5 Songs You Need to Hear! Vol. 3

Greetings lovers of new music everywhere! Welcome to the third edition of 5 Songs You Need to Hear. If you are tired of everything you are hearing on the radio and bored with everything already on your iPod/iTunes/iPhone/iDon'tCareAnymore... then this is the blog for you.

You know how this works. I give you 5 Songs You Need to Hear. You listen to them. If you like any of them, you go buy them, then you tell all your friends about them, and support the artists who created them so they can keep on making more great music in the future.

So let's not waste time. Here we go...

1. Back to You - Twin Forks. Another Noisetrade.com discovery. I don't know much about this band except I love this song. Also, they do an amazing cover of Taylor Swift's song Mean. In fact, I actually like that song better than this one even, but I'm saving it for a special covers songs edition.

2. Be My Girl - John & Jacob. One of the catchiest dang songs I've heard in a long time. I absolutely love the chorus of this song. It reminds me of classic Foster & Lloyd. Country but with a Beatlesque sensibility of melody and pop hooks. You will be humming this one the rest of the day whether you want to or not.

3. There's a Rumor - The August Empire. Amazon.com offers a lot of free music if you are willing to take the time to sift through it and find the gems among the rubble. Among the treasures a diligent seeker can find are a set of samplers from a label called Mishara Music. I have all of them and there is some absolutely brilliant music on these singer-songwriter collections. One of my favorites is from a guy-girl duo called The August Empire. This song is beautiful, haunting, flawlessly written and performed. It was featured last year on an episode of NBC's The Night Shift and almost immediately scored them 20,000+ views on their YouTube video. I predict you will buy this song within 24 ours of hearing it. You're welcome.

4. Blackbird Song - Lee Dewyze. OK, if you're a fan of The Walking Dead you probably know this song. What you may not know is who did it. This darkly haunting, gruff-voiced masterpiece is performed by none other than former American Idol winner Lee Dewyze! Yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it either! Regardless of who did it, this song is one of my favorite tracks of the last year.

5. Beneath the Brine - The Family Crest. And now for something completely different.... The Family Crest defy categorization. I think they may have invented their own genre. How do I prepare you for what you are about to hear? Hmmm.... words like epic, majestic, sweeping grandeur all come to mind. Aw, heck, just listen to it yourself and tell me what you would call it. Here's what I can tell you... you will never, ever hear this on the radio or in the mall at Hot Topic. It's far too cool for that.

There you have it, folks. Get busy. You've got work to do. And remember, you don;t have to listen to the crap they tell you to listen to. You have a mind of your own. Now go explore...

Five Songs You Need To Hear: Inaugaral Edition

For a while now I have been doing this play list n my iTunes called "Flavor of the Week" to help me assimilate new music into my library. I have about 16,000+ songs in my music library so I have to be intentional about working in new stuff or it will literally get lost in the shuffle.

I am constantly on the lookout for new music. Through websites like Noisetrade.com and services like Spotify, I add new bands and songs almost everyday. I would say the vast majority of stuff I listen to are things I discovered that way. I thought it might be fun to share some of the new songs I discover every week and hopefully do a couple of good things in the process:

1. Help people discover great new music.
2. Break people free from the thought-trap that you have to hear it on the radio before you can like it.
3. Help new artists and rising talent to get heard more by sharing their music with a new audience.

One quick note before we begin... As a pastor, I realize I am under a lot of scrutiny about where I go, what I do, what I watch or listen to. I get that my position carries influence and responsibility. Having said that, not all these songs are going to be Christian songs. Some of the artists are not folks you would want your kids emulating. Please understand that by listing a song on this blog, I am not endorsing anyone's lifestyle or suggesting you support them. I am taking these songs on their own merit, one at a time. This blog is about the song, not the writer or the performer. I will do my best not to lead anyone astray... :-)

So here is my very first edition of 5 Songs You Need to Hear This Week...

1. Geronimo by Sheppard. This is my jam. Great stuff for sunny days, windows down, driving to the lake or the mountains or the beach... wherever you feel connected. Sheppard is an Australian group made up of a brother and his two sisters (last name Sheppard, get it?) and a few friends. I like the bright, catchy, sunny fun of this song. I like the idea of yelling Geronimo and just going for it when you have a dream worth chasing down, or a calling to answer. The imagery of leaping through the curtain of the waterfall is a nice one, full of shimmery beauty and promise. I crank this one when it comes on. I am posting the live acoustic version for a few reasons: it highlights the song rather than the artist, it's not stupid like the music video, and it shows that these guys really have some talent!

2. Stars by Jessica Rotter. Found this one on Noisetrade. I am a sucker for that lonesome fiddle sound and this one has it in spades. Just plain beautiful.

3. 1612 by Vulfpeck. A buddy of mine turned me on to these guys a few months ago. Every song they do sounds like the soundtrack to a 70s cop show... I mean that in a good way! You know those ones like Barney Miller, Baretta, The Rockford Files (am I showing my age?) that had way cool music. These guys are without question the best jazz funk you will ever listen to. The musicianship is bar none. The bass player is a beast. Most of their stuff is instrumental but this track features gospel singer Antwuan Stanley. It sounds like it could have been a School House Rocks cartoon in 1973.
Trust me, you need this in your life. Just go on Spotify, search "Vulfpeck" and listen to everything. You're welcome.

4. A Little More by Eric Hutchinson. It's funny how I stumble onto these things. Never heard of this guy before. One day I'm sitting in my office working, listening to Spotify, and on the feed comes across that one of my friends is listening to this guy Eric Hutchinson. On a whim I clicked on it to sample it. Ended up buying several of his songs off iTunes that day. This is one of them. Pure retro 80's power pop at its finest. Leaves me wanting a lot more. The video is a little goofy but if it distracts you, just turn your head and listen.

5. Run Boy Run by Woodkid. I can't even remember how I found this song but it's amazing in its epicness. The video is a very interesting mix of side-scrolling video games and an eisode of Adventure Time with a lot of spiritual imagery (the demons, the sword and shield, the promise of a heavenly city awaiting at the end). Don't know anything about the artist at all. Never heard anything else by him to this day. But this track is crankworthy and a fitting closer to this inaugural edition of 5 Songs...

Okay kids, that's all this week but there are about a jillion more where that came from with more pouring in all the time. Hope you all enjoy these nuggets. Feel free to send me your suggestions of great, unheard, unknown songs. Later!