Since you guys are pretty good with this, I figured I'd ask: Rebecca St. James got married recently to someone named Cubbie Fink. Is he a singer as well?

Last night I went to a Switchfoot concert.
I'm kind of in shock that it actually. It was at Lifest, and it was waaaaayy too short, but it was really wonderful. There is no way to describe what it's like seeing Jon Foreman live.

I know! They're awesome live.
About Coldplay . . . the only ones I've heard are "Viva la Vida," and "Fix You." But I really liked both of them. Someone on youtube did a video of "Viva la Vida," with these paintings about the rise and fall of an empire. It was very good.

Elanor, wow, that must have been such an amazing experience to see Jon Foreman live! I've seen a few of their live videos and he seems to love to interact with the audience and make the concert very personable. I am not sure though how much loud music I could take. The loudest concert I have ever been to would probably the Owl City's concert. I couldn't hear myself sing along to every single one of his lyrics.

Speaking of Owl City, what do you all think of Adam Young's two newest songs "Shooting Star" and "Good Time". I personally do not like them. At all. They are not horrible, but they lack the usual genius of Owl City's lyrics and even the music is not as good. I hope is entire new album is not like these two songs. If it is, I am going to cry. I think it is because Owl City signed himself onto a record label finally. I don't know why, because he seemed to be doing fine producing it all himself. Ah, well.

Speaking of creative music, the artist, Jonsi, has really fascinated me as of late. If you have seen the movie "How To Train Your Dragon", one of his songs "Sticks and Stones" was in the credits. I recently saw the movie "We Bought A Zoo" starring Matt Damon and apparently Jonsi composed the soundtrack for that movie. For such a family friendly, sweet movie, the soundtrack was really cool.

Arwenel, I need to do what you are doing and sit down and take the time to create a list of music to buy and download. Because every time I log into my iTunes account, I am absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of music I want to purchase. And so I usually end up buying nothing. Haha, because I am so indecisive. I need to just make a list and then gradually purchase all of the music over time, like divide up all the music into equal portions/expenses over several months.

I have a quick treat for you all. My friends and I have recently been dabbling in covering songs. We lack good equipment right now, but we recorded this cover of Tangled's "I See The Light" with a really good microphone from a friend who makes recordings of books.

http://youtu.be/qAVEz26LE44

Let me know what you think!

Cheers!

Ruby G.
Dancing Lawn Lion

Last night I went to a Switchfoot concert.
I'm kind of in shock that it actually. It was at Lifest, and it was waaaaayy too short, but it was really wonderful. There is no way to describe what it's like seeing Jon Foreman live.

I am more jealous than I can possibly say. Switchfoot has been in my state THREE times so far this year - once within 15 minutes of where I live - and I haven't been able to make it to any of the concerts. Yeah, you could safely say that I'm disappointed.

On a more positive note, I did purchase Nothing is Sound and The Beautiful Letdown recently. *happy dance* I just got TBL the other night, but I got NIS a few weeks ago and haven't listened to anything else since. It's really pretty much perfect, and Jon Foreman is a lyrical genius! I love all the songs, but my absolute favorites are Lonely Nation, Happy is a Yuppy Word, The Blues, Politicians, and Golden. I also really like The Setting Sun, Politicians, and We Are One Tonight. (and Stars and The Shadow Proves the Sunshine kinda go without saying) So, yeah, basically all of them.

Speaking of Owl City, what do you all think of Adam Young's two newest songs "Shooting Star" and "Good Time".

I haven't heard Good Time, but I thought Shooting Star was pretty good. I'm still not sure if I'm exactly pleased with the direction his music is going though; his new songs seem to lack the imagination, creativity and wonder that defined his music on Ocean Eyes. Just my opinion though.

--- flambeau

Meredith Andrews has a new single coming out soon!

Listen to a snippet here:

http://www.meredithandrews.com/news/201 ... le-july-31

Elanor: I have been blessed enough to see Switchfoot live 3 times now and yes, you have to see it to understand just how epic they are in concert did Jon Foreman do the thing where he bangs on one of the cymbals during a song?

So, I've been listening to some Switchfoot lately, mainly because I really liked "This is Home", but I'm finding that alot of there music isn't like that, at least not the stuff I'm listening too. I've started listening to the Vice Versa CD, but so far I only really liked "Rise Above It" "Thrive" "The War Inside" and "Selling the News". What are some songs, on any CD, that you'd suggest? Do they have any songs that are more like "This is Home", in the sense of a lighter, pop-ish sound?

