Topic: ....Christian Music recommendations, anyone?? (Read 48143 times)

KharBevNor · « **Reply #50 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 10:55 »

All Emery and Relient K's members are christian. Even if they don't produce worship music, that's not the point of this thread.

Vanilla Gorilla · « **Reply #51 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 11:15 »

isnt living sacrifice a christian band?

Will · « **Reply #52 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 11:44 »

They were...they don't exist anymore though. Their old guitarist Rocky Gray is now the drummer for Evanescance...weird.

I'm not nearly as into the whole Christian music scene as I was a few years ago, but I think that some of my fellow forumites - especially the ones who've already mentioned Pedro The Lion - would do well to check out both Michael Knott and Denison Witmer. Michael Knott has been a favorite artist of mine since I first heard his work with Lifesavors Underground (LSU) but I definately like his solo work more. when i get home tonight, I may host a track for you guys to check out.

ALoveSupreme · « **Reply #53 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 12:18 »

Mae is totally christian... anything off Tooth and Nial is Christian, as far as I know.

Miroku · « **Reply #54 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 13:04 »

Tooth and Nail is a christian music label.. EVERY BAND ON IT is(or maybe was..) a christian band.

i dont know about the new stuff but ALOT of old Relient K songs have christian lyrics like

"Never underestimate my Jesus.
You're telling me that there's no hope.
I'm telling you your wrong.
Never underestimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong, He will be strong"

Johnny C · « **Reply #55 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 13:48 »

I think I have a mixtape from my old youth group - yeah, a Christian music cassette - which has Relient K and Toby Mac songs on it. I don't listen to it anymore because I didn't like those songs to begin with.

Will · « **Reply #56 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 13:50 »

Johnny, I used to have a cassette copy of dcTalk's first album.

Johnny C · « **Reply #57 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 14:01 »

They're no Supertones.

Cernunnos · « **Reply #58 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 14:28 »

I still have like three DC Talk albums. Oh, the memories.

Vanilla Gorilla · « **Reply #59 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 14:31 »

i heard that jesus died so i can fondle road whores, is this true?

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #60 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 16:39 »

I may stand corrected on Nick Cave but Conor Oberst is most definitely not a Christian.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #61 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 17:07 »

there's several songs on "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" where he references Christianity. and also this one song "When The President Talks to God" or something, idk how recent it is, but i think it's about Bush. i never really said he was a Christian, but there is a lot of it in his music.

Will · « **Reply #62 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 20:18 »

Quote from: JohnnyC

They're no Supertones

True story, a number of years ago I was in a "Christian Ska" band whose name was so embarrassing I shan't divulge it here. We covered a Supertones song. Then one year, at Cornerstone, I met the trombone player, and he recommended a mouthpiece to me.

Also, I spent an afternoon with Reese Roper of Five Iron Frenzy that same C-stone.

SensoryOssuary · « **Reply #63 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 20:46 »

If you don't mind alternative country/bluegrass, I can't reccomend 16 Horsepower enough. The lead singer, David Eugene Edwards, is the son of a traveling preacher, so there is a very strong biblical/vaudevillian atmosphere in a lot of the songs. If you're looking for something more mellow/solemn, he also has a few solo releases under the name Woven Hand.

Johnny C · « **Reply #64 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 21:05 »

Quote from: Will on 12 Feb 2007, 20:18

True story, a number of years ago I was in a "Christian Ska" band whose name was so embarrassing I shan't divulge it here. We covered a Supertones song.

Congratulations I am now fondly remembering the seventh grade.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #65 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 21:52 »

I would not call Sixteen Horsepower "alternative country/bluegrass". They may use those as elements in their music but they are a rock band. That would be like calling Spiritualized a gospel/jazz band just because they use those elements.

Alternative country/bluegrass is stuff like the X-Grass compilations, Blackgrass, Hank Williams III, etc.

jimbunny · « **Reply #66 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 22:48 »

They've been mentioned briefly before, but Anathallo and Denison Witmer are really good names to know in the Christians-who-are-still-damn-fine-artists category. It comes through more so in Anathallo's music, though. They have reeeeally different styles. Anathallo has a bit of an Arcade Fire feel, with a heavier high school marching band influence, while Denison is pretty straight up acoustic folk.

