Nostalgic Christian Rock Playlists

Music is such a funny thing, it's amazing to me how just the first few notes of a song can bring back a rush of memories. It can be a time machine transporting you back to different times in your life; good and bad.

This post is kind of a special one as I have my sister, Cecily, guest blogging with me!! As kids we both grew up listening to a ton of Christian music and going to lots of concerts. And while yes, looking back some of that music may have had a slight cheese factor to it (cough, Carmen ;)), it played a huge role in our lives. And going to concerts & experiencing live music at such an early age was a really fun way to grow up & I wouldn't trade it for the world.

This love of Christian music and concerts continued into our teen years and into adulthood. But our tastes definitely changed... instead of Carmen or Point of Grace we were now listening to Switchfoot, Hawk Nelson, Showbread, and Underoath (to the complete horror of our parents who gave us many lectures about listening to screamo ... or bands who "sound like the world" ;)).

Even though in recent years a lot has changed, I lost my concert buddy as my sister is now married & living in GA, and I think both our tastes in music have changed a little. But we both still love these songs. Not only because their nostalgic and bring back lots of fun and happy memories... but also because it's just really good music. I think we'll always love them. So in honor of that love we wanted to share our Christian rock favorites with you guys today!

It's hard not to be nostalgic when it comes to these songs but I'll try not to be overly sentimental. After all these are rock playlists and how rock 'n roll would that be, right? ;)

Cecily’s Christian Rock Playlist -

Oh, the nights my sister and cousin spent listening to these songs. They are all beautiful memories to us. I had so much fun putting this list together because with each song I was reminded of a night or year or a specific time in my life…these songs followed us. I sound sappy but that is because a lot has changed over the last couple years. I have moved to another state and can’t always see my family as often as I want so the memories these songs hold for us help me to feel like I am not so far away. I can put on a song and it’s like they are right there next to me. Skillet says it the best in their song “Those Nights” –

“Through all the hard times in my life
Those nights kept me alive” – That they did and still do.

Be sure to check out Cecily’s blog, Bluebonnets & Peaches!

Krystal’s Christian Rock Playlist -

The songs I chose remind me of every Friday and Saturday night sitting down with my sister and watching our music video shows. It may sound dorky but watching our music videos (and sometimes baking up a pan of brownies) was something we looked forward to every weekend... we were just wild & crazy like that lol. We started watching TVU's "Ten Most Wanted" back in 2004 (rarely ever missed an episode) as well as many others that we discovered so many bands we now love through. They also remind me of rocking out at concerts with my sister and cousin! Those were some of the most fun times ever... so these songs bring back those memories and really make me miss them like crazy!

Feature on Don’t Wake Aislin

  You may not be familiar with indie rockers, Don’t Wake Aislin, just yet but with the release of their self-titled Ep, which just released in July, I think that’s about to change. I discovered this band on Twitter last month and became an instant fan after hearing their pounding rock rhythms and bold lyrics. Listening to their music all I could think was, why have I never heard these guys before? Seriously, Don’t Wake Aislin is one of the best unsigned bands I’ve heard in Christian music. And they are from Dallas, Tx! Oh yeah, we Texans can rock! :)

  Don’t Wake Aislin, which is made up of Deena Jakoub, Brandon Brown, Kalen Orr, Jordan Landers, and Guerin Williams, is actually not a new band. They started back in 2004 and have released three Eps. They gained attention over the years by playing at SXSW and at Cornerstone Festival, where they were named favorite show of Cornerstone 2008. When I first saw their name I thought it was a reference to Chronicles of Narnia’s Aslan, but after reading an interview with guitarist, Brandon Brown, on christcore.net, I found out the real (and very cool) meaning of the name, “The name is pronounced Aislin, like MAZE-lin. Aislin is a Gaelic name that means "dream," so the band's name means "don't wake the dream." Essentially, don't give up on the calling in your life, the thing that you're most passionate about.”

  The song that first caught my attention was “To Escape the Tempest and Storm”.  Just the name of the song alone intrigued me, but I was also surprised to find that it sounded more hardcore than I was expecting. It starts out with pounding drums and a hard rock guitar riff... instantly I found myself rocking along with them. The song feels dynamic and almost anthemic as lead singer, Deena Jakoub, belts out the poetic chorus, “Let’s crack open the sky and light up the world. No one will ever know why the unexpected whirlwind picked up our lives and sent the fire shooting through our hearts.”.  Let me just say I think it’s a rare thing to find a female lead singer who can hold her own in a harder band, but Deena totally nails it! Her vocal range is impressive,  ranging from soft vocals to powerful screams. And from watching videos of their live performances, you can tell that it really holds up in a live setting. The song ends with a poem/spoken word part that makes the song even more powerful.

