A mi amigo Blanco Herrera
le pagaron su salario
y sin pensarlo dos veces
se fue para malgastarlo.

Una semana de juerga
y perdió el conocimiento;
como no volvió a su casa,
todos le dieron por muerto.

Y no estaba muerto, no, no,
estaba tomando cañas, ¡leré! ¡leré!
Y no estaba muerto, no, no.
Cuchívere, cuchívere, ¡Chiveré!

Pero al cabo de unos días
de haber desaparecido
encontraron uno muerto,
a un muerto muy parecido.

Le hicieron un gran velorio,
le rezaron una novena,
le perdonaron sus deudas,
y lo enterraron con pena.

Y no estaba muerto, no, no,
estaba tomando cañas, ¡leré! ¡leré!
Y no estaba muerto, no, no.
Cuchívere, cuchívere, ¡Chiveré!

Pero un día se apareció,
lleno de vida y contento,
diciéndole a todo el mundo,
se equivocaron de muerto.

El lío que se formó,
eso sí que es puro cuento;
su mujer ya no lo quiere, ¡no!,
no quiere vivir con muertos.

No estaba muerto,
estaba de parranda (bis).

Peret, El muerto vivo.

¡Que alguien se atreva a negar que la realidad iguala o supera la ficción! A veces tarda la cosa, pero en última instancia un hecho real iguala a lo ficticio. Eso es lo que ha sucedido con el pobre Ademir Jorge Gonçalves, un albañil brasileño que decidió salir a tomar unas copas. El hombre no era consciente de que el destino macabro se iba a cruzar en su camino: un accidente de tráfico, un cuerpo vagamente parecido al suyo, un entierro… y algo de cachaça. Al leer su esquela en el periódico de la mañana se presentó apuradísimo -es de suponer- en su propio entierro. Y es que estaba de parranda, ¡cuchévere, cuchévere!

Por si no recuerdan el tema musical -grave error, por cierto, que yo me mandaría mirar-, os dejo una versión a cargo de Raimundo Amador, Kiko Veneno, Muchachito y el mismísimo Peret, regresado de su exilio interior, por si no se han enterado.

Los más puristas quizás prefieran una versión más clásica de la canción. Sin embargo, también pueden decantarse por otras recreaciones de tan impactante canción: la purista-irónica de Los Manolos, por ejemplo; la quierosermodernoyrrompedor de Serrat y Sabina; o la de unos amigos que se lo estaban pasando de escándalo, visto lo visto. Su majestad es coja.

This is an audio only rant, please click the play button, sit back and enjoy.

.

Chi mi segue lo sa…sperimento..da bravo scienziato…sperimento in tutti i campi…anche quello informatico!

In questi caldi giorni di Agosto passati in Italia ho sperimentato Audioboo un servizio di microblogging audio per Iphone! Devo dire che e’ proprio interessante! Ecco schematicamente le features principali:

• upload dei file tramite app gratuita su Iphone, l’applicazione e’ molto semplice ed intuitiva
• collegamento dei file audio registrati in mobilita’ e pubblicati sul sito di audioboo (un interfaccia in stile twitter) con tutti i social network piu’ usati (facebook, friendfeed, twitter, tumblr)
• possibilita’ di abbonarsi a tutto lo stream di “mini podcast” (di tutti gli utenti) tramite Itunes oppure di abbonarsi solo agli utenti che si seguono
• Boos (twittate audio) modificabili anche dopo il posting, taggabili e ricercabili quindi facilmente nel grande stream di audioboo
• possibilita’ di postare una foto insieme al file audio
• ogni post e’ geolocalizzato con una mappa visualizzabile
• Nota negativa…la durata dei segmenti audio postabili e’ di 3 minuti e non di piu’..ma tutto sommato e’ meglio cosi’.

Insomma un gran bel servizio che si va ad aggiungere ai mille modi di comunicare sempre e ovunque con il mondo della rete! Personalmente sto meditando di riprendere in mano l’idea dell’audioblog itinerante sull’Irlanda (ascolta Rock House Episodio 11 Webradio mordichiappe) e farlo a segmenti di 3 minuti…poi montarli insieme per trasmetterli nelle puntate del Rock House podcast…

Si potrebbe chiamare “3 MINUTI DI…IRLANDA!”

Vedremo…per ora mi godo il sole e il caldo Italiano e poi si vedra’ a settembre!

Fatemi sapere che ne pensate!

Ecco il mio profilo su audioboo!

Ed eccovi i link per gli altri socialnetwork: facebook, friendfeed, twitter, tumblr

PS vi segnalo anche la presenza di Rouge73, collega podcaster (Rougecast) su Audioboo!

Tienen algunos relatos de Maupassant un no sé qué entre lo socarrón y lo lírico. Lo pragmático se une a lo sentimental; lo masculino entra en conflicto con lo femenino, si es que existen uno y otro; lo que fue renace en un instante para confluir con lo que es en los estrechos límites del cuento breve, como es el caso de “En el bosque”. Dejo a continuación el texto leído que ofrece Alba learning, un impresionante e interesantísimo sitio de audiolibros que conviene visitar y disfrutar.

[http://www.archive.org/download/algdmeeb/albalearning-maupassant_enelbosque.mp3]

Si se desea seguir los caminos de Maupassant, pueden resultar útiles los siguientes recursos:

• Maupassant en Ciudad Seva.
• Más audiolibros en Alba Learning.
• Audiolibros en Leer Escuchando.
• Página dedicada al autor en el IES Xunquera.
• Blog sobre Maupassant creado por el mismo IES Xunquera.

Tudo é novo e tudo é experimentar. Gosto tanto desse cantinho que eu criei aqui: Soife, WordPress, caixinha de papel do Escher me enchendo de visitas, termos motores de busca bizarros… Difícil mudar.

Um tempo atrás eu resolvi que não tentaria unir todas as minhas coisas e sim separá-las. Um blog para fotos (outro), outro para desenhos e outras produções, outro para música eletrônica, outro para fotos mais picantes, biblioteca virtual e por último idéias perdidas frenéticas e compulsivas com o Twitter.

Agora me vem esse tal de Tumblr. Melhor que o Twitter no quesito multimídia, aceitando inclusive que eu faça uploads de músicas diretamente, coisa que aqui no WordPress eu tinha um trabalhinho pra fazer… Pior que o Twitter no quesito agilidade. Pior que o WordPress pq não tem tanta informação e nem tanta história pra contar.

