There comes a point where you know you are getting old, which was hammered home to me recently when it was revealed that apparently “ska has been uncool forever.” I remember the 90s, and forever seems a little bit longer than that. However, when your favourite band of the late 90s has now reformed twice to record albums and is having to juggle recording with family life, there may be some truth to the assertion....
I can’t remember exactly when I first heard the song, but it was likely on a Sunday morning at Mars Hill Church in Orange County. Co-written by Dustin Kensrue and Stuart Townend, ‘Rejoice’ has been a song with a near-constant presence in the recent years of my life.
It is getting harder to explain the BTS phenomenon to people without sounding like the facts are being made up. Industry execs and celebrities have resorted to comparing it to Beatlemania — which sounds like an exaggeration until one witnesses ARMY in person (the name for their worldwide and fiercely devoted fan base). ARMY generates more traffic for BTS on social media than Donald Trump and Justin Bieber…. combined. Their latest album has surpassed 1...
Just the other day (July 11) the post-hardcore-indie-funk-hip-hop-piano-punk duo known as twenty one pilots just released two new tracks that will appear on their upcoming album, Trench, which is set to be released this October. The first song, “Jumpsuit,” appears to continue some of the themes from their most recent album Blurryface about their insecurities, their love-hate relationship with the music industry, their fear of selling out, and their desire to be authentic. I find their explorations...
Underoath has just put out their new album since reassembling the band after their break up and farewell tour in 2012–13. Needless to say, fans were stoked to dive into the new album Erase Me once it appeared. Sadly, it’s mostly a dud. The album is very formulaic. Each song is bite-sized; the longest track is not even five minutes. Most songs clock in at 3.5 minutes. Everything about the album seems suited as hard rock...
Irony in music is cyclical (even if we can swear that those cycles take us lower and lower as a society the way we swear the lights are dimming in a theater minutes before the house goes dark). I’m thinking about irony because the magic YouTube algorithm thought I might want to see David Bowie and Arcade Fire sing a moving rendition of Wake Up. They were right. http://www.thetwocities.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Arcade-Fire-David-Bowie-Wake-Up-HQ-Fashion-Rocks-2005-YouTube.mp4 We’re just a million little...
Since the 8th grade, the start of my summers usually involved the creation of some kind of playlist (though for me these were called “mix-tapes” for much longer than I’m willing to admit). In keeping with this tradition, and because writing about music is more fun for the moment than writing about ancient Greek and Jewish texts, I’m using this time to offer my summer playlist. The list is purely for fun, ranging across genres, and not particularly Christian (no...
Whatever sung worship is, it is not just a matter of taste. I’ve heard a lot of metaphors for what worship may be. Here are five major paradigms: 1. Family dinner. Why do we do things a certain way? Because always have and always will. Traditions remind us that we’re not alone, but part of great family spanning space and time. I become a Franicevich by eating my great-grandma’s chocolate rum pudding. I become a Christian by singing...
I’ve been thinking a lot about forgiveness these days. I wish I can say it began a few weeks ago when I saw this beautiful gesture of forgiveness displayed by the House of Peace Mosque in Connecticut, which was reminiscent of this inscrutable forgiveness extended to Dylann Roof by Emanuel Church in South Carolina. No, instead my recent fixation on the subject of forgiveness started a few weeks ago when I got in my car...
Kanye West’s 7th album, The Life of Pablo (TLOP) was released a few weeks ago. On this album, Kanye gives his listeners a window into his life and thoughts. Furthermore, I believe this album gives us a picture of a particular type of Christianity that characterizes our american society. The Atlantic’s review of the album is spot on with its analysis of the individual tracks as it details Kanye’s struggle between family life and the...
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