Tag: song of the day

Last week, over at the IVM discussion group on Facebook, a conversation ensued about indie labels within the Christian music scene. Mono vs. Stereo was mentioned, and I commented about their impressive 2005 compilation, The Revolution Will Begin in the Blink of an Eye Vol. 2. One of the artists I enjoyed most on this CD was A Farewell to Arms, who later went by his personal name, Corey Crowder. Currently, it looks like Crowder is more involved in the country music scene as a producer/songwriter, rather than focusing on his work as a solo artist.… Continued →

Over the past 2-3 years, I’ve been discovering a bunch of old Christian punk, post-punk, and new wave that I didn’t know existed. One of the best examples is a short-lived band from the south coast of England called Crowd Control. I only know of one track they recorded, which can be found on the excellent “Shots in the Dark” compilation. The album features other UK-based punk, new wave, and ska tracks. “There are Houses” is brilliant. It’s dark, brooding, true post-punk with enough keyboards to keep things interesting.… Continued →

Mars ILL’s “Inside Out” is one of the most convicting songs I’ve ever heard. Backbreakanomics (2003) is a classic album as a whole, but Dust’s production on this song is what really sets it apart, with its haunting samples and DJ scratches. Manchild uses the occasion to tell a story which focuses on social inequality, spiritual transformation, and justice. Blames the system that built jails instead of schools / Blames religion as a set of useless rules / Blames his father that he never even knew / Looks in the mirror.… Continued →

Where are my hip-hop heads at? Lightheaded is/was a collaborative project between Ozay Moore (FKA Othello), Braille, and Ohmega Watts. Each of these MCs have had significant solo careers on their own. This track brings the three of them back together after a long hiatus. Super-cool stuff! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wk8aWiY0PQ… Continued →

Norma Jean’s upcoming record, All Hail, releases next week on October 25. Truth be told, I only listened through O’ God, the Aftermath (2005) for the first time this year, and was very impressed by its balance of chaos and complexity. As we anticipate All Hail, here is a classic song from one of 2005’s metalcore masterpieces.… Continued →

Lo-fi indie rock never made a huge impact in the Christian scene. To be fair, it was a niche market even in mainstream circles. Beck and R.E.M. were the only 2 artists to break out of the underground, and both of those bands more or less ditched their lo-fi roots to do so (Beck only temporarily). I can only think of a handful of Christian-themed lo-fi bands: Jetenderpaul, Danielson Famile, Pedro the Lion (early stuff), Sappo, Joe Christmas, and some early Damien Jurado projects. Enter Jupiter James.… Continued →

Some music videos deserve to be shared, even if they’re only 144p. “Falling Further” by Spoken tells a story of prodigality, placing emphasis on feelings of regret and the rejection of God’s love. While the band has a lot of great songs, I always thought the chorus for “Falling Further” was particularly strong in its emotional communication.… Continued →

In the late 90s, I lived in Atlanta, GA, doing inner-city ministry and discipleship training. An old college friend of mine from the area, Darrel, invited me to a show south of the city. Blindside were doing a U.S. tour and this new band was opening, featuring ex-members of Spudgun and Joe Christmas. I’d been hearing from others about the intensity of their live shows so I was eager to attend. Pop-punkers Jesse and the Rockers also played, as well as a new band made up of high school kids, called Luti-Kriss that never went anywhere (I kid!)… Continued →

Since it’s snowing today, I feel like this Monday deserves an emo song (it’s not even Halloween yet!). “Not All Bad” is one of the more hopeful Terminal tracks, with its bright guitar strums and lyrics that fight against self-deprecation and apathy. Maybe if the snow doesn’t let up, I’ll blare this song outside and try to melt it with some musical positivity?… Continued →

Huntingtons were a prolific punk and/or pop-punk band, as most of you will know. For me, you just can’t beat their sophomore album, “Fun and Games.” The title says it all. This song has that punk rock meets 50s style doo-wop that many bands tried but not many could pull off. It works incredibly well here! Listen here: Huntingtons – The Only One… Continued →

