Our Rising Sound» music

Loop making process, Part 1: main groove (audio)

Kyle — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:02:04 +0000

I’ve always wanted to blog through the process of creating a loop and include folks along the way to get feedback at each portion. Then look back and see the evolution of the song as I made changes. So this post starts that journey.

Part 1. Main Groove

I’ve started to write a loop for an original arrangement of In Christ Alone by Stuart Townend. This arrangement may be pretty far out for those that know the traditional arrangements, but I hear it all coming together in my head well and if you’re a worth anything as a writer, you gotta trust that inner head arrangement. At this point I just have the main groove looping over the verse progression. This was done all in one session, total session time was probably 6 hours or so. I think I spent 3 hours on the drums alone, finding the right kick/snares and making tone adjustments and such. Spending time on each individual instrument’s (drums having many instruments -> kick, snare, toms, etc…) tone is so important.

Here’s how I organize my thoughts when searching for drum sounds. I make a list of all the candidates (all that I think may work) for each sound and then I go through each one comparing one to another and selecting the better of the 2. Repeat process until you only have one left and last sample standing wins!

So here’s what I have so far, just a few measures looped over. From here I’ll peel it back and get the instrumentation for the verse with vocals.

Download audio file (InChristAlone-sample.mp3)

Alberta Cross: “Ghost of City Life” (Live at Electraplay)

Kyle — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:00:33 +0000

One of my favorite new(ish) rock bands is Alberta Cross. They have an incredible record out called Broken Side of Time, make sure you pick that up, it’s fantastic. They recently did an interview and live session at Electraplay and here’s the video from one of my favorite not so rockish tunes called Ghost of City Life.

John Mark McMillan’s re-release of “The Medicine” now available!

Kyle — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:35:52 +0000

Review: John Mark McMillan – “The Medicine”

Kyle — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:33:23 +0000

UPDATE: Re-published today for the re-release

I’ve been listening to The Medicine for a couple weeks solid. I don’t like doing first impression reviews because most of the time my favorite songs end up being those that took a while to grow on me. My ears start hearing things on the 10th listen that I didn’t hear the 9 times previous. So what did I hear?

The album starts off with Reckoning Day and I’m blown away by John Mark’s vocals. His voice sounds better than I’ve ever heard it, not only in presence but tonally I think his voice is just spot on. You can also hear exactly what John Mark was talking about in the natural reverb recording techniques they were experimenting with. The warmth of the verb is a tone carried throughout the album and really ties each song together and I think creates a great atmosphere for the heart of the album which is a story resurrection.

John Mark tells the story of Christ’ resurrection with intense language and vivid imagery, fitting for the story that’s told. This is demonstrated in songs like Skeleton Bones,

Skeleton bones stand at the sound of eternity on the lips of the found
Graves stones roll to the rhythm of the sound of you
Skeleton bones stand at the sound of eternity on the lips of the found
Yeah so separate those doors and let the sun of resurrection in

One of the greatest songs on the album, and one I can’t wait to do on Easter, is Death In His Grave. The imagery and phrasing used in that song is so incredibly moving, the chorus says:

On Friday a thief, on Sunday a King, laid down in grief
But awoke with the keys, of hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ laid death in his grave

The resurrection theme not only deals with the historic moment but also addresses our own personal death to sin and resurrection in Christ as shown in songs like Carbon Ribs, Dress Us Up, Out of the Ground and Ten Thousand. In our previous interview I asked John Mark if there were any he could see being used in corporate worship, and I think there are quite a few here that will be used. Dress Us Up is one that jumps out as something an entire congregation could get behind and sing without trouble. The song proclaims the power of God’s love over death.

