Top Albums of 2006

#5

The Avalanche, Sufjan Stevens

The best album of "b-sides" ever, I'm convinced. I liked this one better than Illinois believe it or not (the record of "a-sides"). Lots of really good songs on here, although 3 covers of "Chicago" was a little excessive for me. My favorite is either "Adlai Stevenson" or "No Man's Land". www.sufjan.com

#4

Bring Me the Workhorse, My Brightest Diamond

If you haven't heard about her, this is all you need to know: Shara Worden is a trained-opera-singing, electric-guitar-slinging, wurlitzer-ringing, string-quartet-bringing wonder babe. I wanted to marry her until to my great displeasure I found out she is already married. The only reason this isn't ranked higher as an album is the fact that I tend to only listen to 3 songs incessently, not because the others aren't good, but because these 3 overshadow the others. I won't tell you the 3 so that you can listen to the whole album yourself and enjoy it. www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond

#3

Begin to Hope, Regina Spektor

I have www.relevantmagazine.com to thank for finding out about Regina this year. Imagine this: a Russian-born-classicly-trained pianist with a pretty voice. If that wasn't cool enough, she sings really weird sometimes (choking noises, etc). I got her record Soviet Kitch early in the year and I really liked about half of the songs (especially "Us"), but the others were kind of duds by comparison. Begin to Hope has a noticibly different style with more pop sounds and guitar and programming, but it's still uniquely Regina Spektor. My favorites are "Fidelity" and "On the Radio". Make sure to buy the version with 7 bonus songs, every single one is worth buying (that makes 19 songs!).

www.myspace.com/reginaspektor

#2

Good Monsters, Jars of Clay

I've already written way more about this album than anybody wants to read.

www.myspace.com/jarsofclay

#1

The Morning, Andrew Osenga

There is just no way to do this album justice. It's an independant record that sounds like is was made with U2 money. It's basically what a singer-songwriter would do with a full band and more talent than angst. Someday I'll write a full review of this record, but for now I'll just say that Osenga is the musical Steinbeck. Please check out his website.

www.andrewosenga.com

www.myspace.com/andrewosenga

Note: I just got Switchfoot's new album, Oh! Gravity. so I'm not including them on this list even though it is still 2006. Top Songs of 2006 coming soon.

Will They Know We Are Christians?

*I wrote and delivered this for a speech class awhile back and it is probably the most concise statement I can think of about what is wrong and how to fix it.


4-22-05

Hey Church, do you know how many people hate us right now? They call us hypocrites. They call us judgmental. You know why? We call them fags and we call them whores. This is utter hypocrisy. Have you read your Bibles lately? Who did Jesus spend so much of His time with? The outcasts of society. Who did Jesus judge harshly? The Pharisees. Guess which group we fall into.

The Christian community has spent a lot of time recently trying to protect the sanctity of the family and being the moral watchdog of the nation. But I think there is something you should know. That watchdog has heartworms. George Barna released a study saying that Christian marriages were more likely to end in divorce than any other faith group, including atheists and agnostics. He said, “While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time.” Barna said that he “rarely find[s] substantial differences” between the moral behavior of Christians and non-Christians. The “protectors of the family” are letting their own fall apart. The bastions of moral character aren’t any different than those they condemn.

Such findings can lead to two conclusions. Either the Bible is not a dependable source for our values and morals, or the church does not really believe what the Bible says. But you know what the sad truth is? I think the answer lies in a third conclusion: the Christian has heard what the Bible says, and the Christian claims to believe it, and then the Christian goes out and does the exact opposite. Even Nietzsche, the same man who said that “God is dead”, did not waste much time criticizing the teachings of Jesus, instead seeing a much easier target: so-called Christians. In fact he even says that the last Christian died on the cross.

So why do people hate us? Why are we so hateful? Why are we unable to love? We are hypocrites. We spend so much time removing the speck of dust from our neighbor’s eye, that we don’t see the 4 by 4 sticking out of our own eye. Why do we spend our time condemning our neighbor? How have we become so distracted from living according to Godly, Biblical morals? I believe that the American Christian is too busy searching for success and comfort to do the will of God.