Rarely do I hear music and feel as though I was meant to hear it. However common it is to hear good songs, bad songs, and even very impressive ones, a lot of music doesn’t strike me as having significance beyond random chance. Earlier this month though, there was a day when I was listening to “Rain Song” by Ana Sapphira over and over. I decided to visit their Facebook page shortly after, and sadly, it looks like the band broke up last year. I first heard “Rain Song” in a HeartSupport video featuring lead singer Jonathan Lamper, which I will also include below.… Continued →

I don’t suspect many of our readers will be familiar with What of the Night, which is a shame. This Irish & English punk band released only one album in 1979 (yes, you read that right!) making them the earliest Christian punk band (if we don’t include Death, which is a discussion for another time). The LP features post-punk, mod, and garage rock sounds and would be at home next to the likes of The Undertones, The Jam, Buzzcocks and so many others. It’s super rare and hard to come by, but I managed to track down a copy for myself a couple of years ago.… Continued →

Last week, Joshua S. Porter of Showbread was interviewed on the Labeled Podcast. Here is a classic song from the band, before they were even signed to Tooth & Nail, selected from Life, Kisses, and Other Wasted Efforts.… Continued →

Come to Pass is a one-piece lo-fi death metal band from Virginia. The band has recently released an EP through Bearded Dragon Productions, but instead I’ve chosen a track from the “Words of Endurance” compilation on the same label. Raw and heavy stuff. Stream or download the track here: Come to Pass – Confessions of the Cursed… Continued →

“Ain’t been to church in about a year / All my old friends are outta here” I finally got around to listening through The Fall of the Light Bearer (2015) this year, and it’s turned out to be one of the best albums I’ve heard as of late. Serious lyricism and experimental production abound. The melancholic “Unforgivable” is accompanied by fine cinematography and gives an accurate impression of what the album is like as a whole.… Continued →

Two thousand and five was a very strong year for Tooth & Nail Records, as they released classic albums from Anberlin, Mae, Terminal, and Emery. Another impressive album, though overlooked, was Composure by Waking Ashland. The San Diego four-piece created some seriously catchy indie/piano rock tunes, and “Edinger” proves this point 14 years later.… Continued →

Take me past familiar waters to a place so deep / it reserves itself for the eyes of those who dream. “Dream” by GS Megaphone communicates the essence of God-as-artist, the One in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Taken from their album Beautiful World (2003), it is a reminder that God is the source of all creativity. So often our imaginations are caught in a torrent of meaningless distractions, and still, the opportunity for metanoia (Greek term for changing one’s mind) awaits us in and through Christ’s grace.… Continued →

The year was 1997. The heyday of Christian alternative rock was starting to wane, as mainstream sounds were drifting into new territory. Dance pop (in the form of boy bands and girl bands) was starting to make another attempt at dominating the airwaves. Electronica and house were exploding in creativity and splintering into new subgenres every day. Outside of punk and hardcore, the most exciting thing happening in rock was a revival of traditional British sounds in a new format cleverly dubbed “Britpop.” While not a new genre per se, its popularity had boomed with no small thanks to bands like Oasis, Blur, James and literally dozens of others across the pond.… Continued →

A couple weeks back, Brandon published an article about some of the issues American society faces today: partisanship, gun violence, and mental illness. One of the quotations that resonated with me was that “Libertarians are struggling to have their voice heard.” It got me thinking about one of my favourite hip-hop albums, Full Disclosure (2012) by JustMe, whose sharp lyrics express a distrust towards the U.S. government. One of the standout tracks is “Yougenics” which takes a well-informed look at Social Darwinism and its relation to abortion.… Continued →

The North Pole Project (2008) wasn’t supposed to be a Number One Gun album. Rather, this was once the name of vocalist/guitarist Jeff Schneeweis’ solo project in the aftermath of Number One Gun’s breakup. In any case, The North Pole Project is a beautiful indie rock anthem. Not only did Schneeweis play every instrument on the album, but he also produced and mixed it. In these songs, he goes beyond some of the margins of the band’s past work, and this is best exemplified by closing song “This Holiday.”… Continued →