Li um artigo dizendo que o Tumblr é legal pra fazer um resumão do que você está produzindo: coloca o rss de todos os meus blogs e lá estará. Qual a graça? Sei lá… Desisti de fazer isso, prefiro aqui ainda.

Mas uma coisa é certa, usarei o Tumblr como AudioBlog, um sonho já antigo e que agora achei o espaço ideal. Enquanto isso continuo Twitando compulsivamente e brincando de música para um dia virar sério.

Just a few imperfect thoughts about thinking too much.

I’ve never been a huge fan of American Idol but I caught myself sucked into this season’s first episode last week.  It was entertaining to see so many songs tortured by well-meaning singers with delusions of grandeur, I admit, but I found myself a little annoyed afterwards.

American Idol is destroying the very thing that makes rock-n-roll what it is.  Chuck Berry would never have made it past the tryouts.  Elvis Presley would have been laughed off the stage.  Little Richard would have been ignored.  Joey Ramone would have been censored.  Bob Dylan would be crucified and Mick Jagger would be told to stick to his day job.

I tried to think of anybody who I really like to listen to who might have what it takes to be the next American Idol, and I couldn’t think of any. Sufjan Stevens is too whispery.  Robbie Seay is too gravelly.  Michael Nau is too sad.  David Eugene Edwards (Woven Hand) is too depressing.  Aaron Weiss (mewithoutYou) won’t even try to sing.  Jesse Coppenbarger (Colour Revolt) screams too much.  Aaron Strumpel’s range is too limited.  Vincent Voss (The Singing Mechanic) has an odd vocal style.  Daniel Smith… well Daniel Smith wouldn’t even be allowed to sing on American Idol if he wanted to.

Pretty much anybody I like to listen to would probably not even be allowed past the tryouts.  And chances are that anybody who would do good on American Idol wouldn’t last long on my playlist.

When rock-n-roll came on the scene, it was fighting against staid, overly-perfected songs that dominated American listeners, replacing that with music that burst forth from the gut.  By its very nature, rock-n-roll emphasizes experimentation, self-expression, and raw emotions.  American Idol is destroying all that.

Finally, I’m back blogging, and here is another of my posts that is way late in the coming, but I hope it helps point a few of you in the direction of an artist well worth it.

Joe Garner is one of my favorite artists I downloaded from NoiseTrade a while back.  With a subtle, earthy folk sound and songs that bring to mind a slightly more modern and way more indie version of classic Johnny Cash ballads, Joe Garner’s songs tell stories of broken, desperate people in need of a Savior.

I won’t waste your time or mine by boring you with a mediocre review, so just head over here for a good little interview by Brent at Colossians Three Sixteen.

Besides that, Joe says about himself on his MySpace:

Recorded at a mountain studio in east Tennessee and released independently, Garner’s is a sound definitely grown from the ground. Earthy, honest and plaintive; Mourning Birds beckons back to the folk ballads of a simpler time and at the same time casts a shadow of unease on its own mirth. Compiled with a handful of friends giving sparse and simple accompaniment to his guitar, Garner’s first effort includes six tracks that display the enigmatic range of moods that make this burgeoning songwriter and storyteller a haunted soul not soon forgotten. Songs like ‘Bury the Hatchet’ and ‘June and God’ usher the listener into the quiet moments of human longing and the subterranean rage that either break our spirits or make us whole. These stories of squandered love and utter desperation place us as near voyeurs in the midst of lives unraveling and eroding before us. Idiosyncratic yet empathic, the images conjured up by Garner’s characters evoke a time and place hauntingly too near. Other songs, like ‘They’re All Gone’, move hesitantly out from the shadows. In his way, Garner captures a glimpse of hope’s somber release, the silent joy of discovering that some of life’s darker doubts and questions cannot be answered, not yet. Son to a life-long and road-weary Country ‘n’ Western picker, Garner comes by his music honest. While not too concerned with slaying the forefathers of his genre or recreating the wagon wheel, Joe Garner has been able to move in and inhabit the best sensibilities of a songwriting once known as Country Music, but upon its exit from the country now labeled ‘Roots’. May his roots grow deeper; we’ll sit and listen.

The Mourning Birds EP is simple heartfelt folk.  Definitely go get yourself a copy, and keep your eyes open for more songs by Joe.  In the meantime, here’s a couple of samples:

Bury the Hatchet - Download - Stream
They’re All Gone - Download - Stream

Website: www.joegarnermusic.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/joegarnermusic

Download MP3s at NoiseTrade.com

Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week

Realising that it’s 4 years since I first bumbled into podcasting, I’m overcome with a zealous need to return to the form.

So I got myself a new recorder (minidisk and linux no play nicely) and went for a walk.

Everything is easier these days except, well, y’know, finding something interesting to say.

I see, for example, that wordpress.com now provides a handy shortcode that displays a player:

but here’s a link to download if that’s the bag you’re into. And it should turn up in the RSS giving a surprise to those still subscribed through iTunes or some other podcatching mechanism….

I was thinking about it this morning (well, actually, two mornings ago, by the time you read this), and there are very few worship songs with really good (or even decent) bass lines.  I play bass on my church’s worship team, and this has bugged me endlessly.

For bassists to be so harshly discriminated against in the worship music industry simply because of their lower-end frequency nature is simply injust.

It’s with this in mind that I’m starting a T-shirt company which will raise money to help fund underprivileged bassists on worship teams throughout America, Europe, and other bass-discriminatory nations.

Seriously, I thought it’d be fun to create an ever-expanding list of worship songs that have at least decent (and possibly awesome) bass lines.

Here’s what I have so far, and leave any comments with your own thoughts and additions:

All Slow Down (Chris Tomlin)
Be Lifted or Hope Rising (David Crowder Band)
Deeper (Delirious?)
Found (Hillsong United)
Jesus Garden of My Rest (Robbie Seay Band)
Make a Joyful Noise / I Will Not Be Silent (David Crowder Band)
Oh Jah! (MorningStar Worship / Leonard Smith)
Rain Down (Delirious?)
Rend the Heavens (Isa Courvertier)
The River is Here (Vineyard Worship)
Sing Like the Saved (David Crowder Band)
Tell the World (Hillsong United)
We are Free (Robbie Seay Band)
You (Waterdeep)

Alright, that’s what I’ve got for now of the worship songs I can think of with good to great bass lines.  Help me out and add some to the mix.