After the attacks on September 11th, why were there so many people in church the next week? I think they were looking for comfort. People wanted to hear that we were safe because America is strong, because our military is strong, because our financial institutions are strong. We wanted to be comforted that America is the strongest country in the world, and God will always bless America. Church, you should know that comfort is fickle. God never promised us that bad things would not happen to us here on Earth. I don’t understand it, but I accept it, because I’m not God and I don’t get to make those decisions. Comfort is fickle, but hope is enduring. What God does promise the Christian in the book of Romans is that although “for [His] sake we are being put to death all day long”, we have enduring hope that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God.”

Therefore, we need to change our mindset beyond the success and trappings of this world, and change that mindset to doing the will of God. We often read the Old Testament and find it hard to believe the foolishness of the Israelites. God delivered them from Egypt and handed them the Promised Land and look how they betrayed Him. They cast gold idols and prayed to the gods of other lands. We Americans are bewildered by their faithlessness. But we are just as guilty. Yes, we make the obvious comparisons, correctly identifying our house, cars and other possessions as our modern day idols. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. But I believe that our idols can be more insidious than this. I think the idols that plague the American Christian the most are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For many Christians, these American values have been driven into your skull right alongside the Ten Commandments. Patriotism and Christianity are idealized as going hand in hand. Lately many have been trying to separate Christianity from Patriotism. But Church, I think in our own lives, we should separate our Patriotism from our Christianity. I don’t care how hard you look; the U.S. Constitution will not be found in the appendix of your Bible.

Jesus never said we would be rich. Jesus never said that life would be easy. Contrary to what the televangelists told you, Jesus never drove a Rolls Royce, and He never said you were going to either! His disciples were faithful in spreading the gospel all over the earth. But guess what, every one of them died a violent death for the glory of God. I think songwriter Derek Webb says it well. “I’ve found that often success looks more like failure, riches more like poverty, and have found that real life often feels more like death, as the Christian life is very literally the process by which we are killed.” Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life. He promised us a life more abundant. Jesus never said Christians would find wealth or comfort here on Earth. Instead, He has purchased us eternal rewards, eternal comfort and eternal life in Paradise. How refreshing that my self worth exists entirely outside of my accomplishments. My self worth is held firmly in Jesus Christ.

Church, this quest for success is driving a wedge between our families. It is blinding us to our own sin. But deep in the back of our soul, we know its there, and what do we do when we feel guilty? We blame others. We turn against our neighbors, the very people we are supposed to love, and instead we hate them. We become like the Pharisees, and you know what Jesus said about the Pharisees? “Woe to you, … you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”

So what can we do? We must ask God to turn our eyes from the wealth of this world to the riches of His grace. We must ask God to turn our eyes inward and show us where we are bringing disgrace to His name. We must ask God to redeem our eyes, that we may see our neighbors as we are meant to see them: with love. And they will know that we are Christians by our love.

Confessions of St. Augustine Books 1-2

Well, I'm already changing the blog up after just one post. I found that I would have too much to say about each book after I'm finished with it, so I would go ahead and comment on a book as I'm reading it.
I got St. Augustine's Confessions back in the Spring of 05 to read for my community group, but I just now started reading it. I feel like I missed out on a lot in that group by not keeping up with the reading and contributing to the discussions. Instead I just coasted (much like school). Yet it is pretty impressive how much I got out of that group despite my minimal input.

I'm a little surprised at how utterly readable the book is. Its basically St. Augustine's autobiography, but the twist is it's written as a prayer to God. This is a man who was brought up on philosophers and smartypants and all that stuff, but he still ended up a Christ follower, his intellect intact. In fact, apparently he is responsible for shaping many of the foundations of theology. I say shaping because the material was already there but he gave names to certain beliefs like original sin (although I suppose that's not a universally held belief among Christians).

In "Book One" he starts at the literal beginning of his life. How many autobiographies do you read where the writer laments that he can't remember his infancy? (I don't think I want to remember mine, infancy seems like an unpleasant experience when you think about it.) He says that from observing infants he can speculate that he was the same way. He sees that one baby cries for milk while another is being fed although that baby needs this milk to survive. So he doesn't care about the welfare of the other baby and this reveals a sin nature. I think that's the jist of it. Pretty interesting.