  The song that really got to my heart though was “Through The Oppression of the Wicked”. I feel like this is a song that girls especially can relate to as it starts off with the line, “Here I am, a pretty weed in a garden of roses and they try to tell me which way to grow”. The beautiful and poetic lyrics speak of the struggle to be who you are in a world that tries to tell you who you should be, and fighting to live out your dreams. This tune has a catchy rock chorus that I couldn’t get out of my head. I feel like Deena’s vocals really captured the emotion of this song; especially the powerful lyrics in the bridge, “I will not meet defeat in the struggle to believe in nothing less than my wildest of dreams. And I will not be laid to rest in this desolate flower bed and the hopeless won’t be helpless here. We’re fighting to be free of fear”. 

  Both of these songs can be found on their 5 song self-titled Ep (which has awesome cover art might I add), which you can stream for free Here. You can also purchase the Ep on Amazon and iTunes.

  What I love about Don’t Wake Aislin is the boldness of their music and their message. I couldn’t help but be taken in with their in your face lyrics and powerful rock sound.. They are unafraid to sing about real issues and the light of Christ in such a bold way. Said in an interview on their mission as a band, “To spread the message that God's put on our hearts and to see lives changed through music.” It seems they are doing just that and I can’t wait to see where God takes their music next.

 

http://listn.to/dontwakeaislin
http://www.twitter.com/dontwakeaislin
http://dontwakeaislin.bigcartel.com

Album Review for “Who Can Know It?” by Showbread

One thing Showbread fans know is that these guys are anything but conventional. Don’t just assume you know what to expect from their music … with Showbread it’s expect the unexpected. Case in point, their new album, “Who Can Know It?”, which released in November on the nonprofit and ministry focused organization, Come&Live!. The band made some headlines last summer when they started a Kickerstarter campaign to raise money to record the album and met their goal within the very first week. Not to mention raising two and a half times what they needed for the album over the course of the campaign, proving that fans were more than anticipating some new tunes from these guys! The result was a free album and a totally free tour, a first for the band! You might be surprised to know that the normally post-hardcore sound that has defined Showbread from the beginning is virtually absent on this new album in favor of a more mellow sound. I know … mellow and Showbread don’t usually belong in the same sentence, eh? But it definitely works on this release.

“Who Can Know It?”, you may have guessed, takes its title from Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” This theme definitely runs through the whole album.

The guys jump right into addressing these matters on the brutally honest (though I don’t think there’s a track on here that isn’t brutally honest) album opener, “A Man With A Hammer”. The mid-tempo track has a great rock drum beat and piano in the background, as well as an awesome guitar driven bridge. This is a song that talks about how ugly humanity can be but how still God’s love is there to set us free. Just to give you a little a taste of the honesty I’m talking about check out this verse, “A woman with lots of money who’s plans are left in doubt because of the baby in her womb so she pays to have it’s brain sucked out. A man in desperation, a woman in his bed she doesn’t want to make love so she’ll get raped instead.“ I know you’re probably thinking “wow, when she said honest I didn’t really expect that.” … as I said, brutally honest. Current single, “I Never Liked Anyone And I’m Afraid Of People” (great title huh? ;P) is up next. A song about forgetting the person you where before you came to know Christ. It’s one of the more rock sounding songs on the album and definitely makes you want to rock out.

“Dear Music” is a slower piano based track that’s a bittersweet ode to music as Josh sings of having lost interest in most of it. Concluding though that the common ground still lies in singing “to the one who made us both, for he is wonderful”, the end of the song feels very worshipful as that line is repeated. “Deliverance” is a mid-tempo, guitar driven rock song that states,“Jesus deliver us from our raging pride, the things we say we say we do in your name. With all our vengeance, votes and picket signs and guns, we put the love you came to bring to shame.” A song about the behaviors that we as Christians can tend to carry that are so damaging, but wanting to lay them down to truly follow Christ.