I just found out about this site called The Collective Family a few days ago, and it sounded like a cool enough idea to pass on to ya’ll.  And, yes, I know the name sounds like some 1930’s Socialist propoganda on family planning, but it’s so much better than that.

Their tagline is: “We’d rather have our music heard than sold.  We’re a bunch of artists that make music and then give it out for free.”  I’m definitely not opposed to that.

I’m not sure who all you’ll find on there, but I did notice Destroy Nate Allen had a few albums for download.  Anybody notice anyone else cool?  I haven’t had the time to check it out like I want to yet.

I should have posted about this weeks ago, but Waterdeep’s new album Pink & Blue is awesome.  I got an advance copy a while back, but I’ve just been too busy to review it until now. I only hope the world will not stop spinning because of my tardiness.  God help us all.

Moving on…  The album is amazing.  Don and Lori continue to astound me with every offering.  Whether it’s Don’s weird alt-folk Khrusty Brothers, or their worship stuff on albums like You Are So Good to Me, or their best offer to date (in my opinion) Heart Attack Time Machine, Waterdeep is a band that knows what it’s doing and does a great job of it.

When I heard about Pink & Blue a month or so ago, I was excited.  But then when I heard early opinions that the album ”rocks harder than anything from the band in recent years,” I got nervous.  The soft-spoken acoustic jive of Heart Attack Time Machine seemed to be the perfect direction for the band – why would they get all rock-n-roll on us?

Don’t worry.  The feel is a little harder rocking on a few of the songs, but it’s still completely awesome in almost every way.

Pink & Blue is one of those rare albums that I liked instantly.  I guess it didn’t hurt that “Life of the Party,” one of the most singable songs I’ve heard in a while, came up right away.

The main idea behind the album is that it consists of 2 EPs: “The Pink CD” containing Lori’s songs and “The Blue CD” containing Don’s.  In Don’s own words:

Our last Waterdeep album, Heart Attack Time Machine, had been made during Lori’s pregnancy with Ruby, our daughter and second child.  We made the album at home, just the two of us without any other band members.  All the “drums” were toys, and almost all the instruments were acoustic.  And we were almost done with it when Ruby was born.  So we put off the album’s last week worth of work for a long time, spending the next phase of life lost in the sleepless routine common to hard-working parents of an infant and a two-year-old.  By the time we finally got back to recording, and released the finished album, Ruby was almost a year old.

Somewhere during that year I read a book about U2 in which they state that one of their band credos has always been, “domesticity is the enemy of rock-n-roll.”  I love U2, but I hate that statement.  Partly, it’s because I don’t like the idea that rock-n-roll is forever behind me.  I love rock-n-roll.  Put another dime in the jukebox, baby – that kind of thing.  But the other reason I hate that statement is because I think rock-n-roll has been subjected to too many unfair limitations.  Born of “rebellion and immorality,” people say that rock-n-roll can’t be spiritual.  It can’t be innocent.  It can’t be anything but loud and mean.  Whatever.  The nightly “dance parties” at my house with my wife and two kids, those are rockin’ parties.  I defy you to prove otherwise.  So, when Lori and I launched into the making of Pink & Blue, we had an itch to scratch, and our toddling children were unconsciuosly pushing us to write stuff that rocked a little harder.

If Heart Attack Time Machine was our just-us-two-in-our-basement-with-acoustic-instruments album, this album is our let’s-have-a-party-and-whoop-it-up album.

Lori’s voice is, as always, perfect.  I’ve said it before, but she’s my favorite female vocalist out there.  There’s a raw intensity to her voice that lacks some of the “prettiness” you hear among too many top-40 pop singers but has all the bluesy energy you could want.

The writing is creative, interesting, and catchy, as with most Waterdeep albums.  I confess I haven’t paid enough attention to the lyrics to tell you what they’re singing about on any of the songs, but I think it’d be a worthwhile endeavor.  You should do it.  Yeah, you.

Songs on the album range from fun, singable, party songs like “Life of the Party,” “Accidents Happen,” “Okay, Okay, Yeah,” and “You’ll Be Fine” to quieter, more intimate songs like “Oh,” ”I Rolled Into New Years’ Eve,” and “My Second Try.”  Every song seems to be expertly crafted - lyrics, vocals, melodies, and instrument choices all coordinated perfectly.  There’s a lot going on in these songs.  Just sit back and take it all in.

Since this is sounding like one of those this-is-the-perfect-album fan reviews, I should offer some negatives.  I have only 2 critiques that I can think of.  1) I’d like to hear more of Lori.  Don’s got a great voice, and he’s a superb writer and musician, but I really can’t get enough of Lori’s vocals.  I love ‘em.  And 2) some of the songs sound oddly similar, especially the more upbeat ones.  Listen to “Life of the Party,” “Accidents Happen,” “Okay, Okay, Yeah,” and “You’ll Be Fine” back to back.  Weird, isn’t it?  I love all those songs a ton, but there’s a certain feel that pervades all of them.

Hope you enjoy these two songs, which were some of my favorites.  If you do, buy the whole album:

Accidents Happen - Download - Stream
You’ll Be Fine - Download - Stream

Website: www.waterdeep.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/waterdeepmusic

Download MP3s at Amazon.com
Buy CDs on Amazon.com

Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week

I started an over e-mail interview with John Mark  McMillan yesterday over here, and today you get the second half.

The Blah Blah: Describe your process of writing songs.  Where do most of your lyrics come from?

John Mark McMillan: For me it usually starts with sounds. I just begin to experiment with chords, sounds or words until something strikes me as interesting. Then I experiment more in that direction. I rarely sit down with a specific topic in mind. In fact I usually just kind of mumble to myself for awhile until I find a group of words that seem to be aesthetically pleasing or particularly powerful for some reason. I just kind of vamp until I like something I’m hearing, then I begin to pick it apart and ask myself what I’m trying to communicate.

That’s when I let myself get more intellectual with the song. At first I don’t question myself much because I don’t want to hold up the creative process, but eventually I have to ask myself where the song is going and begin to tighten it up, edit myself, and  make these words and phrases into something cohesive.

