Exchanged Living

Free and Cheap Music (and Other Thoughts)

There are some great deals on the internet these days...

Blitzen Trapper, a band I deeply love, did either their third or fourth session over at Daytrotter, which is a great site to try out some great and diverse indie music. You can get three of their tracks from the album "Furr" here for free. 

Explosions in the Sky's album "How Strange, Innocence" is on sale today only for $1.99 at Amazon MP3. It's a good intro into their music, which is long-form instrumental rock.

That's it on the free/cheap music tip. As for my other thoughts, I'm steady brewing on a lot of thoughts on the sacraments as I'm reading like a mad man for my sacraments class in August at Asbury.  It's strange and fascinating reading about the history of the practice and theology of sacraments in the church, especially coming from a tradition that has never been very sacramentally-driven in its practices (Michael Spencer, or the internet monk, has some recent posts on Baptists and his tensions with their practice of the Lord's Supper here).  However, I've got a lot more reading and a class to attend that will probably shift my views around a bit, so I'll leave that alone for now, other than saying that if I were to plant a church, I doubt very seriously I'd encourage the approach to the sacraments that the SBC advocates (by both practice and theological undergirdings, which always inform each other: practice embodies theology and theology shapes practice).

On a practice/theology note, JD's thoughts are always pushing me to rethink things about how I lead and design worship. On his twitter feed he wrote:

"Worship Leaders must realize how they speak about & to God publicly shapes how worshippers think about & relate to God personally."

Wow. There's a level of accountability for all those who participate in leading corporate worship. Geez, even rereading that makes me think...

How He Loves Us

I've been listening to Eddie Kirkland's CD Orthodoxy a lot lately. He does some interesting things with his music (sometimes very much channeling The Fray). Here are the lyrics to a song from his album:

"How He Loves Us"

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight
Of His wind and mercy
All of a sudden I am unaware of
These afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so

Yeah He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
And heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way

That He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves

Free(ish) Music!!!

I'm working on a post with my reflections from the past weekend, but for now I'll just say it was incredible.

Today, there are four free downloads from Ron Sexsmith's Daytrotter Sessions here. Daytrotter has artists doing four to five-song sets that they give away everyday. It's a great place to hear different artists, get exposed to some new music and get some freebies in the process. Paper Route did a session there a few weeks ago. You should check them out, too.

Also, there are some interesting deals at Noise Trade, a free-trade music site; for the small price of recommending the site to 5 people, you can download some pretty great music. Today, I downloaded Matthew Mayfield's EP The Fire, which is killer. You can also name your price (pay what you want) for anything on the site. Some of the artist that contribute there include Derek Webb, Lori Chaffer, Katie Herzig, and Matthew Perryman Jones. If you have the time and 5 friends who don't mind an email recommending the site, go get some music.

I also got my tickets today for the RA and the Cardinals show in Louisville in March. That is exciting to type. (It wasn't free though...though I'd bet they'll post the show here as they usually do. If you want to check out how they perform live, chase the link and download some.)

Two Down, One to go...

I have one paper left to finish. Somehow, that is not motivating to me. It's quite the opposite, actually.

I loath the last paper's existence (or lack thereof).

It doesn't help that I know that the local vendor of DVD's has just received Lost, Season 4. All I want to do right now is rewatch the episode "The Constant" about 12 times and marvel at writing skills far beyond my own.

I've been listening to Griffin House and Bon Iver today, who both draw me into their lyrics and melodies like a mosquito to one of those blue-light bug zappers. I got an early copy of Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP, and it's just amazing. I'm going with some friends to see them next week.

I have a strange way of linking certain albums to certain periods of my life. Pete Yorn's Music For The Morning After will forever be the album that I associate with my writing in grad school. I'm hoping Bon Iver doesn't forever remind me of writing this current paper. I like Bon Iver too much to do that to them.

music recommendations?

So about a month ago, tommy gave me a disk of bluegrass music that has opened my eyes to some new artists I'm really digging. Which got me to thinking...

What other albums am I missing out on?

I need some new tunes to listen to as I get into finals mode. What albums have you been into lately?