Dress us up in the blood of a son
Who opened up His veins so that we would overcome
Hell and the grave and the power of his love
After 3 dark days he showed us how it’s done
and he still does

I don’t think there can be any question this is John Mark’s finest work. This is certainly a step forward musically, lyrically and in his songwriting. The songwriting still has the exposed emotions John Mark is known for but this record comes across as a more matured presentation, not quite as raw as before. It’s truly a storyteller album and the story is captivating and beautiful. Go buy this album now!

originally posted 10/7/08

Frankenstein piano + looping = beautiful music

Kyle — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:46:51 +0000

[via thereifixedit.com]

Guitar players build their sound – advice from James Duke

Kyle — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:38:16 +0000

Recently I had the good pleasure of interviewing James Duke (guitar player for John Mark McMillan) as well as review his new release from his new project called “All the Bright Lights.” That record is largely instrumental and is a collection of incredible guitar tones and textures. So when I saw a blog post from James discussing how he gets his tones, it got my attention.

James gives a lot of great advice in his post and I encourage you to read the entire post, but he opens up the post with some great general advice to guitar players.

“I have gotten a lot of emails lately asking for advice about how to get good guitar sounds. A lot of times I get asked something like “I have all the same stuff as you but i’m not getting the same sound for some reason”. I try to tell them , nicely, that they can buy everything I have, but it’s not going to make them sound like me. If that was the case I would have all of The Edge’s gear. And all of Jimmy Page’s gear. and I would have bought the same microphone as Bono…

I can play through anything and still sound like me. I can play through a line 6 spyder amp and still sound like me. I don’t enjoy that, mainly because a modeling amp just doesn’t respond the way a nice tube amp does. But I can make it work.”

Arizona immigration law causes bands to boycott the state?

Kyle — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:09:51 +0000

As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now Arizona passed what many are calling the nation’s “toughest” immigration law this past Friday. Reaction across the country has been quite heated and I’ve talked to many of my Mexican friends here in Phoenix and most are at the least concerned if not angry. Now there have been reports of random councilmen(women) calling for boycotts over this law passing and now we have the Canadian band Stars starting their boycott saying,

“We love AZ, But until its racist new immigration law is repealed, Stars (and many others) will boycott this state.”

Some local music blogs have expressed concern about the “many others” portion of that tweet(because who cares about the Stars?) and it’s impact on the AZ music scene. I personally find it hard to believe that this music boycott will gain any steam and if it did that it would last for any length of time. But regardless of the boycott’s success or failure, one thing I realized is this is quite an ironic turn of events as it reminded me of the church’s all too common response to mainstream entertainment, and that is to boycott when we disagree.

Whether it’s a Dan Brown or James Cameron movie, or Jay Z talking about “Jesus can’t save you“, the gut reaction of so many in Christendom is to call for a boycott and disengagement instead of a missional engagement in the culture and bringing the truth of Christ to that situation. A boycott is such a shallow, temporal mean to an end and cares nothing of the people involved or any eternal implications that may be at play.

Look bands, if you hate the AZ immigration law that’s fine. But you should come down here and sing about it. Get involved in our culture and hear what people’s concerns are and use your creativity to speak what you feel is true. If you care at all about the “injustice” of it, or those you feel are impacted by the so called racist nature of this law, then you should be down here and playing every club until your message is heard. Right now all I hear is a whiny band from up north, that knows nothing about AZ, that probably had no plans to play AZ anyway and sacrificed nothing of themselves but rather made a superficial gesture to make themselves feel good.

I know this sounds crazy coming from a Christian, but I’m hoping that us Christians have learned our lessons from cultural disengagement and boycotts. So take it from us, if you want change, then get engaged in the culture and impact it from the inside out.

UPDATE: F****** Up’s Pink Eyes says bands should play in AZ now more than ever.

John Mark McMillan releases “Skeleton Bones” + “How He Loves” video

Kyle — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:05:31 +0000

John Mark McMillan has just released his first single, Skeleton Bones, off his forthcoming album re-release(+ some new tunes) of The Medicine. Also packaged for free with the single is a video of a live performance of How He Loves. The new arrangement to How He Loves is really incredible, never sounded better. The song has been covered by a lot of people but they pale in comparison to John Mark’s now new original version.

As of this moment Skeleton Bones is within a few downloads of being #1 on iTunes Christian/Gospel charts, so let’s get him to #1 already!

5th grade chorus PS22 sings “Lisztomania” and kills it!

Kyle — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:51:59 +0000

PS22 Chorus have sung a lot of other cool tunes, but this is one of my favorite songs(Lisztomania by Phoenix) in the past few years and they killed it!

