News

Danen Kane is one of a handful of local Wisconsin artists I care about, and in terms of local faith-based artists, he’s top-tier. He models humility and humor. He write complex songs that don’t mask his faith one bit. Today’s song is one of his best, quickly demolishing the singer-songwriter label and quickly moving into anthemic indie. It’s no mystery why he’s become a favorite act in the Fox Valley. … Continued →

Rock & Metal

• 4th Point – Right Wrong
• Chase Tremaine – Q2FN
• Fallstar – The Prism Glass
• Light45 – The Medic
• Love and Death – White Flag
• Pantokrator – We the People
• Reclaimers – Say What You Will

Pop & CCM

• Amanda Danziger – Intercede
• Andrew Ripp – Jericho (Acoustic)
• Chris Renzema – Let The Ground Rest B-Sides (EP)
• The Colour Negative – Good Year
• Cristabelle Braden – Growing (Pop Version)
• Danny Gokey – New Day (Radio Version)
• Eleni Baker – More Than a Million (EP)
• Ginny Owens – Shine Again (Stripped Mix)
• Jared Marc – What I’m Good At
• Joel Vaughn – Louder Than The Lies
• Josh Sellers – The Way It Seems
• Petey Martin, Lauren Daigle – Come Back Home
• Philip Shibata – Sad World
• Nathan Kitner, Lily Grant – I’d Follow You Anywhere
• Scott Riggan – Don’t You Lose Heart (Beautiful and Terrible)
• Trampolines – No One Loves Like You
• Twilight Meadow – Dust
• We The Kingdom – Holy Water (Deluxe)

Electronic

• Bryson Price, Mikesh!ft

… Continued →

From the opening notes of “Just Breathe” all the way to its creaky end, this track seems to live up to the “ghostly” vibe of this Washington-based act. Rest assured, this band is neither post-rock nor needlessly-morose. Ghost Stations is instead more coffee shop than haunted house. It shimmers with a certain tender warmth, though vulnerability is around every corner. The ghosts here are not external tormentors; they’re vestigial memories. “(I Can’t) Save Your Soul” is the first point where we see the full band – complete with buttery bass, tight drumming, and some jazzy piano.… Continued →

I dig most “core” music genres, & there are tons of them (metalcore, screamo, nintendocore, etc…). One of my faves is electronicore which fuses unclean (growled or screamed vocals) with clean & double bass pedals & a lone keyboardist (which this song has the perfect mix of imho. Formed in Rock Hill, SC, at a pentecostal church, WOE i one of my friends son’s band. My friend Paul Gaskin is the youth & children’s pastor of the church which is also known for a Helloween event that showcases a “haunted house scenario”, but shows how life’s end can be very scary without our Saviour Jesus.… Continued →

Glam metal gets a bad rap. Especially in punk/indie/hardcore circles. Except for the occasional semi-ironic nod to the genre, it doesn’t get much love outside of 40- and 50-something dads who like to show off old photos of their teenage mullets. Whether the cheesyness or the sleaziness is to blame, folks seem to have a love-hate relationship with it. Occasionally, however, there are some real gems. Rage of Angels released one fantastic album in 1989 through Regency Records. Shortly thereafter, the Connecticut-based band split up, leaving 2 members to join the newly-formed mainstream pop metal outfit Steelheart, who had huge radio hits with “She’s Gone” and “I’ll Never Let You Go.”… Continued →

Angie Turner is the given name for soloist Miss Angie who has been releasing music since 1997. She was married to Oran from Johnny Q Public (whom I saw back in probably circa in their hometown of Springfield, MO). 2 LPs were released in the 90s that went to the Christian market. Consisting of what I would consider 60s esque/bubblegum/hard alternative rock music, the music was hip & akin to Veruca Salt or what I think Avril Lavigne would have made if in the Christian market.… Continued →

Listen: Amazon Music | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube Music Lyrics:… Continued →

Indie-Emo-Punk band, The August Guns, return with their best song yet. This too has just been released in the new year. I think many of you are going to dig this. Check out the song below and follow the band here. … Continued →

At The Wayside return after a long 3 year wait with BRAND NEW MUSIC! That’s right, the band just dropped their new single titled “My Denial” which will be the first song released from their upcoming independent EP that is due out this winter. Check out the song below and make sure to follow the band on social media. … Continued →

Jaded Thorns were a grunge band that hailed from New York . Releasing 2 LPs & disbanding, this was a band that I wished for more of.  It is hard to find much on them as their record label did not last long. Both Epiphany & Things My Father Taught Me were on Word of Mouth (The Roosevelts, Sides of the North, Mending Point, Poor Man’s Riches). A few songs hit radio: Epiphany, Remnants, Lie Awake & Lost In The Moment & the one featured. The lyrics come straight from Psalm 130 verse 1: “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?… Continued →

Rock & Metal

• Arson – In too deep
• At The Wayside – My Denial
• Atlas and the Attic – Gold
• The August Guns – Be Not Burned Up
• Convent Bonfires – Shaky Hands
• Remedy Drive – Dragons
• WeAreGeneration – Photographic Memory
• Zahna – Look What You Made Me Do