Some legal downloads for both:

Anathallo's renditions of a few old hymns here. Really quite good. I sometimes wonder why "Christian music" ever decided to get into the rock/pop world at all. Back to the four-part vocal harmonies!

A bunch of home-recorded Denison songs here.

zacha · « **Reply #67 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 23:40 »

Well. A quick search through my music library comes up with this artists and they're genres (please understand that I don't think christian is a genre, I just have it as an genre to easily sort music and such in my playlists).
Most of them are pretty decent... right now I'm into Deas Vail (a christian indie band)

Anberlin - Alternative Rock, Christian
Andy Hunter? - Electronic, Christian
As Cities Burn - Post-Hardcore, Christian
Audio Adrenaline - Rock, Christian
Blessed - C-Pop, Christian
Blindside - Hard Rock, Christian
Copeland - Indie Rock, Christian
Day Of Fire - Rock, Christian
dc Talk - Pop, Christian
Dead Poetic - Post-Hardcore, Christian
Deas Vail - Indie Rock, Christian
Demon Hunter - Metal, Christian
Disciple - Nu-metal, Christian
Emery - Emo, Christian
Haste the Day - Metalcore, Christian
Hawk Nelson - Pop Punk, Christian
Ivory - Indie Rock, Christian
Jeremy - Progressive Rock, Christian, Korean
Kevin Max - Singer-Songwriter, Christian
Kutless - Rock, Christian
Lampshade - Alternative, Christian
Mae - Indie Rock, Christian
Mammuth - Nu-metal, Christian
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster - Southern Metalcore, Christian
Meadow - Post-Hardcore, Christian
mewithoutYou - Post-Hardcore, Christian
Neal Morse - Progressive Rock, Christian
Need To Breathe - Rock, Christian
Project 86 - Post-Hardcore, Christian
Sanctus Real - Rock, Christian
Sixpence None The Richer - Rock, Christian
Skillet - Hard Rock, Christian
Sleeping At Last - Indie Rock, Christmas, Christian
Spoken - Hard Rock, Christian
Staple - Post-Hardcore, Christian
Starflyer 59 - Indie Rock, Christian
subseven - Emo, Christian
Switchfoot - Alternative Rock, Christian
Tekla Kn?s - Punk, Christian
The O.C. Supertones - Ska, Christian
thebandwithnoname - Hip-Hop, Christian
Third Day - Southern Rock, Christian
Thousand Foot Krutch - Rock, Christian
tobyMac - Hip-Hop, Christian
Underoath - Post-Hardcore, Christian

Caspian · « **Reply #68 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 23:43 »

Quote from: Cernunnos on 12 Feb 2007, 14:28

I still have like three DC Talk albums. Oh, the memories.

Unfortunately, my 9 year old brother has gotten into them recently. I forgot how bad they where

Lots of bands there, I may check some out. (possibly). Seriously though, why on Earth isn't there an Epic Post-Rock Christian band? Wouldn't that be the perfect kind of music for Christian Lyrics?

Hamlet · « **Reply #69 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 23:53 »

Faunts are a most excellent post-rock band composed of Christians. One of my favorite post-rock bands, actually. Reminiscent of Mogwai and Sigur Ros.

Viva Voce--an indiepop band--is kind of good, I guess, but perhaps a little boring.

Starflyer 59 has some really good stuff. Kind of indiepop and shoegaze.

Joy Electric has long been a guilty pleasure of mine. The White Songbook is probably his best work, but The Ministry of Archers is also very good. RIYL Kraftwerk.

The two guys from Joy Electric & Starflyer 59 recently teamed up to form The Bros. Martin, which is an immensely fun indie-pop/new-wave album.

Blindside's A Thought Crushed My Mind is one of the few metalcore albums I enjoy. I don't like anything they made after that, though.

Extol's Undeceived is excellent tech/prog death metal, is you don't mind the crappy lyrics.

Chasing Furies were a good female-fronted alternative rock band, IIRC. Too bad I don't know how to better describe their sound.

Hamlet · « **Reply #70 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 23:57 »

Quote from: Will on 12 Feb 2007, 20:18

Quote from: JohnnyC
They're no Supertones
True story, a number of years ago I was in a "Christian Ska" band whose name was so embarrassing I shan't divulge it here.

Does it begin with a "D" and end with an "E"?

Just wondering...