Black metal stalwarts Ascending King are back! They’ve just dropped a new single “Lignum Vitae,” which is a collaborative effort with Sebat Frost from Frost Like Ashes. Whether it’s due to that influence or not is hard to say, but the doomy elements first heard on the Ascending King EP released last year are gone this time in favor of a faster-paced black metal sound. The single can be downloaded for free here: Ascending King – Lignum Vitae… Continued →

Today’s song of the day comes in the form of some punk-ska from our friends in Michigan based band – The Insyderz. I was a fan of this band dating back to 1997 when I heard their debut full length, “Motor City Ska”. The band released 3 full lengths, 2 worship/praise albums, and this final (?) full length in 2012. The song that meant the most to me and had me spinning it again was “Sinner’s Songbook”. The track features Joe’s (Yerke) gritty yet melodic, vocal delivery alongside the vocals of Reese Roper (Five Iron Frenzy), and Matt Morginsky (OC Supertones).… Continued →

Sorry guys, I don’t have a song of the day today. After wading through over four dozen new singles and a handful of new albums this week I was only able to narrow it down to thirteen songs. So here are your songs of the day:

1. Pray for Sleep – Dear Death (feat. Hashu)
2. Random Hero – Tension
3. Bloodlines – Spiritual Warfare
4. Built by Titan – Ghost
5. Sink In – Drive 
6. CLOUDLAND – Over Again
7. Stillman – Shook
8. LNYX – Beauty in the Breakdown
9. Grant Owen – Everything Changes
10. Crystal Rome – Island
11. Jon Webster – Caught Up
12. Tenielle Neda – No Fear in Love
13. Eikon – Kingdom (feat.

… Continued →

Remember “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner? That song used to be really cool in 2010 and was popular enough to be played at shopping malls. But maybe, perhaps, you thought yourself cooler than Mike Posner, despite his single having a lot of pizzazz and swagger. Fair enough. Well, I hate to break it to you, but Starflyer 59 is actually cooler than both of you. “We’re the Ordinary,” taken from The Fashion Focus (1998), is cool enough to freeze a hipster shopping mall on a blazing summer’s day.… Continued →

I’m going to be honest, I don’t really know anything about Benjamin Hamilton, I just stumbled across “heartbroken.” while I was searching for new music on Spotify this weekend. I saw that The Good Christian Music Blog had playlisted some of his previous songs and figured it was worth checking out and threw his new single into my playlist. Well, it ended up being one of those songs where every time it would come up in shuffle I would have to stop what I’m doing and pull out my phone to see what I was listening to.… Continued →

I became a fan of The Devil Wears Prada in 2011. There were many reasons for this: peer pressure via a friend, the positive review in HM Magazine, and Dan Seagrave’s dark and mysterious artwork. Dead Throne made me realize what I’d been missing out on. It’s near impossible to choose a favourite song from a near perfect album, but in my iTunes library, “My Questions” has the most plays. To my knowledge, the band has never played this song live, but the mesmerizing guitar work and depressing bridge echo in my head often.… Continued →

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is one of the greatest songs our scene has ever produced! It gets straight to the heart of what it’s all about: “Hey I’m talkin’ to you/Yeah, I’m trying to get through/God cares about you more than think . . . You are loved! You are loved!” It was the first song I ever heard from the Altar Boys, in the late 80s. Ironically, it was on a metal compilation where I first heard them. Though the song is nowhere near metal, it has that late 80s post-punk/power pop sound from SoCal that has loads of energy.… Continued →

Back in 2017 Kingslynn made my 10 ten albums of the year with your debut full-length Into the White Light. Now the indie-pop trio is back with with a brand new single titled “Give and Take” which you can listen to below. Lyrics Facebook Instagram Website For more new music check out the Weekly New Release Sampler playlist on Spotify. … Continued →

Remember Syntax Records, the label that put out awesome underground hip-hop like RedCloud, the Night Owls compilations, and Sackcloth Fashion? Well, sometimes the label released music from other genres, too. This included rock bands like Green Olive Tree and Olivia the Band, and on other occasions, electronic music. Today I’d like to share a song from Formless (2007) by Shane Newville, titled “Roll Out.” It is seven minutes of D&B bliss and perfect for an epic high speed car chase, should you find yourself in such a predicament.… Continued →