Pop & CCM

• Allan Scott – Hold It All
• Anna Waters – Walkin on the Water
• Apollo LTD, Social Club Misfits – Good Day (feat. Social Club Misfits)
• Bre Reed – From the Start
• Brian Weaver – Bulletproof
• Charlie Peacock – When You Move Me
• The Colour Negative – Good Year
• Courtnie Ramirez – The Blackbird Sessions (EP)
• for KING & COUNTRY, Hannah Ellis, Jackson Michelson – TOGETHER (The Country Collaboration)
• DC Talk – Jesus Freak (Owl City Remix)
• Grace Graber – In My Head (EP)
• JJ Heller – I Believe in You
• Jon Webster – Lovesick
• Mandisa – Breakthrough
• Nfgn – Year 2020
• Xander Sallows, Sam Bowman – Daydream
• Tauren Wells – All God’s Children

Folk & Singer/Songwriter

• The Altar Billies – The Ballad of Ol’ Luce
• The Altar Billies – Great Big Rollin’ Big Boy
• The Altar Billies – Virginia Truckee Line
• The Bowery – Mountains & Valleys
• Brooks Ritter – Ghosts Come to Life (EP)
• Charlie Peacock – Holding On and Letting Go
• More Than Rubies – Walking Through Fire
• Nathan Kitner, Lily Grant – Nothing Sweeter, Nothing Stronger
• Stephanie Quick – Redwood
• Zan Fiskum – You Are The Light

Hip Hop & R&B

• AyeItsAron – Strt Frsh
• Bold Noize – Goslow
• B-Shock, Roy Nova – Confetti (EP)
• Daniel Wayne – As I Am
• Joey Vantes – Legend (EP)
• Josiah Lowe, Xay Hill – DRIP.

… Continued →

Rock & Metal

• A Secret Ending – Deliverance (EP)
• Evans and Stokes – Diary of the Damned
• Killdevil Theory – Brotherhood

Pop & CCM

• Stephen Miller – Forever by My Side

Electronic

• Bryson Price, Mikesh!ft – Victory

Folk & Singer/Songwriter

• Charlie Peacock – Faith, Hope & Love
• Charlie Peacock – Freedom Come Tonight
• hadassa morais – homesick for somewhere i’ve never been

Hip Hop & R&B

• CS LIT – Deleted 4
• Davis Absolute, Oh-So – Still Snowing
• Living Scars – O Holy Night
• Mouthpi3ce – No Delay (EP)
• Mr Del – MD 2020: Soulside
• Paradox, ReFlex the Architect – Freedom (EP)
• Saint Jones – I’d Rather Be Hot (EP)
• Tylynn – Sown 
• Uknowfro – Street Preacher 3

Worship & Gospel

• Iwan & Rebekka Sahertian – Your Kingdom come
• Poor Bishop Hooper – Psalm 53
• Ramp Worship – I See an Open Door
• Relion – Gospel (Our God Be Praised)
• Theunis Pretorius – Only One Thing

Other

• Charlie Peacock – See for Miles
• Charlie Peacock – Surprised Me Too
• Charlie Peacock – Your Stardust Kiss

Christmas

• C3 NYC – A Christmas Story (Live) (EP)
• The Crossing Music – Light in the Night
• DaySpring Worship – Our Emmanuel
• Emmanuel Worship – Angels
• Former Ruins – Fruit of Winter (EP)
• Hope Music – O Holy Night
• I.AM

… Continued →

Creating a list of my top 100 albums and EPs has been fun and all, but it’s really these last 25 that are my personal favorites of 2020. They’re the ones that I’ve listened to the most and the ones I think I will keep coming back to in 2021. So here it is, my top 25 albums and EPs of 2020:… Continued →

Going way back into the vaults of IVM history a few of you might recall a female led indie pop-rock band called One Star Story. They had news and reviews on this site as well as appeared on multiple compilations. I just got a blast from the past when Vanessa (Rose) emailed me about her new project after more than 6 years away from making music. She was vocalist for One Star Story and now goes by the name of “Vanessa From Maine” on digital networks/streaming sites.… Continued →

Starting this new year off right with some fun ska music from B.U.C.K. (building Up Christ’s Kingdom) aka Buck Enterprises. This Detroit, MI six piece band released a few albums before disbanding. I remember writing a college paper on ska & B.U.C.K would be classified as 3rd wave ska. Their 1998 self-titled release featured more horns than the second & featured a cartoon character which appeared to be skanking in a raincoat while holding up a checkered black & white ball which are the normal colors for ska music.… Continued →

Something I realized once I started breaking my top 100 albums and EPs of 2020 list down into four posts is that each post became a micro-list of its own. For example, I wasn’t really thinking too hard about what album I was going to rank 26th when there were 100 albums. But when I split the list up suddenly being ranked 26th seemed really important as it became the last album a reader will see in this post. The reverse proved be true as well, ranking an album 75th where it’s going to be first album a reader sees when they click my post became important too.… Continued →