KharBevNor · « **Reply #71 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 01:54 »

Quote from: Caspian on 12 Feb 2007, 23:43

Lots of bands there, I may check some out. (possibly). Seriously though, why on Earth isn't there an Epic Post-Rock Christian band? Wouldn't that be the perfect kind of music for Christian Lyrics?

I may be heavily off-mark here, but don't Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mount Zion have some sort of Jewish influence? That's part of the way there.

Inlander · « **Reply #72 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 04:01 »

Quote from: Dark Flame on 12 Feb 2007, 09:25

Quote from: KharBevNor on 12 Feb 2007, 02:46
God gave Noah a rainbow sign, and then he said..."It's the fire next time!

I'm pretty sure that those lyrics are taken from older folk songs

From an old spiritual, I think. It was the epigram for James Baldwin's 1963 essay the Fire Next Time, which was one of the most significant pieces of literature to emerge from the American civil rights movement.

As for recommendations, I'm gonna weigh in with the Waterboys. Mike Scott's Christianity shines through in most of his songs, but in a deeply spiritual sense rather than a particularly overt Christian way. Also, he writes a killer tune: check out two of his most famous songs (which are also, incidentally, the title tracks of two stunningly good albums): "This Is the Sea" and "Fisherman's Blues".

Will · « **Reply #73 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 07:23 »

Quote from: KharBevNor on 13 Feb 2007, 01:54

I may be heavily off-mark here, but don't Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mount Zion have some sort of Jewish influence? That's part of the way there.

Nope, you're right on the money Khar. From the Wikipedia page on ASMZ,

Quote

Efrim himself is Jewish, and motifs relating to Judaism are occasionally present in the band's music (he described the band's recording of their first album as a "Jewish experience.")

You can dig further into this by linkjumping on Wikipedia, looking up GY!BE/ASMZ and following the different albums, but you're definately right. There is also a very strong presence of street=preacher type material in the "found sounds" each band uses, the first couple tracks off of ASMZ's debut cd come to mind the quickest.

This thread is DEFINATELY bringing me back to junior high, Johnny.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #74 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 09:24 »

Yep, Efrim from A Silver Mt. Zion is Jewish. He likes to use religious phrases and imagery (their second album, "Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward", is a quote from the beginning of the book of Job).

Johnny C · « **Reply #75 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 09:33 »

Quote from: Will on 13 Feb 2007, 07:23

This thread is DEFINATELY bringing me back to junior high, Johnny.

I saw Toby Mac last year around this time, actually. I got snookered into a big Christian conference at Briarcrest College elsewhere in Saskatchewan. It was a horrible experience for the most part because I was surrounded with en-masse evangelism which is something I try to avoid at all costs because I do not believe in it at all. On the other hand, Toby Mac was fun and so was MuteMath.

Will · « **Reply #76 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 09:57 »

Have you heard Earthsuit, Johnny? If I remember correctly, one of the dudes in MuteMath originally formed, or at least was a part of Earthsuit prior to being in MuteMath.

Johnny C · « **Reply #77 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 10:05 »

I haven't. I'll have to check them out.

Vanilla Gorilla · « **Reply #78 on:** 13 Feb 2007, 12:24 »

craig's brother had some pretty decent tracks for a christian band

Hamlet · « **Reply #79 on:** 14 Feb 2007, 22:44 »

Earthsuit is the only rap-metal band I look back on with anything resembling fondness.

ruyi · « **Reply #80 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 00:47 »

huh. i like this thread! i've never really gotten to listen to very much christian music, i've only been exposed to the very popular stuff...most of which is not good at all. so at the moment i like david crowder and watermark. but that's about it. the trouble is, it's not really music non-christians would listen to. i think that's probably why a lot of mainstream christian music sucks. the whole industry becomes incredibly insular, because you're just making music for christians, who aren't actually looking for good music as they are looking for something upbeat and encouraging (and safe for little kids to listen to too) that worships jesus.

religious tangent: worshiping jesus isn't about saying the words, 'I WORSHIP YOU JESUS PRAISE YOU JESUS.' it's about living out religion, like actually helping people and being humble and all that. actually the whole idea of this stuff is ridiculous. it's like if i asked you all on the forums to do the safety dance, and instead of actually doing it, you make music with words about how you're going to do the safety dance and how great the safety dance is, and you create all this merchandise with words printed on it about doing the safety dance, and you form a secret-society club with a few other people where you meet and just feel good together about being the only people who know that i told you to do the safety dance, and basically you do everything except you never actually do the safety dance. okay so this metaphor is super contrived, but in essence, wtf?