You know, actually there is way too much to write about here, so I'm just going to discuss two quotes:

Since Augustine is a philosopher he wants to try and come up with an explanation for everything (but who doesn't really?). He writes a few paragraphs about all the unimaginable things that God has done and will do, but he cannot fathom an explanation for how it is accomplished. Augustine's response to someone who does not understand: "Let him also rejoice and prefer to seek Thee, even if he fails to find an answer, rather than to seek an answer and not find Thee" I have so many questions and so many things I don't understand about this faith. I realize that seminary and years and years of studying will never answer all of my questions. But the faith is not about pursuit of an answer, it is about a pursuit of God, or more appropriately opening ourselves to God's pursuit of us.

If you look at my book there is at least one sentence underlined in every paragraph. This guy is very quotable. However, one paragraph stuck out to me as a whole. I have always bristled at any thought that starts with "God cannot" because there is nothing He cannot do. The idea that "God cannot make a circle a square" bothers me. Yeah, if he wanted to, He could rip apart the fabric of the time-space continuim and make circles squares and rocks apples and boys girls and trees guitars, but since He has decided the world should be this way He doesn't mess with it. For whatever reason, the way the world is and the way the world will be when it is redeemed is the way He decided is good. Otherwise, you are putting the law: "Circles are not Squares" above the precept that God does as He pleases. If He pleases that a circle be a square than that circle is gonna be a square.
However, outside of the act of creation I'm beginning to see that perhaps there are some things God cannot do because they are against His nature. Still it bothers me to suppose that there is something I can do that God absolutely cannot (sin). Maybe it is more than God having Supreme Willpower not to sin. Perhaps sin is a purely human endeavor because it is trying to be like God. And somehow, according to His nature, God cannot try to become God. He already is. I'll now type out the entire paragraph that is shaping my view on this idea so you can judge for yourself. The basic jist is that all sin is derived from the first sin (trying to become like God):

For thus we see pride wearing the mask of high-spirtedness, although only Thou, O God, art high avove all. Ambition seeks honor and glory, whereas only thou shouldst be honored above all, and glorified forever. The powerful man seeks to be feared, because of his cruelty; but who ought really to be feared but God only? What can be forced away or withdrawn out of His power--when or where or whither or by whom? The enticements of the wonton claim the name of love; and yet nothing is more enticing than Thy love, nor is anything loved more healthfully than they truth, bright and beautiful above all. Curiosity prompts a desire for knowledge, whereas it is only thou who knowest all things supremely. Indeed, ignorance and foolishness themselves go masked under the names of simplicity and innocence; yet there is no being that has true simplicity like thine, and none as innocent as thou art. Thus it is that by a sinner's own deeds he is himself harmed. Human sloth pretendes to long for rest, but what sure rest is there save in the Lord? Luxury would fain be called plenty and abundance; but thou art the fullness and unfailing abundance of unfading joy. Prodigality presents a show of liberality; but thou art the most lavish giver of all good things. Envy contends that its aim is for excellence, but what is so excellent as thou? Fear recoils at the unfamiliar and the sudden changes which threaten things beloved, and is wary for its own security; but what can happen that is unfamiliar or sudden to thee? Or who can deprive thee of what thou lovest? Where, really, is there unshaken security, save with Thee? Grief languishes for things lost in which desire had taken delight, because it wills to have nothing taken from it, just as nothing can be taken from Thee.

Thus the soul commits fornication when she is turned from thee, and seeks apart from Thee what she cannot find pure and untainted until she returns to Thee. All things thus imitate Thee--but pervertedly--when they separate themselves far from thee and raise themselves up against Thee. But, even in this act of perverse imitation, they acknowledge Thee to be the Creator of all nature, and recognize that there is no place whither they can altogether separate themselves from Thee.

