weird ("I swear / There's a lot of vegetables out there..."? And what the heck is an "alligator sky"?), but it's part of the charm. It just makes me happy, and sometimes, that's all you need. (Highlights: Angels, Dreams Don't Turn to Dust, Galaxies)

In Part the Third (and Final... I swear!)... my three most listened and loved albums of the year and a few late discoveries.

Awesome of 2011: Music Part 1

Ah, the Top Whatever of the Year list. It's ubiquitous, it's obligatory, and it inevitably will leave somebody, somewhere calling foul. When it comes to music, I've grown to love and hate The List. I love to read them because they either remind me of great albums I heard at some point and forgot or finally persuade me to discover a new favorite. I hate the stressful feeling of whittling down and ranking my list. Who am I to say acclaimed, hipster-approved album of the year is a better, more worthwhile piece of music than that ignored record I actually listened to so many times I have every word memorized and still haven't gotten sick of it?

I already made a couple of Christian market lists this year.... one for JFH and another for Under the Radar's Critic's Panel. That was hard enough, but when I start factoring in all genres, it just gets messy.

So to kick off the 2nd Annual Awesome of the Year series, I thought I'd try something different for my top albums list. Rather than attempt to rank and file and convince you my picks are the best, I'm presenting a no-particular-order list of favorites divided into arbitrary categories. This is a multi-part post, because there were far too many to squeeze into one! I hope something fits your style and that you'll seek some of these out.

Sweet Singin' Duos

Did you hear about the indie band that popped out of nowhere and dominated iTunes for all of their street week in February 2011? The Civil Wars seem like an unlikely overnight sensation, but there were a few years of buzz leading up to their debut. Barton Hollow, the long-awaited debut LP, became a critical darling for good reason: sparse production, gorgeous melodies, spot-on harmony, and heartbreaking songwriting. I bought this at 7am on release day, and I still love to visit it now and then, especially as the days turn colder. (Highlights: I've Got This Friend, C'est La Mort, Poison & Wine, Barton Hollow)

In a similar vein, this was the year I discovered Over the Rhine. When I downloaded "The Laugh of Recognition," it was a "where have you been all my life?" moment. (and really, they've been making music almost my whole life.) Their latest release The Long Surrender is a richly layered mix of Americana folk, smoky barroom jazz, and soulful gospel choirs with stunningly poetic songwriting. Seriously, where has OTR been all my life? Oh yes... making music... as they were meant to be. Exploring their back catalog is a priority for 2012. (Highlights: The Laugh of Recognition, Rave On, Infamous Love Songs, All My Favorite People)

No really, I Hate Country Music

One of my favorite performances at last year's Grammy Awards was Mumford & Sons playing their hearts out together, and I ended up semi-involved in a Twitter debate/discussion whether it was possible to love that and still profess distate for country. I say yes. But still, country flavored music has been sneaking more and more into my listening these past few years, and it would be dishonest to ignore that fact. I'm a sucker for a good dose of banjo magic, and while it's not boots and beer cowboy music, the latest from The Decemberists The King is Dead certainly pushes me closer to that line. Trading in the dramatic metal/folk opera tendencies of The Hazards of Love for a sound closer to REM and rootsy Americana, with some appropriate help from Peter Buck and Gillian Welch, this record has an honest, earthy vibe I love, and I find it a joyous listen every time. (Highlights: Don't Carry it All, Calamity Song, Down by the Water, Rox in the Box, June Hymn)

Underground, Underrated, And Rabbit Approved

As always, some of the best music on earth is hidden treasure, and the secret to finding the good stuff is following websites and friends who have better taste than you. I'm fan of almost everything endorsed by The Rabbit Room, and once again, they showed me a couple of gems that I might have missed otherwise.

Before I noticed the Josh Garrels buzz on Noisetrade, I saw a rather gushing post about his new album Love & War & the Sea In Between on The Rabbit Room, which is generally enough to at least get me curious. And wow, is it great. The lyrics are the heart of a poetic folk songwriter, but the music is a stunning mix of earthy acoustics, gritty urban beats, and stirring orchestration. Oh yeah, and it's free until June. Get thee to his website and enjoy. (Highlights: Farther Along, The Resistance, Ulysses, Beyond the Blue) My JFH review

Speaking of epic... Ben Shive's The Cymbal Crashing Clouds was a record I couldn't get enough of in the latter half of 2011. This indie project surpassed all my expectations as a whimsical, brilliant record that meshes elements of The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and alternative pop with dreamlike imagery, witty lyricism and modern parables. From the opening train whistle of "Listen!" (and who knew a train whistle could sound so lovely?) to the beautifully sad and hopeful closer "A Last Time for Everything," this is a journey worth taking again and again, and opens itself to something new with every listen. Plus, there's a super cool illustrated book to go with it. Amazing. (Highlights: Listen! EGBDF, The Fall, She's Invincible, A Last Time for Everything... oh, all of it.)

Next Week: Christian music doesn't have to suck, new albums by a few of my favorite artists, and how I kissed my imaginary hipster cred goodbye.

The R Word

"So did you make any New Year's Resolutions?" my mom asks between bites of salad. It's a casual question that probes deep, sort of like an obligatory "How are you?"


I tell the truth. "Of course not." Except it's a half truth, because I have a few little hopes and goals trolling around in my head, though I'm scared to attach the "R Word" to my dreams and murder them before they have a fighting chance.

Because aren't we all good at self-sabotage at the beginning of a new year, or is it just my own lack of discipline? My track record isn't so great.

Taking a photo a day in 2008? Nope.
Editing my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel? Abandoned.
A gracious do-over through my 2010 Photo a Day blog? Didn't make it past February.

But we try, oh how we all try on. There's something about writing the date 1/1 that awakens a hope that maybe this will be the year we meet that goal, and maybe this will be a chance to refocus on that dream, whether we speak it out loud or harbor it secretly as a hope.

So here's to the R Word. A few small and/or slightly ridiculous hopes for 2012.

1) Make this the Year of the Poet. I have a stack of poem drafts begging for completion, and I want to pretty them up and let them go. I'm not sure how this will happen. Ideally, I'd love to surround myself with a few poetry nerds that will tell me when they suck and nudge me toward making them better. I also hope to have a chapbook's worth put together by mid-spring.

2) Find the book inside me. I know it's there. I don't know what it is. Maybe it fits under #1, or maybe it's something else entirely. I don't plan to write one... just find it. And if something more comes of it, then bonus. Besides, I added my name to this list, so...

3) Try an unconventional journaling habit. I have this crazy urge to document things (like the reading list here on the blog), and at some point last year I thought it would be fun to jot down first impressions of every album I hear. This year, I'm seriously going to do it.

I figure forcing quick pieces will not only help me as a music writer with actual reviews and year end lists, but will also be a bit of geeky fun at the end of the year.


4) Read thirty books this year. By my "crazy urge to document" count, I seem to average twenty books a year, give or take a few, not really accounting for the abandoned ones. In 2007, the year after I graduated college, I read fifty. I'm setting my goal a little higher than average and lower than crazy.

Things I Will Not Resolve to Do

1) Exercise.
2) Write every day.
3) Get 8 hours of sleep a night.
4) Write shorter blog posts.

PS: Awesome of 2011 lists are coming in the next couple weeks. At least one person asked if I was making a best concerts list again, so it totally must happen. :)