Video: Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris perform “Hallelujah” (Hope 4 Haiti)

Kyle — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:35:11 +0000

Absolutely incredible performance of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. As good if not better than Jeff Buckley’s cover…blasphemy I know.

The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldier (Live on Jools Holland)

Kyle — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:49:37 +0000

One of the great joys of Direct TV is my season pass for Jools Holland. On this occasion they had a pretty packed lineup, John Legend, Amy Winehouse, The Raconteurs and Muse. Hands down, Raconteurs stole the show, their performance of Broken Boy Soldier was incredible. Enjoy.

Looking for custom loops? I’m for hire

Kyle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:03:28 +0000

I’ve had several inquiries about whether I’d do loops for hire, or custom loops for people. I’ve always turned down those requests because I just didn’t have the time. But due to recent unforseen changes in the job security landscape(ah hem), I have more time now.

If you or anyone you know is looking for some custom loops. backtracks or just wants to work together on some music projects please do contact me. You can browse my current freely available loops to get a sense of what my music sensibility is. I will still release loops for free as I have been, I don’t plan on stopping that. But any special requests would have some agreed upon fee.

I don’t have any set rates at this point for a few reasons.

I want to be flexible and be able to bless and help out in creative ways. I don’t want to only contribute to projects that have a lot of money.
I have no idea what people think my services are worth, if anything.
I would be open to accepting trades for gear and such.

If you would be so kind as to pass the word along, by retweeting, sharing on facebook, etc… that would really be appreciated. ORS just recently passed the 15,000 mark for downloaded/played loops, so thank you for the interest you’ve shown to this point. I sincerely hope this has been a valuable resource for you and your churches.

Adam Pasion Interview Part 2 – “Gypsy Girl” story

Kyle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:59:05 +0000

I recently sat down with Adam Pasion who’s new album “O Hear the Rattling” (iTunes) seriously impressed me. The music to me is best described as dark folk, very rich lyrically, with dark melodies and full folk string instrumentation and groove. I’ve not heard another Christian album like this at all, and by Christian album I just mean Adam is a Christian who wants to see Christ glorified in his music, but these aren’t necessarily corporate worship songs.

In part 2 of the interview we talk about the story behind the track “Gypsy Girl.”

Phoenix: download the multitrack and make your own mix

Kyle — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:57:44 +0000

At the risk of repeating myself for the 20th time, Phoenix is one of my new favorite bands and their record Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is my record of the year for 2009. They didn’t need to do anything else to raise their cool index for me but they just did. You can download the multi-track of their song “Fences” for free and make your own mix of the song. They released 10 tracks for the song. Brilliant promotion.

Video: John Mark McMillan – Skeleton Bones (live in studio)

Kyle — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:54:08 +0000

Killer video of John Mark McMillan performing “Skeleton Bones” live at Bright City Studios. Directed by The Calnin Brothers.

New free single from Volcano Choir “Island, Is” (Bon Iver)

Kyle — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:24:40 +0000

Excerpt from the press release at American Songwriter:

“The Volcano Choir, a collaboration between Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Milwaukee band Collections of Colonies of Bees, are offering up the first track from their upcoming album as a free download. It’s called “Island, IS.” Check it out(download) here. The track is featured on the Volcano Choir’s debut Unmap, due September 22 via Jagjaguwar records.”

I love everything about this track, the slick Radiohead’ish loops, to the guitar work, to Justin’s vocals. I think I’m going to love this album, can’t wait for it to come out.