Talk amongst yourselves

Jars of Clay - Good Monsters

Hoosey Rating: 7/10

Well, I don't know if I would say I lied, but in hindsight, I didn't exactly update right away as you can see from the comparison between the date of the previous entry and the date of this entry. Oh well, I doubt that you are devestated.

I'm forcing myself to write about something here, so I thought a CD would be a good place to start. Before I get started though, I'll explain my rating system. The highest rating I'll give a new CD is an 8. It can't get any higher than that until I've had the CD for a year. When I think back to all the CDs I loved for the first month or so, you get into some embarrassing territory (I'm thinking tobyMac here, but no offense I guess). If I'm still listening to a CD on a regular basis after a year, there is a good chance that it has worked its way up to the top shelf or two of the CD tower (homemade woodstained CD tower, btw). Also, I didn't like Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits or Danielson's Ships too much for the first month I had them. All that to say that for me a 7/10 rating means I love the album. What can I say, I'm still waiting for that perfect 10.

I've been listening to Jars of Clay ever since a year or so after their debut album back in 95 (the midst of my Jesus Freak period). It seems like every time they come out with a new album I wait a few months before I buy it, and then I like it a lot (I corrected that for you Sarah) and listen to it darn near exclusively for a week or two. After I liked Who We Are Instead so much, I decided to buy their next album the day it came out (not sure Redemption Songs counts, though I liked it a lot too). Plus, I heard that this was going to be their first "rock" album (sound familiar U2 fans?) and they had a new bass player and drummer. I liked the singles I heard on myspace, although I made a point this time to not overplay them before the album came out. I really don't like it when I wear out a song months before I get to hear the whole album. It's just not cool when I have to skip track 1. I must have heard Vertigo 40 times before I ever heard Miracle Drug.

Despite my optimism, I didn't really expect to like Good Monsters this much. This was supposed to be the year of the "Independent Artist" for me. Let's just say it doesn't help your indie-cred too much when you love an album you bought at a Christian bookstore from a band that was last "cool" in the mid 90s. I guess that although I now wear kinda funky glasses and hang out in coffee shops I'm still on the outside of the "indie" circle. I think I'm probably better off this way anyway though; I don't let ClearChannel or The Underground tell me what to listen to... just relevantmagazine.com.

But enough of this talk, lets get to the album:

1. Work -- A sweet simple guitar riff opens the album, followed by very cool drums, which then leads to an organ, building up to the vocals. I like the words "all the demons look like prophets, and I'm living out every word they speak" and "I have no fear of drowning, it's the breathing that's taking all this work". My favorite part of the song though is the line that is sung at least two dozen times: "Do you know...what I mean...when I say...I don't want to be alone?" It starts off weary and breathless and by the end of the song he is practically screaming "I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE!" Check out the video for this one, I like it a lot. It is a very simple concept but it works beautifully and is very cool.

2. Dead Man (Carry Me) -- This song is another song that is a bit different for Jars. The verse is moving along steadily when all of the sudden the chorus crashes in and screams "Carry me! I'm just a dead man, lying on the carpet, can't find a heartbeat. Make me free! I want to be the new man, tired of the old one, out with the old plan." I like how this song works because the verse lulls you into a false sense of security and the chorus blasts that complacency with a shot of urgency. It works well because the song is pretty much about getting complacent. I love it when the music and the words are meant for each other instead of sounding like an arranged marriage.

*I should probably point out here that I may be making Jars sound a little harder than they are. I mean, they are still Jars of Clay, they did not undergo a transformation into Pantera or anything.

3. All My Tears -- This song was written by Julie Miller. Apparently Buddy and Julie Miller have been making country music for the last decade plus. Good country music. Before I heard Johhny Cash, I would've told you my previous sentence was a oxymoron. After hearing this song and some snippets from their albums on iTunes, I'm very interested in checking them out some more. Jars makes the song their own and I especially like the piano. The chorus is really good: "It don't matter where you bury me. I'll be home and I'll be free. It don't matter where I lay. All my tears be washed away." I love that kind of talk Mister.