...so uh, back to christian music i guess. sorry. did anyone listen to derek webb's latest cd, mockingbird? because i really thought it was awful, but then it's getting a lot of good reviews. did i miss something? the lyrics are contrived and all the songs sound pretty much the same musically.

Thrillho · « **Reply #81 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 04:40 »

Something that should probably be mentioned: Christian =/= Jewish. There are many, some fairly large, differences, and looking for Christian music doesn't mean you'll be looking for Jewish music. But then, the thread starter could be looking for both, I just thought I'd mention it.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #82 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 07:43 »

I'm aware of this. I was merely pointing out that spirituality and post-rock are not concepts divorced from each other.

Will · « **Reply #83 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 08:21 »

Ruyi, that might in fact be the best description of the absurdity of "worship" music that I've ever seen. I don't do the church thing all that much myself, but I've gone with my mom before, and between that and what I remember from when I was younger, one of the biggest things that always annoyed me about Christian music was that it seems like everyone in the genre is willing to sacrifice substance and style, and perhaps even any artistic integrity, for the sake of seeing who can repeat the same hackneyed cliches the greatest number of times before they have to move on to the next chord. Speaking strictly from the standpoint of being a musician, and not even CONSIDERING the religious aspects of it, I've always been annoyed at the "fast food" feel that modern worship music has compared to some of the older hymns. I don't know, maybe this is just another example of me being old and curmudgeonly, I just DETEST these so called "songs" that just repeat the same three lines over and over again.

Thrillho · « **Reply #84 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 08:50 »

Frankly, I find that argument to be somewhat bollocks. Or rather, it can be applied to more or less any music.

There is good worship music, there is bad worship music. But applying this argument when discussing singing about God is like discussing the 'absurdity' of singing a song about fucking instead of sleeping with your girlfriend.

There are tons of shit worship songs. I play in the band at my church simply because it keeps me on my toes as a musician, so I basically gig once a week, more or less every week, learning new material more or less every week. There are lots of songs that I hate, and lots that I like. This applies to pop, rock, punk, hardcore, anything you can name.

You're more or less making the same 'music ain't as good as it used to be...' statement. Or at least, that's how it comes across to me, feel free to elaborate.

rdalke · « **Reply #85 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 02:07 »

I used to be all christian-y before I realized how blazingly hipocritical most christians are. Anyway, during my time in youth groups and going to christian concets and music festivals, there are only a few worth checking out (depending on your taste in style and amount of "worshippyness"). Worshippyness will be ranked on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being gospel.

Rock/Alternative
Skillet - 5 - Recommended Album: Collide
Pillar - 6 - Recommended Album: Fireproof
Thousand Foot Krutch - 4 - Recommended Album: Phenominon
Switchfoot - 3 - Recommended Album: The Beautiful Letdown

Hard Rock
Day of Fire - 6 - Recommended Album: Day of Fire
Project 86 - 4 - Recommended Album: Drawing Black Lines
Demon Hunter - 4 - Recommended Album: Demon Hunter

Worship/Soft Rock
Michael W. Smith - 10 - Recommended Album: This is Your Time
Newsboys - 10 - Recommended Album: Shine...The Hits
Audio Adrenaline - 8 - Recommended Album: Hit Parade

Hip-Hop
tobyMac - 7 - Recommended Album: Momentum
DC Talk - 9 - Recommended Album: Jesus Freak
Cross Movement - 8 - Recommended Album: The Human Emergency

If I had to pick one to listen to... Skillet, by far. They are probably the least christian sounding, they have a good Rock sound, and several songs that are just T-riffic.

MasterInquisitor · « **Reply #86 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 03:35 »

Tehillah Commission are a Christian band who live failry close to me, and played at my school. They have quite a good sound, I think. Check them out

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Author Topic: ....Christian Music recommendations, anyone?? (Read 48143 times)

Vanilla Gorilla

Vanilla Gorilla

SensoryOssuary

Hamlet

Hamlet

Vanilla Gorilla

Hamlet

rdalke

MasterInquisitor