Leave your recommendations in the comment section--

the Michael Gungor Band

I don't usually gush over CD's, but the CD Ancient Skies by the Michael Gungor Band just blew my mind. It's a worship album, it's incredibly musical (which is rare in the worship genre), and the lyrics are centered, but not self-centered. Here are the lyrics to one of the more out-reaching tracks of the album, called "Fly" (it also goes into rock opera mode after a great mandolin/guitar break--I'll link it at the bottom)

full of doubt
trying to work it out
could you lay it down
for now

it’s good to think
but it’s good to drink
from this living stream
so why

why don’t you fly
free your mind
to all this splendor
why don’t you fly
to the arms
that save

you can come
while your heart feels numb
you could just lie down
and rest

or lift your eyes
to the open sky
we could come alive
and fly
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Listening to: The Michael Gungor Band - Fly

Free Music again!!

Like Coldplay? Then click here and enter your information to get a free single of theirs.

Also, I stumbled upon something the other day I think I should share. It's called Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It's a video blog spoof directed by Joss Whedon (of Firefly and Buffy The Vampire Slayer fame) and staring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillon. You can watch them from this sight or download them to itunes. Basic plot synopsis: Dr. Horrible is a villain trying to get into an evil league of criminals, but he's constantly thwarted by his nemesis, Captain Hammer. He's also in love with a girl that he can't talk to. It's musical, it's comedy--it's worth watching if you have time.

Enjoy! I'm off to a meeting! 

On Thom York...

This weekend was a killer weekend of shows for me. Saturday night, I went with some friends to catch the Ten Out Of Tenn tour, which featured some top-notch talent out of Nashville. The entire show was great, with a few artist I was expecting to be great (and were) like Trent Dabbs and Tyler James, and a few I'd never heard of who blew me out of the water, like Griffin House and Jeremy Lister. Seriously, though, all these artists were great. If you have time (or bucks to blow on albums on itunes), check some of them out.

Last night I saw Radiohead in Indy--the analogy I'd use to describe how amazing this show was is that it was like watching Voltron form in real life. The five-man machine that is Radiohead delivered on so many levels, and there were moments when I couldn't get the smile of awe off of my face. Thom York's voice is just haunting. I don't know--all I can say is I'm glad I can claim to have seen them live twice now. If you like Radiohead and you haven't seen them live, make them a must-see on your shows-I-want-to-see list.

Actually, we were trying to make a list of people last night that would be on a must-see-before-they-die-and/or split-up-list... right now, I've covered a few bases, (Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Ryan Adams, Billy Joel, John Mayer, BB King) but I still have a long list. Appearing on that list currently:

• Coldplay
• U2
• Nickel Creek--I hear they're so good live
• Aerosmith
• Iron and Wine

There are more, but those artist are on my radar as ones I'm most likely to drop coinage on to see.

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Listening to: Iron & Wine - Faded from the Winter

Hooray Free Music!!!

This link will get you four free downloads from the group Bon Iver, a folk group I've been listening to for a few months. They re-recorded a few songs from their latest album, and if you like their stuff, why no pick up a couple of free tracks. Having free tracks is better than no tracks...

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Listening to: Bon Iver - Re Stacks

the heart-songs project

I don't know how many of you out there are Weezer fans, but I recently downloaded their newest album (the red one). First off, it's a darn good album; in my opinion, it's as good as their iconic Blue album, though it doesn't bring back as many memories yet. They are as funny as ever, and there are some really interesting songs on the album as well. But, alas, this is not an album review--so here's why I'm blabbing about Weezer:

The fourth song on the album, called "Heart Songs", is a tribute of sorts to the songs in life that they love or can't get away from. I think we all have songs like this, and for some people (like they point out), those songs could even be Weezer songs. I've kind of attached myself to this idea of heart-songs, and I've kind of been making my list out... diving into my own history and finding the songs that ring the truest with my own life experience, and the ones that are just all-time favorites. I mentioned this to a few friends, and they've decided to join in. And then I figured...why not ask anyone who wants to to join in?  Being a musician, I think it'd be awesome to hear what music are your heart songs, so to speak. So here's the project:

1. Listen to "Heart Songs" by Weezer
2. Start digging up your music archives and narrow down a lost of songs that best reflect your own heart: they can be fun, serious, symbolic, remind you of certain times in life, spiritual or secular, whatever works for you. Organize them however you'd like: chronologically, catagorically, alphabetically, in mix-tape fashion--it's your call.
3. Narrow it down to 2CD's worth (or about 26 songs MAX).
4. Post your list in the comments section. Explaination of your choices is optional.
5. optional-- bring me a copy of your CD's

I'm going to post mine soon enough...until then, get to mixing...

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Listening to: Weezer - Heart Songs