Music

Christmas Carols. TwentyThirteen edition.

I once wrote about how I don’t really get Christmas Carols.

You might be happy to know that as I have grown (slightly) older I have also become less grinch like. Even relishing the yearly opportunity that Christmas provides to go hunting for new versions of timeless classics.

Here is what I’m listening to this year.

North Point Christmas

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Picks: Do you hear, He Has Come for Us (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) & Angels We Have Heard On High.

North Point Christmas: Let There Be Light

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Picks: Hallelujah, Unto Us & I Heard The Bells.

Evan Wickham: Christmas Music Vol. 1

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Picks: Angels We Have Heard on High, End of Exile & Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

Josh Gilligan: Christmas EP

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Picks: O Holy Night.

Do you know of anything else that I should be listening to?

MUSIC // TONY ANDERSON

Music

Over the last couple of years I have worked in a number of roles where I have had to make the odd video. Often these are just in house creations that will never, because of their nature, see the internet. Regardless of this, I like to think that the quality of our visual communication should be of an achievable quality. A big part of this quality will always be down to using the right video equipment, but it also comes down to the kind of music you choose for your video.

Music has always been a difficulty in the projects I have done. That is, till now.

Recently I discovered a guy called Tony Anderson. Tony lives in the USA. Tony is a Christian. Tony is a fantastic sound designer.

Last week I used one of his songs for a video on a congregation at my church. That video will see the internet on Friday. He was very gracious and let me use it without having to pay him for licensing. He has an immense talent, and he wants to use his gifts to serve Jesus’ church. I give thanks for people like him.

Anyway, thanks to sound cloud, you can listen to a bunch of his tracks below. Go on. Just listen!

Been to #Engage? ‘Alive’ is now available!

Ephesians chapter 2 says this:

 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Inspired by this passage, among others, this week a few of my mates *finally* released a song called ‘Alive’. Alive is a great song, and if you have been to any of the Engage conferences in the past two years you have probably been looking for a way to get your hands on it so you can sing it in the car.

I was going to write some long post about it. Telling you that you should probably ‘do yourself a favour’ and go buy it. But my words couldn’t really demonstrate how good it is.

SO, just listen to it (The video below).

Then like ‘Voyage‘ (the name of the partnership) on facebook, and read more about “their desire to pair preachers with musicians in the writing of church songs”.

Then go to iTunes and buy it.

Simple.

The Paper Kites

Recently I took Kirsty to see Josh Pyke play at the metro in Sydney. I bought her the tickets for her birthday.

Josh Pyke’s music has a special significance for us. The last time we say him play was the night I asked Kirsty to marry me.

The night was great, the music was excellent.

One of the things I love about live music is hearing the great support bands that come before the main act. This night was no exception.

Supporting Josh Pyke was a band called The Paper Kites. We loved seeing them for the first time, and we bought their EP the other day. This is a video of my favourite song on the EP. It’s called ‘Featherstone’. Kirsty’s favourite song is called ‘Bloom‘.

Check them out. They might just be the band that we listen to over summer.

A solution for a Christmas carol problem.

I know it is only September, but the shops have started selling Christmas stuff so I thought I might be able to get away with this post.

I love Christmas. Unfortunately I don’t really like Christmas carols. I don’t exactly know why, but I haven’t loved them for a while now.

It could have something to do with my need for things to be presented in a fresh and exciting way for me to be engaged with them. Of maybe it could have something to do with the fact that my ‘style’ of music does not incorporate Christmas carol (I don’t see any of my favourite bands doing Christmas albums any time soon).

Last year, to the delight of my wife (she likes Christmas carols), I discovered a Christmas album that I really liked. The sound was loud, passionate and fresh. There were old songs, new songs and some thought out new/old mixtures. This album caused such a change in me that Kirsty often finds me listening to it… during the whole year.

The album in question is called ‘North Point Christmas’. You can listen to the whole album here. But you really should go an buy it here.

Don’t waste your money buying silly ornaments at MYER.

Foo Fighters – Back and Forth

One of my anomalies as a person is my love of music. I have never been able to play any kind of instrument (except maybe the recorder, very badly), and I don’t think I can sing that well. But I really like music. Not all kinds of music though: Country does not feature in my CD collection.

One difficultly with music is that it is intensely personal. Different people like different music, and some people hate other kinds of music. I don’t like Justin Bieber and Country, some people really like Justin Bieber and Country.

Not really sure where this is going, but I wanted to share the trailer of a doco on the Foo Fighters that Kirsty and I recently watched. I was dubious at how good it would be, Kirsty even more so. But we really enjoyed it.

If you like their kind of music, have a look.