The guys slow things down with the contemplative, “The Prison Come Undone”. I love the lyrics to this song, they sound very confessional, as Josh sings of failing to control anger, “I hear when Jesus tells me that I need to bite my tongue and my teeth, they try to cage it, but the prison come undone”. It’s a very relatable song and Josh sings it beautifully. The last line of it is one of my favorites on the album, “If you still want to love me it won’t come without a cost, the fight to be much better is a fight I’ve often lost”.

Can’t help but love the controversial sounding title of the rockin’ but short tune, “Myth Of A Christian Nation”. Yes, it’s just like Showbread to go there, “I’m tired of being filed into classrooms and made to sit in pews, made subject to the tyranny of scriptures you abuse. And handed guns to march along like patriotic clowns believing anything that we’re told and gunning anybody down.” This is one of my favorites on the album! Opening with a great rock guitar riff, you know this is one you can rock out to! “You’re Like A Taxi” slows things down a bit, it’s a song that speaks of not being afraid of death if you know Christ,”Gone is not the word for someone who finally found his way back home”.

The album comes to a close with the epic 11 minute song “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All”, which starts out with an industrial sound and synthesizers. This song feels soft yet dramatic, it paints such a picture; the lyrics are so amazing! It speaks of discovering truths of Christ despite people who would rather keep them hidden for their own agenda. The song builds at the end as Josh sings the beautiful lyrics, “I walk away from everything and find myself made free. In all the tangles of who I am the truth is that you love me, just as I was, just as I am, just as I will be. In all the tangles of who I am the truth is that you love me”. It kind of sums it all up doesn’t it? Can’t think of better words to end the journey of this album.

“Who Can Know It?” is a different type of album for Showbread. And while I will admit that it was a little hard for me to get used to the more mellow side of the guys, the more I listened to this album the more I loved it! The band has seen many changes lately with a new sound; new label, first free album and tour, and membership changes, but still the musicianship sounds as tight as ever. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I so believe that Josh Dies is one of the best and most underrated songwriters in the industry. The creativity and honesty in the lyrics he writes is beyond inspiring to me.

I’ve always admired Showbread for having the incredible ability to rock your face off while still remaining so ministry focused. It truly shows that their first priority is to glorify God. Be sure to check out this album, to do so just go to http://comeandlive.com/downloads, where you can download it for free! May Raw Rock kill forever! ;)

Review for "Friendly" EP by Queens Club

I first discovered newcomers, Queens Club when I saw the music video for their song "Less Talk" on TVU (the go to place to discover great new bands). I loved their dance/pop sound and the song would always stick in my head. They recently released their debut cd "Young Giant " on Tooth & Nail records; which I've yet to purchase. However, the guys have just released a new EP entitled, "Friendly", that you can get for free just for liking their Facebook page! I was kinda surprised that they would put out an EP so soon after their debut release, but since I was only familiar with one of their songs, I thought this might be a good way to hear a little more.  What I found was a 5 song EP that was surprisingly better than I expected.

The EP opens with the song "Legendary", which was instantly my favorite! It's an infectious dance/pop tune that has a great drum beat and a killer electric guitar. The second this song starts it just makes you want to get up and dance! It grabs your attention right away and makes for a great opener. Next song, "Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants", is still in the same dance vein but with a little more rock mixed in. To be honest, some of the lyrics are a little hard to make out but these lines from the verse and chorus were intriguing to me, "I want to be the man I used to be. Don't want to think of what's gotten into me./Running from, still no place to go. This beautiful place they lived there all our  lives. Now we're standing on the shoulders of giants". 

"Darkkstar" (what's with the two k's? I don't know... but it looks cool ;) ) is a short but sweet dance/rock song. I love the way the electric guitar & drums sound in this one! Definitely a stand-out track. They slow things a down a bit with a mid-tempo acoustic song called, "Upstart". As much as I love their dance songs, it's actually a nice change to be able to clearly hear their voices as well as the lyrics. They close out the EP with an acoustic version of "Less Talk". I must admit, I think it definitely rivals the original. I didn't really know the lyrics that well before, so it was nice to be able to understand them better. While the original is dancy and fun, the acoustic version gives it a great contrast. It creates a whole new feel for the song. Almost giving it a folk/rock vibe. And it totally works for them!

What really stands out about this EP, and about Queens Club, is their incredible dance sensibility. They kind of remind me of Jonezetta with their great hooks that make you feel like you've just been transported to a dance club. If the "Friendly" EP is any indication, I think we will be dancing to a lot more songs by these guys!

To download "Friendly" EP, Click Here

To purchase their cd "Young Giant ", Click Here