4. Even Angels Cry -- Now I'm not entirely sure of the theological implications of this title, but I think its pretty awesome. This one slows things down a bit with some sweet banjo picking and female background vocals (henceforth BGVs). Jars introduced me to the magic of the banjo years before I ever heard of Sufjan Stevens, and it is featured nicely in this song. There are a few lyrics I especially appreciated: "Oh sister, if you wake up in the night, walls are falling letting in the light. No need to worry, baby even angels cry." and "I saw a woman with ribbons in her hair. Old and lonely, so beautiful I had to stop and stare." I really like lyrics like this that shine a light on the beauty of minute details

5.There Is a River -- This song is a little bit of a hiccup for me. The accapella intro just sounds wrong for some reason, even though I normally like that kind of thing. Something about the way the words and music fit together seem a little off too (although I'm not calling it one of those arranged marriages). I still like the song OK, I don't skip it, but I don't skip to it either. If it were a lesser album this could possibly even be a standout track.

6. Good Monsters -- I like the idea of this song: the quote by Edmund Burke that "all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing". Although I'm not sure I would've gotten that idea just from listening to the song. It's a bit wordy too in the chorus "Not all monsters are bad but the ones that are good never do what they could, never do what they could" Now that I read that line the point of the song is pretty obvious, but nevertheless I'm not sure I would have caught on without reading the quote attached to it in the liner notes. Also the music video soured me on this one a little bit. The part with the band is really cool where they are in a bright white room and all of their instruments are painted white, while they are all wearing black suits. For the verse Dan Haseltine (the lead singer) has eyeballs painted on his eyelids and when he gets to the line "Do you know who you are?" he opens them. However, the rest of the video is a little kid chasing grown men in furry costumes around a grassy field and that just about ruined it for me. Again, still a good song and musically pretty rocking, but not my favorite.

7.Oh My God -- Have you ever heard Worlds Apart? Well this is the 00s version, and that is not a slight in the least. It is six minutes of questioning God and questioning our own motivations. I've heard this song a couple dozen times and I'm still processing it. I won't bother quoting it here, but I encourage you to check it out, definitely an album highlight.

8.Surprise -- I like this song a lot too. Very bass and drums heavy, laid back and contemplative. I like the line "We are so beautiful when we sleep". There are plenty of puns I can make with the title, so I'll just say it was a pleasant one.

9.Take Me Higher -- I consider this the lowpoint of the album and the song I sometimes skip. I've given it a chance a few times but I'm still not a big fan. The chorus just sounds really cliche: "Take me higher than the sun, yeah you are the only one." That's the whole chorus. They just say that a few times. While the one line chorus worked really well in "Work", this one just comes off as lame.

10. Mirrors and Smoke -- I was really excited when I read that Leigh Nash sings on this song. It was really tempting to skip Track 9 so I could hear this song, but I resisted. It works really well. I've heard people compare this to a Johnny Cash/June Carter style duet, and I guess that's almost true. I just can't say enough about Leigh Nash's voice, it is the barometer against which I measure all female vocalists. Something about the frailty that comes through her voice gets me. This is a love song about the everyday side of love: "Loves a constant mission, truer words were never spoke. Your love, it keeps me wishin, my heart, it keeps me broke." It's a little weird for me to listen to this song knowing that the two singers have been happily married to other people for a decade, though.

This is a fan video that is actually awesome. It has Superman singing Dan's part and Leigh as Wonderwoman.

11.Light Gives Heat -- This may be my favorite song of the album. I love love the African choir and how they weave in and out of the chorus. The message of the song is cool too about "heroes from the West, we don't know you, we know best." For me the song is about the fact that often missionaries are the one's being ministered too. As good as it is, I'm convinced it gets better with each listen. I heard them play this live though without the choir and I didn't like it nearly as much.

12. Under the Bridge -- This is another love song. I like that Jars isn't afraid to be sentimental at times, but this song again demonstrates the true nature of love: giving yourself up for your spouse and being willing to lose (this is all second hand information of course). "Maybe we can stay till the last drop of water flows under the bridge"

So, basically, this is a great album. I also like the Cover art and the booklet, which is always a plus in my book. I recommend this album to indie and Top 40 alike. If you like music I think it has something for you.