The Christian Music Thread Genre • Page 64

The Myriad was poised to become the next big thing, it’s a shame that never happened. And of course a bigger shame that their drummer got cancer and passed

 

Are we just remembering old bands now? Because if so, Noise Ratchet. Another band that should have been big, but got screwed over by their label. Literally dropped a week after finishing recording their major-label debut, and then they didn't get the rights back until years later after they had broken up.

 

I was always a fan of Last Tuesday, they finally got signed but it was right at the tail of of Mono Vs. Stereo and they broke up to be adults or something lame.

 

Some pretty cool Beloved things.

This is a full set just posted from Hellfest 2004:

This is Josh playing an acoustic version of Rise & Fall:

I've loosely followed Josh's solo career (mainly his first few EPs), but man would I love some proper acoustic recordings of old Beloved songs. Stunning.

 

Discuss.

 

I think he has a point. Having a brother-in-law that is a current pastor and a father that has preached, they definitely have to consider everyone in the audience and...spell it out a bit more.

The infamous "I have three things I'd like us to look at.." or "This passage has two parts..." to create an outline or pathway for people to follow are good a useful, but definitely takeaway in some ways I think.

 

Also, worth noting I disagree with Josh on a lot of things but I truly appreciate his willingness to instigate and get people to think about what they believe/do and why.

 

I agree with this for the most part. I think many areas in evangelical and reformed camps have held up theology and preaching at the expense of discipleship and the arts among other things.

That said, I’m also growing weary of evangelicalism being painted with a broad brush. There are plenty of places that are really thriving within what’s considered evangelicalism but they don’t make a good headline or twitter thread. It reminds me of how it’s always been cool to pick on Christian music. And I’m thinking, man, there are so many amazing Christian artists out there. They’re just not on the radio.

Also, that evangelicals can’t get behind “any creative medium that is not comprehensible to the lowest common denominator” is just untrue in my experience. It’s also a pretty pretentious thing to say. There’s a certain elitism in a lot of post-evangelical circles that continues to rub me the wrong way, as if evangelicals are glorified cavemen. It’s a characature. Just because one man has an experience with shallow evangelicals or disagrees with certain views doesn’t mean every evangelical is shallow.

I guess it all depends on one’s definition of evangelical though. Also, to clarify the tone of this comment, I like Josh Dies a lot. I just think you can challenge the problem of arts in the church without talking down to people.

 

It's crazy how well these songs hold up today. Still, I love how 2004 this video is. X'd up shirtless drummer, Hot Topic banner in the background, military caps for days.

 

This is an awesome thread to have available, thank you. I listen to plenty of rap music and it helps a lot to have some great Christian music to listen to balancing out the vibes. Please leave a reply and share with me some trending Christian music out their I can add to my Spotify playlist, you can find by searching "Official Skrypt."

 

Just took a listen to that "Jesus Freak" and want to say thank you for sharing. Many of days I get stuck listening to the same old Christian-Gospel music and don't get around finding more new music to listen to. Thank you for sharing because this track was heavy metal as well, just the kind of heavy metal I like. #Perfect.

 

I think Josh's assessment of evangelical culture at large is pretty accurate, as much as certain creative types here & there try to push back against that status quo. I'm not even inherently opposed to lowest common denominator culture (I think it's shitty when that's said like it's inherently bad), but evangelicalism has a lot of arbitrary cultural restrictions like that. And, that's not even just overt restrictions, but like, also, restriction by lack of priority.

At the same time, though, the initial prompt's usage of the words "modern pulpits" is weird to me insofar as it makes it sound like they're talking about, like, preaching & maybe corporate worship. Which, I think misses the point just as much as the evangelism it's critiquing does. Especially funny that one of the examples is the prophets... y'know, those activists who spoke strongly against power structures from the outside in dramatic ways that never could've existed w/in traditional temple worship, lol.

The thing is, those regular meetings where we sing, break bread, & encounter Scripture & the Lord's presence together, which people like to call "church," were never supposed to be the entirety of the Church. Not every good place is good for every good thing. It's ok to engage God through a Terrence Malick film or a Julien Baker song w/out forcing that into a pulpit.

Not that we have to be overly precious w/ Sunday mornings or whatever. I've preached twice so far, & I used a Spider-Man comic for an illustration the first time & mentioned Star Wars a couple times in the other. If people wanna incorporate illustration, poetry, film, etc., into a Sunday morning, & it fits, cool. To go full circle, I think our church bodies are healthier when we engage not just w/ our heads, but also w/ our hearts, & leave room for the mysterious & experiential. But, like, there's a pastoral element to all of this, too. And, it's ok to let certain expressions of the Kingdom flourish outside of what we call "church" (w/out turning it into a conflict between the two).

 

@Tim Maybe I’m misinterpreting what “lowest common denominator” means here. How would you describe it?

 

I mean, I bet you are interpreting it right. It’s a phrase, typically w/ a negative connotation, that describes something that’s, like, simplified in such a way as to appeal to the most people.

Basically, what I’m saying there is that “lowest common denominator” stuff has value, as long as it doesn’t choke out everything else. I guess some of the problem is that, particularly w/in capitalism, it’s hard for that kinda lowbrow, broad, populist, common, whatever thing to not choke out everything else (see: Disney). But, both the broad & the specific have value.

And I say that as someone who sometimes has some pretty... specific opinions & tastes, lol.

 

I have listened to it three times this morning to begin to digest it. I like it more with every lesson. There's a particular stretch in the middle that I really like. (To be honest, Homebody through to the end, haha!) The whole musical vibe is really easy to listen to, quite chilled. I need to digest the lyrics a bit more as I am working from home so haven't listened to every song as intently as I would like.

I am really pleased for you though. Is it a relief to finally get it out?

 

That seriously means so much. Thank you. Yes, it’s definitely a relief! It’s just so good to have an album officially out. It also excites me more for this next batch of songs.

 

Posted this wholesome story in another thread, but feels relevant for this one:

So, my sister moved down to Florida the other week to be w/ her fiancé, instead of being stuck w/ a nursing job here in PA while living w/ our at risk mom.

Their wedding was originally scheduled for May but had to be moved into the fall. To make the whole moving to Florida thing easier in the meantime, they decided to get married now, just the two of 'em.

She texted us some pictures of them in a church w/ the pastor doing the vows for 'em, & I think, "he looks familiar."

Do some googling.

Stephen Christian married my sister.

Anberlin is one of my sister's favorite bands, too, but she had no idea that's who that was. Which, is good 'cause the moment should be about her & her man, not Anberlin. But, now she can say that the singer of a band she loves married her, which is such a beautiful blessing in the midst of all that wedding virus shit. He & his wife were also apparently incredibly sweet to them.

 

That is awesome!

 

Wait. Your sister just married Stephen Christian??

 

Semantics... He did the marriage between my sister & her man, as the pastor. The pastoral acting of doing that is called "marrying" people. So, my sister married her fiancé, & Stephen Christian married the two of them.

Isn't language fun? lol.

 

I thought the same thing myself for a second. Hahaha.

 

Gonna stop spamming this thread with my music after this comment, but my album is now available on Spotify:

I also just had a conversation with my dear friend @Chase Tremaine over on Jesus Freak Hideout about the album, songwriting, redemption, etc:

Jesusfreakhideout.com Podcasts

 

Haha. I hate words.

but I love that this happened.

 

Lightworker - a new Solid State band:

 

Hmm sections of this I liked, but then it had some pretty meh parts too. What you think?