I also journal alot without music. Sometimes I play with words and phrases all day long in my head. Turning things around and flipping them back and forth. I learned this from Kevin Prosch and I’ve heard that Dylan did this quite a bit. Sometimes it’s like a game to take regular words and use them together in different sequences to say different things.

At some point I’ll take my ideas to the band and often this is where they really begin to flesh out. The energy they create gets me excited about the ideas and new ones start to flow. Then they get excited and they come up with new ideas and we develop a kind of creative momentum.   

TBB: I assume that you’d consider yourself to be a Christian – can you describe the process that God has used to bring you to Himself?

JMM: I grew up going to church. My dad, who is also one of my greatest influences, was and still is a Charismatic pastor. I actually enjoyed certain aspects of church when I was young. I liked seeing people and interacting with lots of other kids. I really liked the stories.

But as I got older something about the Christian culture just seemed to turn me off. Maybe it was the religious expectation or the lack of creativity in Christian environments but something just made me angry. I can’t give you one good reason for it but I became very angry at Christian people.

Even to this day certain aspects of Christian culture make me literally sick to my stomach, and I can’t tell you exactly why. I guess it’s because I’m really interested in the man Jesus and it seems to devalue him whenever people feel like they have to hype him up or help him out. Either he’s real or he’s a fairy tale. I think he’s real, and if I’m right then I don’t need to hype him up. If I’m wrong then no amount of hype in this world is going to make a difference. I think he’s an incredible person and most people would agree with me if they had the chance to be properly introduced.

So I guess you could say that things changed for me when I met the man Jesus as apposed to the idea or philosophy. There was a point when I told God that I wasn’t sure if I believed in him at all and that if he loved me the way people said he was supposed to love me, then to please make things clear or I was going to have to do something else. Not to give him some kind of weird ultimatum or anything. I just figured if there was any reality to what I said I believed then He would have to help me out.

God works in his own time, but things certainly changed from then on out. I think God was waiting for me to be honest with him and myself. He wasn’t offended. He already knew what I was thinking and far more about what was going on in me than even I did.

I think sometimes our idea of reverence can keep us from having a real relationship. As a whole, I believe that Christians have communicated very poorly to the rest of the world the real personality of Jesus. You can hardly have a conversation with someone about Jesus without insighting a riot because their idea of him is so skewed.

Unfortunately, I think its our fault. We’ve communicated Christianity as a performance-driven system of morality with a pretty superficial idea of reverence.  I believe the major difference between Christianity and other major religions is the fact that it is not, in anyway, a performance-driven religion. I believe that the overall message of the Bible is this: being good doesn’t make you righteous. Abstaining from evil doesn’t make you righteous. On the contrary, we have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus. And only then, by realizing that he has made us righteous, do we have the ability to be good or abstain from evil. And even then it’s a process.

So I guess I realized that Jesus was not like the people who wore his t-shirt, but after that I was able to turn around and love those people too, even if I thought some of the things they did were a little silly. I do some pretty silly things myself.

TBB: If you could have any one of your songs heard throughout the world, which would you pick?

JMM: Probably “Ten Thousand” or “Skeleton Bones.”  The answer to this question changes daily.

TBB: In a similar vein, what’s your goal as a musician?

JMM: As a musician I want to be good enough to the point where I don’t have to think about the music at all and I can communicate what I’m feeling as fluidly as if you and I were having a conversation on the phone.

TBB: What artists are you currently listening to?

JMM: I really love the Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, and My Morning Jacket. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Ryan Adams for years that I can’t seem to shake and which is probably a little too obvious. I’m always down for some Springsteen, and lately, believe it or not, I’ve been digging on some classic Guns’ N’ Roses and a little Thriller era Michael Jackson.

Right at this moment I really can’t stop listening to these guys out of central Kentucky called The Embers.

TBB: What books are you reading?

JMM: Right now just a book called The Black Swan, though I’m realizing it may be a little out of my league intellectually, but I hear Malcolm Gladwell is putting out a new book in a few weeks and I’ll be onto that one pretty fast. I’m sorry to say I’m not reading anything incredibly spiritual right now.

TBB: I’m pretty frustrated with most “Christian music.”  What’s your take on the whole thing?  What’s good?  What needs to change?

JMM: I know we hate to think this way but ultimately Christian Music, like any other industry, is driven by a market. Christian publishers will only push the kind of music that they think their audience likes.  Right now they seem to believe that Christians mostly want music that has a very clear utility, meaning that people know the exact  purpose and place for the music inside of a specific model or program. So, often, if a song doesn’t have an obvious function or strict religious message then they don’t think it will be valued by the greater Christian population.

Personally, I think this mindset supports a pretty narrow creative environment at best. I think the only way for this to change is for artists to spend time and energy building new audiences and serving people who want more than just topical songs written to enhance sermons. I don’t have a problem with those kind of songs necessarily - there are just plenty of them and very few with what I would consider a massive amount of artistic integrity (though I’m sure you could find plenty of people who feel the same about my music).

It’s just so easy to fall into the standard sort of situation because the resources for those kinds of things are so readily available, much more so than for the typical or even above average general market band. I really don’t like to be negative or reactionary about all this but I certainly have strong feelings about it. It may be that all people really need is a vision for something new or different. I mean, you and I seem to want something different so there has to be people out there who feel the same way.  Just someone has to be willing to take the risk.

TBB: Any final thoughts?

JMM: I think I wrote way to much…

Thanks, John Mark!  Hope you all enjoyed the interview.

Sorry for missing over a week on The Blah Blah.  Between shoveling piles and piles of snow, moving into a new house, and the usual ministry stuff, life has been busy.  And, man, do I have a lot to talk about…

So let’s get going.  I’ve mentioned artist John Mark McMillan quite a bit on The Blah Blah, and just recently he proved himself to be just the awesome guy I figured he was by answering a few questions over an e-mail interview.  Here is part one today, with part two coming tomorrow.  Enjoy.

The Blah Blah: Who are you, in as many words and descriptives as you’d like to use?

John Mark McMillan: John Mark is a husband, a dad, a friend, and occasionally an enemy (but usually only with transportation personnel and aggressive sales people). He is a songwriter and a singer of songs. He has, at times, been considered an artist and would like to think of himself as an artist. Though his work is not always entirely original (and whose is?) he wants to expand the boundaries and explore the peripherals of what it means to be both an artist and a person who gives language to a community. John Mark is tall, loud and usually hungry. He adores his wife and baby boy. Loves to play music but loves listening to music even more. Has a strong distaste for pretense yet is occasionally pretentious. He enjoys controversy. He sports a beard because his wife thinks he looks to young without it. Though he doesn’t see what’s wrong with looking young.

