Godspeed You! Black Emperor Cover: blaise bailey finnegan III

If you're at all interested in some seriously beautiful guitar, listen to this video. This guy is really talented. Don't feel like you have to know the original song to appreciate this. It's great on its own merits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJtdUgnmyF8

Thanks to Joe for showing me this beautiful video!

Review in Christianity Today: Bon Iver

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/reviews/2011/boniver-mini.html

Review of previous album "For Emma, Forever Ago"coming soon!

Album Art: For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver

New Song of the Week: Moving to Mars by Coldplay

New Radiohead song: Staircase

Album Review: A Rush of Blood to the Head

Is it worth a listen? Yes.

Coldplay is (or was) a unique band. Their first major release album, Parachutes, was a unique blend, consisting of soulful, piano-driven melodies, along with some punchier, indie-influenced songs. This album is their sophomore effort, and it takes the band's strong points, and runs with them, achieving a soaring beauty which is not easy to find in the rock/alternative genre. Coldplay's somewhere in between U2 and Radiohead in style: mellow out U2, and mix in Radiohead's softer side from The Bends, and you basically have Coldplay. The opening track, Politic, hits with some driving and repetitive chords, but before long lead singer Chris Martin (i.e. Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow) opens up with his soulful voice about looking for love over all other things. The sense of yearning for beauty is palpable. Throughout the album, Coldplay writes some memorable songs, filled with aural bliss. The band loves to dwell in echoey, ethereal guitar chords, punctuated by drums. In regards to lyrics, Coldplay has pseudo-Christian lyrics. While nothing explicitly Christian is mentioned, Biblical influence can be found all over the place, with lyrics like "Honey, you are a rock/upon which I stand." and "God gave you style, and gave you grace / God put a smile upon your face." They never stoop to profanity or vulgar language.

Coldplay's only serious flaw is that they tend to have a couple songs that don't musically progress. There are only two less-than-amazing songs here: Daylight and A Whisper, both victims of repetitive and overly simplistic chords that drag on for 3-5 minutes. If they could only learn to foster a little more improvisation in those songs, this album would be flawless. Instead it's merely great. Go and listen, if you have any interest at all in mellow, piano-driven rock with integrity.

EP Art: "Sun Giant" by Fleet Foxes

A Unique Take on Music Reviews

Take a look at any popular music review site today, and you'll see one of two basic types of web site. Many offer short reviews of various albums, such as Rolling Stone; these "reviews" (bah, they're just synopses of albums) have very little depth, and sometimes they don't even bother to offer a serious opinion. Then other music reviews are from a "Christian Perspective." I have noticed that the primary flaw with Christian sites is that, while they minutely analyze lyrics, often they neglect a fundamental question: Is the music even good at all? On this blog, I will post music reviews that are thorough, pithy, and ruthless. I will consider music from many different genres on its own merits, but will also provide analysis of the lyrics. I will post reviews at least once a week, and other interesting articles/links/album art at least once per day.

I cannot stress this enough: my reviews will have a Christian perspective because I am Christian, but my primary perspective will be determining artistic merit of the music. My hope is that you will find this blog entertaining and helpful in finding beautiful, new, and exciting music to enjoy.