The Christian Music Thread Genre • Page 76

so many great Come&Live albums. i’m gonna go ahead and say Cancer is my favorite release from them (and probably my favorite Showbread record, too).

but gotta echo the Ascend the Hill love w/ O Ransomed Son, and honorable mentions to The Ember Days’ Emergency, Least of These, and Loud Harp.

 

It’s funny, I think out of all the Showbread albums, the ones released with C&L! are my least favourite and I haven’t listened to them for years.

 

Same.

 

the two C&L releases are easily my most listened to. Age of Reptiles is probably close behind.

 

I actually think the last one is my most listened. It's like perfect Showbread. What a way to go out.

I used to LOVE Who Can Know It though and played it a ton as well.

 

I like that they switched up their sound so much there literally is something for everyone.

 

Exactly! I think they have very few misses. Cancer is probably the least replayable for me. Or the Nervosa/Anirexia albums. Everything else is gold.

 

Yeah, I don't think very many people liked the Anorexia/Nervosa albums. They're so hard to listen to! The Fear of God was great, though.

 

Anorexia/Nervosa are the albums that got me into them, ha. After I heard those I went backwards and enjoyed their previous two, but Fear of God was a big miss for me and I kinda forgot about them from there.

 

Yeah, they are such a tough listen. I can almost never get more than half way.

Fear of God is great.

 

I love A/N. The Fear of God is a favourite too. Age of Reptiles and No Sir carry a lot of nostalgia for me.

 

Age of Reptiles is great. Honestly, I get in specific moods for each of their albums except A/N. Showbread is Showdead is the one I throw on if I just want Showbread, but the others scratch specific itches.

 

Serious question:
I am a youth minister of over four years and a current seminary student, and I sometimes feel bad that I just can't get into Christian music. I have to believe that I'm just not finding the right stuff, but when I look (and I do look!) it all seems to either be folk/rootsy/americana, bland pop, metal, or pop-punk in the style of Relient K.
Some of the bands I love, for reference: Third Eye Blind, The 1975, Motion City Soundtrack, Modern Baseball, Jeff Rosenstock, Great Grandpa, Japandroids, Origami Angel, The Menzingers, etc...

Any suggestions? I would love to have some music to listen to that is rooted in Christ, as almost everything I listed above is mostly relativistic or skeptical of Christianity, which can grow tiring at times.

 

It's hard to gauge what true Christian music is, since some bands like mewithoutYou/further seems forever and Christian but do not put that label on it.

Some suggestions that come to mind:
Starflyer 59
The Fold
Dustin Kensrue/Modern Post (seriously amazing stuff)
Kings Kaleidoscope
Aaron Sprinkle's solo stuff
Brothers Martin
Joy Electric
Off Road Minivan (not super faith based though)
The Juliana Theory
twothirtyeight
Classic Crime
Hearts Like Lions
Everything in Slow Motion

 

also check out John Mark McMillan

 

I like some of his stuff, but it still mostly falls in the "rootsy/folk" category. Just a style of music I'm tired of, unfortunately. I used to really love that kind of stuff - singer songwriter, whatever. His 80s-sounding stuff is cool, though!

Thanks for the suggestions, will check out the ones I haven't heard yet (The Fold, Off Road Minivan, Hearts Like Lions, Everything in Slow Motion) .

 

My favorites right now? Probably My Epic, Citizens, and Jon Guerra (his latest record is amazing).

Totally self-promoting here, but I just finished a record that's coming out in a couple months that I hope can scratch your itch. It's foundation is acoustic folk, but most of my inspirations fall into modern indie rock (From Indian Lakes, War on Drugs, The Killers), so I definitely wouldn't put it in the roots/Americana category. I'll tag you in one of the singles when I put it out in a couple weeks.

Here's some of the stuff I have on Spotify. It's a bit more minimalist/lo-fi then what I'm about to put out, but maybe you'll dig it:

My best bud does some amazing work and also has a record coming out soon. Dave Bazan, Jon Foreman vibes:

We both really want to merge a lot of what we love in modern music into the Christian world (and vice versa if people outside the faith give it a chance).

Also, my good buddy @Chase Tremaine has two great records out. I love Unfall in particular:

 

I would suggest checking out John Van Deusen if you haven't already. His three current albums range quite a bit in sound, but I find each of them really compelling on their own. I'd be curious if some of it would connect with you.

 

No Limit to Your Love is an all time favorite of his. He’s so great.

 

Oh man I LOVE My Epic

 

Weathered, Comrades, Salt Creek, Idle Threat, '68, Everything in Slow Motion, Tigerwine, all good options.

 

I forgot Weathered was religious actually. Excellent band.

 

His older stuff def is, newer feels more what you were looking for. I'll do some digging and see if I can find anymore. Assuming you know of Classic Crime? Their recent albums talk of struggling with faith which I find very relatable.

 

The Gray Havens and John Lucas are also both great.

 

I'll gladly check out your stuff; I used to be in a band and remember trying to get people to check out our music and how rude people would be about it sometimes. All the best.