TBB: Describe your style of music.

JMM: I would have to classify it as “Alternative”, or just plain “Rock” occasionally bleeding into the arenas of “Folk” , “Americana” or dare I say “Southern”. You may find my music on the rack at the store under the moniker of “Christian”  or “Gospel”. Though I do profess to be an imitator of Christ and a purveyor of the Gospel thereof, I don’t think that the word “Christian” describes the sound of the  music I write or music in general for that mater. So I personally wouldn’t say it’s “Christian Music,” but I’m not entirely offended by someone who would want to call it Christian music. I understand why they would.

TBB: How did you start doing music?

JMM: I started playing music when I was in my late teens. Mostly because I wasn’t good at sports and because my passion, drawing comic books, didn’t seem to impress the girls. So I started playing music for the shallowest of reasons and the truth was it didn’t really work. I never did impressed anybody. But I did discover that I truly loved playing music and especially writing songs.

When I was about 19 I was asked to play one of my songs at a large church conference. There were about 5000 people there and I was way under-qualified. Even at that time a few hundred people would have been quite intimidating. So, as you can imagine, I was incredibly nervous. I got up on the stage and pretty much froze. The background singers actually had to start the song for me. But I eventually fell in and when I got to the chorus the place erupted. It just about knocked me over. To hear 5000 people screaming lyrics that I wrote in my bedroom one lonely afternoon generated a feeling that I think only a handful of people on earth will ever experience. For just a few seconds I think that I actually stepped into a taste of the destiny that God had called me to. Needless to say I was ruined and I knew that I would spend the rest of my life writing songs, especially the kind that help people say the things that I think they really want to say.

TBB: What do you do when you’re not making music?

JMM: I like listening to and purchasing music, especially on vinyl. I also love going to shows whenever I can (I’m out of town a lot). I like to spend a lot of time with people. I really can’t think of many things that I enjoy more than to sit around and waste time with other human beings. Especially ones that I love or find particularly entertaining. I think it’s a very important thing to enjoy people, so I’ve made it a priority.

I really like gangster movies. I like to read, especially books about sociology and people. I’m really fascinated by the reasons behind why people do what they do. I also enjoy  reading theology and apologetics by Lewis or Zacharias. I used to read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy once a year but now I just watch the movie (not quite the same but it works out better with my schedule).

TBB: I’ve definitely worshiped God through a lot of your songs, but only a few come across as “worship songs” per se – do you see yourself as a worship leader?

JMM: Sure, I totally do. But also beyond the Sunday morning choruses I want to write music that people want to sing everyday. I think that also could be considered worship leading, just maybe not in the traditional sense. I think whether you’re Bob Dylan or Lil’ Wayne, if you’re important to anyone as an artist, it’s because you help a group of people articulate something. I think the only real difference is what exactly we’re helping people articulate. The most common place for a worship leader to do this is in a church building on Sunday. I certainly enjoy doing that but I also want to have an effect on people beyond what they do inside of a building, when they’re out living their lives. I think real worship happens at work, at school, in the car or in the shower. It’s not something that stops after a service, though I do consider the service to be important as well. I don’t want to belittle that at all. I just like the idea of creating music that’s more than simply a platform for a message.

TBB: I’ve heard the story of the song “How He Loves” before, but for those who don’t know, how did that song come about?

JMM: Several years ago my best friend was killed in a car accident. I learned about it while I was in Jacksonville, Florida, working in the studio. I was pretty devastated as you can imagine. I woke up the next day and wrote that song. I had a couple lines of the song before he died but I felt like the song was supposed to be for him so I sat down that morning and finished it.

The song is basically about dealing with the anger of his death and how I was pretty tempted to believe that God didn’t love us but that even in this death I can see that God does. I guess my question was if God loved him then why did he die, and the answer, I believed, was that he died because God loved him and wanted to be with him. It’s a difficult conclusion to come to and I’m not sure most people who sing the song completely understand where I was coming from when I wrote it, but I’m glad it’s touching people.

In fact I receive messages pretty regularly from kids who have battled with depression and suicide who tell me that the song actually turned them around and saved their lives. So I would never complain, and after all, I think a song can have more than one meaning.

My friend was actually in a prayer meeting the morning before he died and told the Lord that if his death would shake people up then he would give his life. I don’t entirely understand the implications of this prayer, but I do believe that the effect this song has had on people is part of a promise that the Lord made when He took my friend’s life.

There are kids who are alive now because they heard that song and that’s the only explanation I have for it. Just the facts. I don’t understand how all that works theologically. I just know that’s the way it is.

TBB: One of my favorites of your songs is the song “Closer.”  Any interesting stories about that song?

JMM: This is just a really honest song I wrote one afternoon. I wrote a good bit of Song Inside the Sounds in the midst of some pretty serious pain. I’ve done this song in church pretty often.

Theologically I’m not really sure that we’re really supposed to beg God for anything. Sons and daughters don’t beg. I was just in a place of such turmoil that I felt like I needed more than good stories and chicken soup for the soul. I needed a living person. So often we equate Christianity down to good vibes and what I needed was a person. The truth in the song is that Jesus is a person not just a good bedtime story.

TBB: How does your new album The Medicine compare to The Song Inside the Sounds of Breaking Down?

JMM: Not sure entirely. They seem to be two different animals really. While I was recording The Medicine people would ask me if it sounded like Song Inside The Sounds or if it was much of a departure. I always told people that it was pretty similar, but the truth was I hadn’t listened to Song Inside the Sounds for years until recently. When I did put the old album back on I realized that the two sounded totally different.

Recording can play tricks on you. I remember much more of what things sounded like in the process than the actual final product sometimes and it’s hard to get those things out of my head. When I think about the albums, I tend to think more about the 6 months I spent recording them rather than the 60 minutes that actually reach the general public. As far as I could tell, the process for each seemed similar enough. It was the same group of musicians and the same producer. I just assumed they would turn out similarly. But nope. They sound totally different.

