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Interesting Christian Music?
2 Feb 2006, 09:21
Any suggestions for good, current christian artists? I haven't listened to much Christian music since maybe 2000, mostly because on the rare occasions when I do tune in to Christian radio stations like this one, I can only hear my brain cells screaming for help as they collapse in on themselves.
I used to like Jars of Clay and dc Talk, and I liked the OC Supertones when I was into ska. I greatly admire Steven Curtis Chapman as a person, and have enjoyed his music in the past. I find Switchfoot tolerable. I didn't like the Kry. I don't know why. Plumb was okay.
I guess I'm looking for somewhat independently-minded artists who feel a little more, I don't know exactly...maybe...more authentic? than stuff from, like, Crystal Lewis or Michael W. Smith. Who would you recommend?
I used to like Jars of Clay and dc Talk, and I liked the OC Supertones when I was into ska. I greatly admire Steven Curtis Chapman as a person, and have enjoyed his music in the past. I find Switchfoot tolerable. I didn't like the Kry. I don't know why. Plumb was okay.
I guess I'm looking for somewhat independently-minded artists who feel a little more, I don't know exactly...maybe...more authentic? than stuff from, like, Crystal Lewis or Michael W. Smith. Who would you recommend?
Comments
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vanmartin wrote:
I'd recommend you check out Mat Kearney. Jeremy Camp is pretty mainstream but I still enjoy his music. If you're a fan of dc Talk also check out tobyMac, Kevin Max and Tait. The dcTalk member's solo offerings. -
tobymacfan wrote:
I'd check out Tobymac, Tait, Kevin Max, Jeremy Camp, Kutless, Skillet, Disciple, Jennifer Knapp, Jeff Deyo, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Grits, Verbs, and T-Bone -
MissMaryMac wrote:
I'm really into Kutless and Pillar at the moment. Also Nicole Nordeman (not sure of the spelling of her name) is a great christian female artist -
dp316 wrote:
Absolutely skip these popular CCM bands: Pillar, Kutless, Third Day.
To elaborate on tobymacfan's Jennifer Knapp mention, she's not current (disappeared in '02), but her lyrics are very authentic. She's not very independently minded - in fact she has big name Christian stars play on all of her albums. Damn authentic though, and she can make scripture personal like no one else can.
Albums to look for: The Violet Burning (self-titled), The Prayer Chain (Mercury) (These guys aren't current but they're THE Christian indie act). I enjoy Over the Rhine and Pedro the Lion but they're only for people with a loose definition of Christian music. I've heard good things about The Choir and The 77s, but I'm fairly new to them myself. Mortal/Fold Zandura was great in all of their incarnations, but they're kind of dead (mainly because Jerome started playing with Switchfoot).
Try checking out labels like Sounds Familyre, Northern, Galaxy21, etc...they'll have some of the kind of stuff you're looking for.
Wait a second - you like fricken Sufjan Stevens already! You obviously don't need any help finding Christian indie music if you're already listening to stuff with Danielson Famile connections. -
estherbester wrote:
Thanks to everyone's suggestions! Will check them out in due course. And yeah, I do like Sufjan Stevens a lot, but I was hoping to expand my horizons and was afraid I'd narrow my options down too much if I mentioned him in the original post. -
tobymacfan wrote:
Jennifer Knapp hasn't disappeared well she did for a while. Jennifer Knapp has a new live album out which has live songs from her albums. I'd only check out that album if you love live albums. I'd also check out Better and I Can Do This by Plumb which are two new awesome songs from Plumb. If you use to like DC Talk then I'm sure you will love all the solo albums from Tobymac, Tait, and Kevin Max so be sure to check them out some time soon. Also check out Redemption Songs by Jars Of Clay as it's a very good album.
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ikamymlan wrote:
I have a related problem,I think. I spent many years feeling bad for not listening to Christian music, and then I came to the point when I decided that I do not need to listen to music just because it's christian, as I constantly found the christian music I tried listening to not as good as my other favourite bands/artists. Well, as I stopped trying I have actually managed to find a few examples of enjoyable christian music. Have you tried Over the Rhine? I like their previous album Films for Radio a lot. -
dp316 wrote:
A few things: tobymacfan is wrong about Jen - she's still not around touring. The live album out now, and the two-disc set that came out before it were put together by her label to get some extra cash out of her fans. The two-disc set features some decent rarities and a decent (although admittedly heavily reliant on Kansas) best-of, so it's not all bad. I haven't heard the live disc yet.
He might be right about Plumb though. She's a decent singer-songwriter of the cute pop variety, but she occasionally dabbles with some darker lyrical themes. Her self-titled album has some great stuff. I can't speak for her new one though.
You won't love all the dc Talk solo albums just because you liked them together. KMax's first is quirk-pop, his second rock. Tait started out as a decent rock act but their second album was terrible and synth-based (in spite of them not even having a keyboardist). tobyMac's rap/rock just isn't that good. It's fun enough (I'll admit I loved it once for that), but it's just not great music.
The new Jars of Clay album is terrible. If you do decide to get back into them, get Who We Are Instead first. They were merely inspired by hymns there, where Redemption Songs is mostly mediocre covers of hymns (with a few bright spots).
So....yeah, CCM isn't all bad, but if you're into more indie type stuff, you probably don't want to bother with them. Be careful with the more mainstream stuff, some of it really deserves the bad stereotypes.