I'm by no means a Switchfoot expert (your best bet would probably Gildor_Inglorion, Elanor, Flam ) but I do enjoy some of their music.

A few of my favourites are:

- "Let Your Love Be Strong." It starts on an acoustic note and its style is definitely most like "This Is Home," IMO. I really love it.
- "Awakening" is totally my song. It falls in the "rock" category.
- "Dark Horses" Again, a harder one. It's my favourite.
- "Your Love is a Symphony' which contains a some lyrics similar to the hymn "Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus." This one, I think, is one of their quieter ones.
- "Hello Hurricane" I like this one enoughish.
- "In Circles" - beautiful chord progressions.
Those are just a few! Hope my two cents helped in any way!
---

Lately, I've been listening to Switchfoot and JJ Heller most of the time. I found new songs by both of them which I really like, so I'm enjoying that. I've forgotten all the bands I like, so, you can imagine, what I've been listening to is not extremely varied. TobyMac's new song "Me Without You" isn't bad. It's not my favourite of his work (like Portable Sounds or Diverse City are), but it's catchy and fun. He never really disappoints me - Tonight was great, so I guess I'm anticipating his new one. (Which is called something to do with "Eye"? I forget. )
I should go back to listening David Crowder * Band. I used to be a huge fan, and now I've just not listened enough. Part of this is after Church Music, I kind of lost interest. I really like the songs on Beautiful Collision and Illuminate, but I haven't heard enough of their newer one... Give Us Rest, is it called? Something like that with a musical term.

Seconding the Switchfoot recommendations. I would also add:
"Twenty-Four" and "Adding to the Noise," from The Beautiful Letdown. The first is more acoustic, while the second is really catchy.
"Learning to Breathe" and "Innocence Again," from Learning to Breathe. Both of these sound really cool.
"Happy is a Yuppy Word," "The Setting Sun," and "The Blues" from Nothing is Sound. All these are great.
"Head Over Heels (In this Life)" "Burn Out Bright," and the title track from Oh Gravity
"New Way to be Human" from the album of the same name. This one's really catchy too.
If you liked "The War Inside," you might like "The Sound," from Hello Hurricane.
I'm no music expert, but I hope this helps

Thank you all very much for your input!

Meredith Andrews ('s) new song is out!

Less than three weeks until The Struggle is released!

SnowAngel

Wow I didn't know Tenth Avenue North was coming out with a new album that's great!

26 Days until TobyMac's new album comes out. I can't wait!
http://www.amazon.com/Eye-On-It-TobyMac/dp/B0089PZCAQ/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1

I've said it before but I'll remind it again:
Third Day is working on a new album!
Jeremy Camp is also working on a new album!

Aside of his next studio album, Jeremy Camp also has his first Christmas CD coming out. A date has been set for the release: September 25. Tracks on the album are:

Jingle Bell Rock
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Joy To The World
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Let It Snow
Mary Did You Know
God With Us
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Away In A Manger

I have to say, I'm excited to see what he does with Mary Did You Know, but I'm expecting them all to be great. I can't wait!!

I'm so excited for TAN's and TobyMac's new CD's! Two of my favourite bands! Roughly two more weeks for both of them.

The Struggle's album work looks pretty neat. I thought "Losing" was... well, to be honest, I wasn't exactly /thrilled/ with it (My dislike for it was primarily lyric-wise. Music-wise, I didn't love it, but it was okay.) but judging from how I like their last two, I don't doubt there'll be a couple songs I love on there. I'm really excited!

I'm also quite excited for TobyMac's. Like I said above, he hasn't gravely disappointed me (the only one thing that I felt a but underwhelmed for was his Christmas one) so I'm thinking I'll enjoy it.

If I'm not mistaken, I think RED said they'd be coming out with a new CD in 2013, JJ Heller is mentioning a new CD... I guess late this year/sometime early next year?

And meanwhile I've hit some kind of "music block" as in I've forgotten all the music I liked/am not in the mood for the music I know. I should listen to Sky Sailing sometimes. I've tried to find some good Indie bands but, apart from JJ Heller, have been mostly unsuccessful. I tried listening to The Civil Wars and some of their music is just gorgeous (Tracks in the Snow is my favourite) but their lyrics are... well.... not up my lane, for the most part. Are there any good Indie bands that don't sing love songs, per se?