In the three years between them I’m pretty sure I grew a ton as a writer and as a singer and the rest of the band grew as well. I had a more focused idea of what I wanted to accomplish this go around and we focused less on studio production and more on live performance this time.

It’s really funny to me when people say they think The Medicine sounds so much more polished because we purposely let things hang loose from a performance side of things in ways we never would have done before. We certainly had a bigger budget and it’s certainly bigger sonically. But we let it all hang out to the point where we wondered if people would find it a bit too indie.

TBB: Speaking of your new album, I really enjoy the song “Ten Thousand.”  What’s the idea behind that song?

JMM: “Ten Thousand“ uses a number as a vehicle to tell a story from the perspective of a kind of old revelator. I incorporated lots of imagery picturing both death (rivers run red) and resurrection (graves yawning). At the time I wrote this, and much of the album, I was somewhat fascinated with the idea of death and resurrection representing two sides of the human experience.  In this particular situation it’s not, so much, a Biblical presentation of resurrection but a picture of death and resurrection in everyday life. But that certainly isn’t an unbiblical concept. 

TBB: What about the song “The Medicine?”  I can venture some guesses, but I’d like to hear the “official” meaning…

JMM: “The Medicine” is a song about how we, as humans, like to self-medicate and how, often, the things we do to avoid pain are the very things that bring us pain.

I remember what it was like when I was young and trying to run from loneliness. I used to have this stone in my chest that I just couldn’t shake and it was the worst at night when I had to be alone with my thoughts. So what you do is keep yourself busy with anything you can find so when you lay down, you’re out cold.

Dealing with heartache is such a painful process, but it doesn’t have to be as bad as we make it. I see people I love and I want to reach out and save them from all the agony they’re experiencing, but sometimes you just have to watch them go through it and its heartbreaking.

TBB: Which of your songs is your favorite to play?

JMM: In church I love to play “Skeleton Bones” because I love to hear people sing the chorus. I think I wrote it with the idea that  lots of people would have to sing it together for it to really have the desired effect. Also I love to hear people sing words that you don’t generally hear in church worship.

In a club situation, I like to play “The Medicine” because it’s just such a beautiful greasy ruckus.

… OK, you’re probably overloaded already.  Come back tomorrow for part two!

Doing The Blah Blah is hard.  Sure, there’s the sometimes overwhelming amount of e-mails, the work it takes to give an insightful opinion, the weeding through mediocre or bad music, etc. but that’s all pretty normal.

What makes it hardest is that I want to showcase artists who are Christians and are making above-average music, especially those in the indie music world, but definitely not limited to them.  What’s so hard about this is that most Christians in the indie music world don’t want to be identified as Christians, for various reasons, and most that want to be identified are not making above-average music.  You can debate the ethics of either side all you want, but the truth remains that most good independent Christian artists don’t want to be pigeon-holed as “Christian artists.”

So it’s hard to find out who’s a Christian and who isn’t.

This makes me think that maybe it doesn’t matter.  Maybe it would be better just to write about music that I like and forget the whole faith issue.  This would be OK and might work for a while, but I really do want someone to do a site that is mostly devoted to good music made by Christians, because there’s a lot of people who want that.  There’s a ton of Christians burned-out from a CCM-infused market who don’t know there’s anything better out there and feel like the only option is secular music that promotes a humanist worldview.  I listen to plenty of music made by non-Christians, and I still think there are more non-Christian artists making great music than Christians, but I think the world needs to know that you don’t have to make CCM records if you love God.  And the church needs to know it.

The church needs to know there’s good music out there.  It needs to know Peter Hicks, Page France, or Solomon Jabby aren’t heretics for not being on major Christian labels.  Some of them may be heretics, but it’s not for their choice of record labels.  The world needs to know God is a creative God open to all forms of music, even if it doesn’t come from Nashville.  And the indie Christian hipsters need to know God might even be open to someone as uncool and CCM as Shane and Shane.

I think someone needs to do a site like The Blah Blah, but I just wish it were easier.  I wish people were more open about what they believed, and more open to accepting others for their opposing beliefs.  In a world that prides itself on being open, understanding, and politically-correct, independent artists get a lot of flack if they even mention they go to church or they grew up in a Christian environment.  And Christians get a lot of flack if they’re on a secular label, perform with secular bands, and play at, heaven forbid, bars or college parties, where people actually need to hear about God.  Maybe someday we’ll be past all this judging a band for what their faith is, but it sucks right now.

My wife and I are taking it easy this Thanksgiving.  Normally we drive up to Green Bay to spend the weekend with my parents, but with our weeks being rather crazy lately, I decided we’re just gonna hang out at home and eat some pizzas (cooked on the grill of course).

This change of the normal tradition got me thinking.  I think Thanksgiving may have more to offer than just boat loads of pie, turkey, and mashed potatoes.  Seriously, the Thanksgiving season is a great time to remember how much God has given us.  Even if your life seems sucky, man, we’ve all got a lot to be thankful for.  It’s with this in mind that I created a soundtrack for your Thanksgiving holiday (you can thank me later): Life is Good.

I hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving mix!

Here are the songs and my thoughts on choosing each of the tracks:

Track List (get it all in one zip file here)
1. Frenchmen in Rome – I Get Up (Download or Stream)
This song is one of the grooviest, happiest songs you’ll ever hear, by one of the best bands at doing happy – “I get up, you’ll never see me with a frown…”

2. Half-Handed Cloud – You’ve Been Faithful (Download or Stream)
I just had to include this song.  Half-Handed Cloud is amazing at taking the Bible and making an awesome song out of it.  God is faithful – if this doesn’t make you thankful, I don’t know what will.

3. Relient K – Beaming (Download or Stream)
Relient K deserves to have a song on the Manic Disk because they do happy punk better than most other bands out there, and what better song than “Beaming?”

4. Karla Adolphe – Can’t Thank You Enough (Download or Stream)
A great worship song that goes perfect with the holiday.  She’s done an awesome job on the latest Chair and Microphone offering by the folks at Enter the Worship Circle, so be sure to pick up a copy.

5. Overhang – The Water Will Be a Sign (demo) (Download or Stream)
Overhang isn’t a band I think of as a manically happy band, but this demo is perfect with it’s simple trust in God – “Hush little baby it’ll be alright… the Father’s got you on His mind… when God makes a promise you can bet your life…”

6. Ryan Dean – Praise the Lord, You Heavens Adore Him (Download or Stream)
The name says it all.  I almost deleted this song from the mix, because it’s my least favorite and it doesn’t flow thematically as well as others, but the album just didn’t seem to work without it.