Despite all the despair, hopelessness, fear, anxiety, death, destruction, and uncertainty that 2020 has thrown at us, we have all taken solace in our music and found hope through it. We are carried through the pain with messages of inspiration, songs of motivation, and songs that just plain electrified our souls. The following is a collection of albums, eps, and songs that were meaningful to me in 2020. Not all of the releases listed below are “Christian” but most of them rocked me to my core!… Continued →

Some would say that putting together a year-end list of your top 100 albums and EPs is insane. And I agree. It’s one of the most ambitious things I’ve attempted since I started writing for IVM. So how did I do it exactly? Well I started out by putting together a list of all the albums and EPs I listened to during 2020—a feat in its own right. When I was done I had a list of about 300 releases which I then set out to rate on a scale of 1 to 10.… Continued →

So, it’s New Year’s Day. 2020 is a recently faded memory, but with the obvious enduring repercussions. Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Or affirmations, or commitments, or whatever else people are calling them nowadays? My wife (who is an artist) loves the New Year holiday. She sees it as a blank slate. A new chance to start over. Erase all the marks from the chalkboard (remember those?) or the whiteboard, or your Zoom screen and go again, taking all you’ve learned to try and do it better next time.… Continued →

I was going to write a little intro to this list of mine, but in the end I figured I’d just let it speak for itself. Alot of great music dropped despite all the year brought us and these are my top 20. Let me know what you think!     20. Everything In Slow Motion – “Influence”. (Rock/Hard Rock) Released 10/16/20 on Facedown Records. Influence was the band’s first release since the 2016 ep, Laid Low. While it didn’t feel like a whole lot of new ground was covered, that is a good thing, especially considering their sound.… Continued →

I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do my “best of” list this year. I was considering breaking it down into genres similar to what Casey did. Or splitting my albums and EPs into two lists. Or just doing my top 10 list like I normally do. In the end though I decided to take a page out of Josh Balogh’s playbook and go big. So here the first 25 of my top 100 album and EPs of 2020:… Continued →

Listen: Amazon Music | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube Music Lyrics:… Continued →

Adam Nigh of the bands Too Bad Eugene and original Craig’s Brother line up, has covered the song “My Annie” acoustically. “My Annie” was a song off Craig’s Brother now classic full length album, “Homecoming”, which released in 1998 via Tooth & Nail Records. This was the song Adam sang on off that album. Check it out below.… Continued →

My last review of 2020 & yet another band from the archives! This band was extremely hard to track down. Heard this song Daybreak on an indie Christian website/station back while stationed in the military. My guess is that this song was released during the old mp3.com download days. It took me probably 15 years before I tracked down a hard copy. There is another band called Gone Hazel, but I do not believe it is the same band. Anyways, finally got a hold of this 2 song demo release on Ebay from a seller whom I am guessing used to be a DJ as was selling rare stuff such as promotional releases from artists. … Continued →

"O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." -Psalm 95:1

Abel had a good run on both Come & Live and Facedown’s indie imprint before releasing Make It Right independently. It was a fitting final album, seeing the band in their rawest form. “Fifteen Years” is a highlight track, one of urgency, pain, and longing paired with fear and remorse as seen through the eyes of a beggar. In its simplest form, it’s a reality for the urban homeless; in its deepest sentiments, it’s a parable akin to the woman at the well. … Continued →

Undeniably, 2011 was a critical year for my musical taste. It’s the year I discovered Hands and A Hope for Home, bands still cemented as life-changing artists with some of my favorite albums of all time. Over the course of the next two years, due to bands like Gracer and Moving Mountains, my taste trended further from metal into atmospheric, emo-adjacent rock I’ve emphatically christened crescendocore. I began collecting these types of acts into a rather lengthy playlist called “Feels fo’ Realz” (which still exists). I was hyped on that type of sound.… Continued →

Merry Christmas friends and readers. We made it! Can you believe that after all the chaos, death and destruction, and utter disappointment that 2020 is now classified as, that somehow we made it to a beautiful day like Christmas? We are reminded of our Savior’s Birth and the promise of redemption that would come through his death and resurrection. 2020 may suck royally but at least we all have each other, our families, our love, and God up above. Despite what has happened this year, it has been a teachable moment in time and we are reminded of not only our importance as believers living here on this Earth, but the whole reason for the season (sorry for the cliche reference, it is important).… Continued →

Former Ruins has released a surprise Christmas EP (technically some brief notice was given). Noah has covered a lot of Christmas releases already, so you might feel a bit overwhelmed. Further, the timing may seem inopportune. After all, today is Christmas, isn’t it? You’ve got better things to do than listen to music, and then you’ll shelve this for next year. But these are not your typical Christmas songs – they speak to the season of Christmas on the church calendar. They’re for today and beyond.… Continued →

Today’s perfect “Christmas” song is none other than MxPx “Christmas Day” from that cherished 1999 compilation album, “Happy Christmas Vol. 2”. This compilation was released on BEC Recordings / T&N which brought some classics from artists like MxPx, Sixpence None The Richer, All Star United, Plankeye, Hangnail, Flight 180, Starflyer 59, Fanmail, Element 101, Deluxetone Rockets, and so many more. First 3 Volumes are pure classics! MxPx brought it at a time where the band was exploding with “Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo”.… Continued →