taste in music

i love music... and my taste in music has evolved over the years. i grew up on 90's alternative: third eye blind, red hot chili peppers, stone temple pilots, soundgarden, etc... and i still love it (especially TEB!).

late in high school and into college, i got on the christian music kick; and anything that wasn't 'christian' wasn't worth listening to.

now, i've come to ignore 'labels,' such as christian, when it comes to music. music is an art form. i believe in a creator of all things, thus also creating this form of expression... and i believe that it was meant to be a good thing. so if music is 'good' (i suppose that depends on the opinion of the listener), then it is of God, in my opinion. there is a lot of great music out there, no matter the label placed upon it; people using their talents and creating something beautiful from nothing... that is what God had in mind (at least in my mind). there is also a lot of bad music out there, including christian and secular music.

over the years i have tried to outline what makes music 'good' to me. i hope you can do the same for yourself... i'm not trying to persuade anyone to like 'my kind' of music. here is my criteria for music these days. a piece of work must not fit all of these for me to consider it worthwhile; it only has to meet one. but more than one is a super-bonus!

1. CREATIVE: music must be creative, either musically (melody, progressions, movements, etc.) or lyrically (poetic, witty, even persuasive). [the album leaf, future of forestry, relient k, come to mind for me].

2. PLEASANT SOUNDING: simply put, if a tune is pleasing to my ear, then i am a fan and it is a good piece of work.

3. PASSIONATE: you can usually tell if a song or album was born out of something real, with a certain passion behind it. i am a fan of eminem's "when i'm gone," his 'farewell' song. it overflows with passion that has been brewing for some time.

this obviously isn't an all-inclusive list... and it will probably evolve as time progresses... but that's it for now.

Christians influencing the media and pop culture

because i know you all read all of those articles i posted (ha... i know they were long)... i thought i would post one Brian McLaren's responses from "10 Questions for Brian McLaren."


Question:
I'm going to put you on the spot and ask for your thoughts about some conservative Christian organizations, like the Parents Television Council, seeking to pressure the government into censoring television programming. Is this going to work or will it backfire? [i think this question relates to the boycotting of certain media as well, such as "The Golden Compass," etc.]

McLaren:
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"I think the Christian community is making an extremely dangerous mistake with this. The mistake is we are going from dissatisfaction to legislation and missing the middle step of persuasion. Now you would think, from our beliefs from the Gospels, that God isn't just interested in us being focused on the law, but he actually wants to change our hearts. That’s my understanding of how the Kingdom of God works, but we (the church) don't seem to understand that.

So our first move when we're unhappy about something is to get laws passed about it. To me that is pure Colonialism; Colonialism says change the world, by controlling other people against their will. The work of persuasion would be much harder, and it requires us to change our rhetoric 180 degrees. You can't, and you don't, influence people you identify as the other side of the culture war. The language of the culture war is the language of "strength on our side" to dominate the other side. That leads to belief in things like redemptive violence, which is incredibly widespread in the Christian community, and which, I think, needs to be questioned in light of the teachings of Jesus. That discussion you certainly aren't going to hear on religious broadcasting.

So, firstly, I think it’s a gross and foolish mistake of strategy. If we were to take 30 percent of the effort spent on legislation and invest it instead on sensible and palpable persuasion, we would get an awful lot farther."
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i would add that sometimes McLaren's words can come across as cutting or extremely cynical towards others, but he really isn't... i've read his work and listened to him speak; he is very soft-spoken and is really trying to help by speaking what he believes; not discredit other people's beliefs.

mclaren

brian mclaren is without a doubt one of my favorite authors. he is one of the 'fathers' of the emerging church movement, and has some very interesting things to say. [if you want to read his works, i would recommend starting with his earlier three-book set: 'a new kind of christian', 'the story we find ourselves in', and 'the last word and the word after that'. he will shatter some of the philosophies that were engrained in you growing up... and it can be a little unsettling... but i am convinced that it is for the good.

i recently found this article, entitled "10 questions for brian mclaren." it doesn't exactly introduce a person to the emerging church philosophy, but he does convey his opinion (which stems from the philosophy) about some interesting topics. a great read.

brian also recently posted on his website "Refections on 2007," found here.

it addresses the good things happening around the world and in the church, as well as criticism the emerging movement has faced (to which he stresses we never respond in a harsh or abrasive way, citing the words of MLK Jr.).

anyway... both a good read.

"Sunrising" by Future of Forestry

In the gold flood of light
Where the earth meets summer skies
In the satin chill of night
Where dreams await to rise
You bend, you kiss me
You pull me in
I can feel you
Running to me, running through me

Hear the call of night
Open the borders of time
Hear the song of the stars
Sound like a whisper
I've fallen deep from the day
Into eternal, eternal visions of our love

I am diamond, I am rust
From the place a love of love and pain
Made from heaven made from dust
Where dreams will live again
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this is a moving song... when listening to it, sometimes i feel like i have no idea what it means... but yet i know exactly... it's just a state of mind that can't be explained... a great work by these artists.

Chicago trip

a couple weekends ago, Lyndsey and I rode the train up to Chicago, along with my parents and my brother and his family (Matt, Amy & their daughter Sidney). it snowed huge flakes almost the whole time, which did a great job of putting us in the Christmas spirit. we stayed downtown on Ohio and walked up and down Michigan Ave., spent some time in the park, I tried starting a snowball fight or two but was unsuccessful, obviously ate some great Chicago deep-dish at Giordano's, had plenty of coffee and enjoyed some great time together. here are some pics.

O Holy Night

i've always loved the song "O Holy Night," but i am just now starting to see the depth to some of the lyrics... when you sing something all your life it tends to turn into empty words. i am starting to see the profound statements in this song. especially this verse:

Truly he taught us to love one another,
His law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.


this sounds like the lyrics of a song you would hear written today; it emphasizes the kind of revolution Jesus stirred up in that time... that rather than violence and hunger for power, there was a much better way to live... the way we were created to live: in peace with one another and experiencing life to the fullest.

random Harper pic

Harper zonks out A LOT... it's pretty much what he does 80% of the time. he can strike some pretty crazy poses when he's sleeping.... and yes he sleeps with his eyes half open often.

you really need to click this picture and get the zoomed version to truly appreciate it...

all songs considered

i have to share this nugget of goodness.... NPR puts out a lot of podcasts, but this one is a gem. "Live Concerts from All Songs Considered" is a podcast of full-length live concerts by great, great artists, a lot of whom aren't mainstream but have HUGE followings and many of you probably like.

Iron & Wine, Rilo Kiley, Animal Collective, Travis, The Polyphonic Spree, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab frontman), Explosions in the Sky, Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, etc...

Right now I'm listening to a show by my man Jose Gonzalez (thanks Derek)... just him and his geetar... great stuff. These aren't big tour bands with their big productions. These are small, intimate, just plain old music playin' shows. Check it out and make your iPod happy.... or you can just play them straight from the iTunes store while you have a snow day like me! (evil laugh....)

random Harper pic