7. Ben and Bruno – Pack of Light Blue Birds (Download or Stream)
Not an overly excitedly happy song, but there’s an element of the song that makes me feel like I’m floating above the clouds, insulated from any problems.

8. Destroy Nate Allen – Come to the Mountain (Download or Stream)
This song makes me happy, and it’s addictively catchy.  Just try to listen without singing along.  I dare you.

9. Don Chaffer – Man I’m Gonna Sing (Download or Stream)
I’m not sure exactly what’s going on in this song, but the guy wants to sing.  So there you have it!

10. Perry and the Poorboys – Happy Beach (Download or Stream)
This is the grossest, happiest, most disgustingly cheerful song you will ever hear.  I hope.  I love it, but I do feel a little like Lambchop when I listen to it.

11. Lenny Smith – My Teeth Are Shining Today (Download or Stream)
Similar to #10 but not as disturbingly cute and happy.  One of my all-time favorite songs.

Hope you all enjoy the CD!  To download the album art, just save the image above or click here.

Happy Thanksgiving!  And remember that whether your life seems great right now or not, Jesus conquered death and sin and reigns as Lord over all, so you’ve got a lot to be thankful for this holiday week!

I’m not even sure what I can possibly say about Josh Garrels, other than the fact that he brings some of the most authentic and unique music to the Christian indie scene.  He writes songs that would be considered overtly Christian, but most likely so Christian that you would never hear them on any contemporary Christian station or like avenues.

The music is a mixture of classic beats with a modern folk twist. I saw him for the first time when I was at a conference in California, and I honestly think people didn’t know what to do with him.  He was using some old school beats, like from the 40’s and 50’s, mixed with his masterful guitar playing and amazing voice.  I left that night at that coffeehouse greatly encouraged, and very surprised that someone this good has been under the radar for so long.

The sad things is that Josh Garrels most likely will never rise to Christian stardom, but he is more talented than most Christian rock stars.  He sounds like Jack Johnson meeting classic Simon and Garfunkel, but even better!  He has a few albums, at this point, and just released his latest full-length titled Jacaranda. 

Josh is an Indianapolis/Muncie Indiana native and now currently resides in North Carolina.  I am not sure what else to really say about him, other than the fact that he is one gifted individual, and he uses his talent not for his glory, but to be an authentic and real voice in a Christian world that thrives on the exterior.  He brings deep insight and challenges the listener with his call to be real.

Check out his website. I’m pretty sure there are a few downloads on there, but here are some songs that he wanted me to pass along:

Zion and Babylon - Download - Stream
Don’t Wait for Me - Download - Stream

Website: www.joshgarrels.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/joshgarrels

Download MP3s at Itunes
Buy CDs on his website

Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week

I’ve done two posts on Paste Magazine recently, the first called “I Hate Paste Magazine” and the second “Ten Reasons I Love Paste Magazine,” and I’ve been delightfully surprised to find that, if you search for “paste magazine” in Google, my hate post is #4, right behind 2 sites from the magazine itself and a Wikipedia article.  That’s about as high as you can get in rankings.  I’d hate to be higher than the magazine itself (seems somehow wrong), and nobody beats Wikipedia.

What’s even funnier than being #4 is that my Paste-love post comes in at #5, right after my hate post.  Talk about being schizophrenic…

So Paste Magazine probably either hates or loves me right now.  Or, in reality, they probably don’t even notice me.

Either way, here’s the link to the Google search so you can see it for yourself, in case you have a hard time typing “www.google.com” into your address bar and searching for “paste magazine” on your own.  I know, it’s hard.

….

In other news, if you search for “christian indie mp3,” I’m ranked #2, which is pretty good for a WordPress blog.  What else am I ranked high for?  Has anybody noticed anything weird?

Joe Dorsey knows rock and roll.  I don’t mean that stuff you can hear on MTV or VH1.  That’s not rock and roll.  You’ll get some pop, some hip hop, some R&B, but you don’t get a whole lot of rock anymore.

Nor do I mean that stuff you can hear on your favorite alternative radio stations or that cool indie rock college station in town.  I love all that stuff, but that’s not what I’m talking about when I say rock and roll.

Joe Dorsey knows the rock and roll of Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Cream.  Classic rock and roll, back when it was still infused with the soulful sounds of blues, before grunge took over and changed everything.

I’m a huge fan of grunge music and all it’s touched, but there’s just nothing like hearing some good old-fashioned straight-up rock and roll.

And for that, you’ll do good looking toward Joe Dorsey and his new album Rest.

For those who haven’t been introduced yet, I hope I can convince you today to give the worship music of Joe Dorsey a listen.  In a market crowded with Chris Tomlin look-alikes, it’s always a pleasure to hear something different, and Joe Dorsey is indeed that.  While none of his songs totally blew me out of the water to the point where I sat and listened speechless, some came close, and they’re all good and all a little different from the “normal” contemporary worship songs out there.

But before I talk about the album, who is Joe Dorsey?  Joe Dorsey leads worship at a Vineyard church alongside Aaron Boerboom (drums) and Grant Strong (bass).  The three of them, plus studio musician Giles Reaves (keys), have recorded a worship album called Rest.  The recording was all done live in the studio, all tracks being recorded in a single day and mixed another day.  Because of this, the album feels very organic and live, definitely not overproduced and cluttered with engineered bells and whistles.

Dorsey grew up the youngest son in a family of six, came to know Jesus as a teenager, started learning guitar and writing music, eventually began leading worship at Vineyard churches, and now has recorded an album.

And how is that album?  As I mentioned already, it has an overall vintage, bluesy, classic rock sound.  This carries the album in both good and bad ways.  On the good side, there are times you’ll feel all the energy and excitement that must have carried a Larry Norman or Phil Keaggy performance back in the day.  Dorsey breaks out in guitar solos whenever it’s appropriate, showing off his obviously impressive skills on a six-string.  Songs like “Praise You Again,” “Greatly To Be Praised,” and “Living Water” do more justice to good old-fashioned rock-n-roll than almost any other songs I’ve heard in worship music in a long time.  Then there are songs like ”Rest” and “Father to Me” which somehow capture the signature feel of the other side of 70s music – the smooth rock of bands like Steely Dan and America.  When the songs lean towards either one of these directions, the album shines the brightest.  It’s here where the merger of a pre-grunge rock-n-roll sound with modern worship music just works.