I'll second ikamymlan's recommendation of Over the Rhine. Great music. The only problem with them is that they shift genre quite a bit...their newer stuff is borderline loungy with some interesting folk and jazz stuff mixed in. Films For Radio was all over the map, and before that they were doing gorgeous acoustic folk stuff. Before the folk stuff they were putting out some of the best alternative rock out there, and before that even they were doing some sweet art-pop. They're definitely worth checking out although which album you'd like most definitely depends on what style of music you like most. -
BarlowBrad wrote:
Check out Mutemath. Incredible stuff... even better live. :) -
Amberface wrote:
i agree with what was said about pedro the lion. it's not so much christian music as it is stories about imperfect christians set to music, written by a deeply christian man. -
LIfelessJosh wrote:
I'm pretty picky with most my music.. shying away from the ultra CCM/praise and worship and the unoriginal (*cough*kutless*cough*)
Here are a few I like:
Cool Hand Luke
Damien Jurado (Lo-fi/urban folk/new folk. I found this guy, fell in love, and discovered his Christiantiy later. So thats just the icing on the cake.)
David Crowder Band (Yeah.. I know. He's praise and worship. But at least he does it with some originality. Plus, he covered a Sufjan Stevens song!)
Derek Webb
Eisley (They. Seriously. Rule.)
Flyleaf (Screamo-esque vocales, by a lady no less, to hardish music. Interesting.)
Jars of Clay (Of course..)
Jill Paquette (Just released one album so far.. but she's great. Acoustic folkish music, and she has a great voice.)
Mae
Mute Math
MXPX
Project 86 (Usually not into the screaming-ish vocals, but I love Project 86. Might be a bit too hard for you though.. ;) )
There are a few more, but I guess those are my favorites. Lately I've been listening to more and more secular music though.. a lot of the Christian music today is just so unoriginal and boring. (save the above bands)
Josh -
SymphonicBath wrote:
Eisley is where it's at.
As is MAE.
And Project 86.
LifelessJosh knows his stuff. -
dp316 wrote:
Since this thread was revived, I should post some newer finds:
The Choir - These guys were veterans of Christian rock, and well before my time, but I recently got their Circle Slide album and love it. It's some beautiful atmospheric rock, and it's easy to tell how later groups mentioned here take after them (Prayer Chain, Cool Hand Luke, Violet Burning, Sixpence, etc all note the Choir as a big influence, and Steve Hindalong from the Choir has produced a ton of albums as well).
Chasing Furies - These guys aren't quite as innovative as The Violet Burning when it comes to creative worship music, but their With Abandon album is amazing. Forget the David Crowder Band, this is the major-CCM-label-but-still-independently-minded praise-and-worship group to check out. This group has 3 vocalists, which gives them a rather unique sound on surface level, but they also change up the instruments quite a bit, experiment with special effects and song structures, and pull out every other trick in the book. Great stuff.
Mute Math - Mute Math is a great new modern rock act that takes a little after the Police, but doesn't quite enter rip-off territory. It's basically half of the guys from Earthsuit (one of the better Christian rock groups from a few years back) doing experimental pop/rock.
Caedmon's Call - I think there was a bit of oversight here, as these guys are actually pretty popular inspite of being really authentic. Their songwriter, Derek Webb, is one of the best in Christian music, and he's since become a successful solo artist. Caedmon's Call's first album was a self-titled disc in 1997, and it's some great stuff. I've heard that most of their other stuff is worth checking out, but I haven't heard it myself. They're a bit more folk/rockier than Jars of Clay, if you're into that kind of thing.
Fleming and John - Fleming McWilliams and John Mark Painter are really well-known session musicians. They've played with seemingly everybody at some point or another, but I guess the big ones to mention are Ben Folds Five, Sixpence None the Richer, and dc Talk, since they sold the best. Fleming is one of the greatest vocalists I've ever heard, and John Mark Painter's multiinstrumental skills are also top-notch. Bizarrely though, they mostly stick to rock-based music on their best album, Delusions of Grandeur. Their second album takes in a much broader range of instruments and influences, but the songs aren't as good on there. -
estherbester wrote:
Thanks so much for the new suggestions! I'm really enjoying Over the Rhine, Eisley, Mute Math and Mae.
New Q: is there like, a Christian music/mp3 blog where people can read about the latest and greatest? Nowadays, I find most of the music I listen to now through blogs like http://fingertipsmusic.blogspot.com and http://www.3hive.com - I love how the songs on those sites are free, and I can pick and choose from music that's highly likely to fit my fancy.
You probably think I'm lazy, not looking for these things myself - and in fact, I am =) But also, I love collaborative web sites like this! -
dp316 wrote:
I know of a music-blog type thing that includes a lot of Christian stuff, but has a bit of a hardcore slant (in addition to the more indie type stuff). They're over at Buzzgrinder.com .
The only real Christian mp3 blog I've seen is over at drop7.com . It's not updated often, but the guy has good tastes.
The board for Northern Records seems pretty good (I actually found out about Chasing Furies, The Violet Burning, and The Prayer Chain over there). If wading through chaff for good stuff on message boards is your thing, thephorum.net is also quite good. It's basically a community based around Josh Hurst's Reveal Arts.
Tuesday Morning 3 AM is a good read for me, but it's one guy's weekly e-zine (remember those?) and his tastes are all over the place.
The Phantom Tollbooth has a decent news page too, as far as Christian stuff goes...but they cover all levels of quality, so only some small fraction of the stuff there will interest you. Still, they're the best at compiling news, as far as I can tell.
Also, Pitchfork Media is great for the indie stuff. They're practically a gossip rag for popular Christian indie acts (in fact, Rosie Thomas tricked them into believing that she was pregnant a few weeks back...funny stuff!)