And what’s the bad side of the “vintage” sound?  In an industry that prides itself on finding “the new thing,” the album can sound dated and slightly cheesy at times.  While songs like “Strong,” “On the Mountain,” and “Faithful” are awesome worship songs, the music leaves me disappointed.  I’ve been listening to the album a lot just because the spirit of it is so great and the words are awesome, but some of the songs definitely remind me of a mixture of early Vineyard worship blended with the cheesier songs I’d pass by on the 70’s radio station.  Dorsey’s voice is almost too nice at times, the guitar too controlled, the piano too pretty.  It’s at these times that I’d like to see a little more edge.

Aside from the sound, how does the album line up as a worship album?  It’s really good, definitely better than a lot of stuff out there.  These songs would work great for worship in a church setting, or in your personal time with God.  Like I already mentioned, I’ve been listening to it all the time just because the words are so good.  You won’t find any super-sappy worship songs or overly theological expositions in musical form.  You’ve got your mix of slower stuff and more upbeat stuff, but overall it’s on the lighter, happier side of worship music, as opposed to the moody, intense, we’re-seeking-God-so-hard-our-heads-hurt side.

To finish off my thoughts, give Joe Dorsey a try.  This isn’t the most cutting-edge sound in the world, and at times the music just doesn’t come together quite right, but when everything falls into place, the album becomes an impressive worship exploration into a classic rock-n-roll sound that you’d be dumb not to experience.  Besides, this is just good worship, and you know you need more of that in your life.

Two of my favorite songs on the album Rest are “Father to Me” and “Greatly To Be Praised.”  I’ve put them below for download, but first, some background. About “Father to Me” Dorsey says, “Since my relationship with my earthly father was strained at best, I’ve had to look to Jesus as my father in general. Words could not truly express how much love he has shown in my life. This song became a proclamation of who He is to me!”

And about “Greatly To Be Praised”: “Since I was young, I’ve always appreciated the grandness of the electric guitar. Plug into a large stack of amps and you’ve got a sound that’s larger than life. I wanted to capture the classic rock sound that I grew up with and give glory to God in the process. Hence “Greatly To Be Praised” was born.”

Anyway, hope you like ‘em:

Father to Me – Download - Stream
Greatly to be Praised - Download - Stream

MySpace: www.myspace.com/dorseytunes

If you want to contact Joe Dorsey or support his ministry, send him an e-mail: dorseytunes@yahoo.com

Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week

Para conhecer o Estúdio Raposa e o seu trabalho.

Apparently, since you’ve made it this far, my corny pun in the title hasn’t scared you off.  That’s always a good sign.  Anyhow, when Jake first asked me to review John Mark McMillan’s new album, “The Medicine,” I couldn’t have been happier.  (Well maybe if he had offered to pay me, that would have made me happier.  Or if he had thrown in a complimentary Ferrari…)

Ever since I was introduced to his work a few months ago, the CDs of John Mark McMillan have consistently found themselves in my stereo.  From first hearing “How He Loves” (from “The Song Inside The Sounds of Breaking Down”) during a worship service to then downloading “Hope Anthology Volume One” from eMusic and then playing “The Medicine” on repeat while I cleaned my house, I’ve been a big fan.  So though I will try to be honest and objective in this review, I have a long history of enjoying John Mark McMillan’s work, so I’m going to have a tough time being negative.

In a nutshell, this third album is John Mark McMillan’s best musically and possibly lyrically as well.

I would half-way like to end this review at that short statement, but I guess I owe you a deeper explanation.

Musically, there is enough variety in “The Medicine” to keep things interesting but never so much as to lose the heart and flow of the CD.  (There’s the almost country style of “Death in His Grave,” the edgier “Out of the Ground,” and the nearly CCM “Ten Thousand.”)  The music is great, including everything from choirs to distorted guitars without getting bogged down in anything overly showy or obnoxious.  With all the variety, the music manages to hold onto the down-to-earth, “real” feel of an independent artist and a worship musician.

Lyrically, John Mark McMillan again shows himself to be an accomplished poet and song-writer.  He employs imagery (“gravestones roll to the rhythm of the sound of you”) throughout his songs as well as rhymes that are just fun to sing (“Dance the dance we call living and dying, in the valley of the city in the belly of the lion”).  Rarely does he slip into the much too common cliches of Christiandom.  In fact, I don’t think he once says the word “Hallelujah” (Heresy, I tell ya!) or even “Jesus.”  And yet the realness of his faith is in no way hidden or covered up.  Once again, John Mark McMillan offers a unique, refreshing, and insightful look at a life of faith without relying on the redundant and overly-used words of most modern worship leaders.  What a breath of fresh air!

Ever since I first heard the music of John Mark McMillan, I was hooked.  He’s not afraid to get real, sometimes messy, and always beautiful in his worship and in his music.  “The Medicine” continues that honesty and realness with creative, talented music and fresh, thoughtful lyrics.  Make sure you grab his newest CD.  You won’t be disappointed!

Here are two songs from the album that I think you’ll enjoy.  Both songs are great and show some of John Mark McMillan’s creativity with this CD.

Reckoning Day – Download - Stream
Carbon Ribs - Download - Stream

Website: www.thejohnmark.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/johnmarkmcmillan

Download MP3s at Amazon.com
Buy CDs on his website

Note: All MP3s will be removed after one week

Back here, I posted on why I hated Paste Magazine, so I figured it was only right to now offer a post on why it’s the best magazine in the world.

1. I only paid $1 for a whole year of it!
2. They’ll review unsigned local artists who have no real business being reviewed by a national magazine.
3. Tons of different music styles are covered in every issue, in addition to movies, games, and books.
4. You get a free CD full of sample music with every issue.
5. Five little words: Ezra Furman and the Harpoons.
6. It’s nice and small, so you won’t strain your back lifting it.
7. They’re where I first heard about Okkervil River, which is a great band.
8. It makes great quick reading for those faster-than-average bathroom runs.
9. Their review of Sandra McCracken was very honest, even a little too positive.
10. Crap, I don’t think I have a tenth reason.

See?  I’m not all crabby and opinionated.