Download audio file (islandis.mp3)

Video: Ryan Delmore “You Are Strong” in studio

Kyle — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:51:59 +0000

Ran across this beautiful song of Ryan’s on his blog. One thing that I just love about Ryan is how natural and effortless his songs come across. I never get the sense that his songs were crafted for any particular audience but that he just let out on paper and through music what’s in his heart. Here’s an excerpt from his blog regarding this song:

Recently I spent some time with a friend in Tennessee who discovered that his father in law was diagnosed with lung cancer. The shock and pain that a sentence like that brings is devastating to family and friends alike. It made me think of some recent suffering Ryan went through over the holidays with a bulging disc on his spine. During the many months that Ryan was writhing in pain he had to consider the issue of suffering in relation to our loving God and as a result wrote this song. Many people gathered to pray for Ryan, but he was never healed. Ryan had to go to the hospital on a few occasions for heavy medication. It was really sad to see him spend Christmas drugged on the floor in chronic pain instead of playing with his kids. Through it all Ryan questioned God and through it all he could sense God’s presence and love. I wanted Ryan to record this song so that I could share it with my friend who’s father in law is suffering through chemo and all that cancer brings. Hopefully this song can be a banner of encouragement to those who are weary and burdened with heavy suffering.

Video: Phoenix playing “1901″ live on Letterman

Kyle — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:42:28 +0000

As I’ve said before, Phoenix’s record “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” is my record of the year so far and “1901” is certainly one of the best songs off that record. These guys kill live, I really, really want to see them.

Phoenix – 1901 live from wearephoenix on Vimeo.

Barcelona sings to the fish at Kuroshio Sea and it’s beautiful

Kyle — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:18:16 +0000

An absolutely beautiful video was posted on You Tube of Kuroshio Sea, the world’s second largest aquarium, using Barcelona’s “Please Don’t Go” as the music. The still shot of the tank with the shadowed figures in front is just visually awesome, and then the Barcelona song fits it so well. A stirring video for sure. If you don’t have Barcelona’s Absolutes album go pick it up, it’s a killer record.

Top 5 Favorite Michael Jackson songs

Kyle — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:29:08 +0000

In remembrance of Michael Jackson who passed yesterday, I thought I’d do a Top 5 with my favorite MJ songs of all time. I grew up singing and dancing to Michael Jackson, I have a lot of respect for his music ability and a lot of sadness for how he lived his life.

1. Thriller

Where else is there to start. The best music video of all time, an incredible song and it gave me nightmares when I was a kid, but I loved it.

2. Smooth Criminal

Another epic video, will anyone ever be able to do music videos like this guy again? I doubt it. Great song as well, I can always jam to this song.

3. Billie Jean

Man I can remember dancing to this song in my room. This video always tripped me out, I still don’t think I really get it. But talk about epic, sidewalk lighting up, I mean…brilliant. I can’t say enough about his sense of melody, it’s incredible.

4. Dirty Diana

I’ve never been in a concert atmosphere like this and I really wonder if I’ll ever have the opportunity in my life to experience it. And no I’m not going into the Jonas brothers teenage mosh pit.

5. Beat It

This was back in the day when gangs just had break dancing battles to settle turf wars. Simpler times.

Farewell Michael, you inspired me as a kid and I’m not sure this world will ever see or hear anyone quite like you again.

Folks what are your Top 5 MJ tunes?

What’s the worst thing in your iPod?

Kyle — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:17:51 +0000

I realized as I was listening to my iTunes on shuffle is that I have some real garbage in there and I don’t know how it got there. My tweet about it got some feedback that I wasn’t the only one with this issue. So I want to know, what tracks in your music collection have you throw up in your mouth a little bit each time it comes on and make you wonder how that sick song crawled into your rotation? The following are the worst 5 songs in my collection and I have no good excuse for why they are in there:

1. Haddaway – What Is Love?

If I were a sketch comedian I might have an excuse. But Night at the Roxbury was cool like what 10 years ago? My only defense is I have this track unchecked. A brief moment of sanity in an otherwise bat crazy decision.

2. Dawn Penn – You Don’t Love Me

Wut the….how the…where the….why is this track within 10 laptops of me? Some one slipped me a rufee and popped this in my iTunes and somehow rigged it so it comes on EVERY TIME I shuffle. There’s only a couple acceptable raggae artists and this isn’t one of them.

3. Dirty Vegas – Days Go By

Ok yeah I get it, it was a big hit for a while. But I never even liked this song. I’m chalking this one up to some friend’s wedding I dj’d and they made a special request. I can’t be held responsible for this.

4. Duncan Sheik – On a High

I must have been on a high when I purchased this one. Yes kids, the evidence comes back this was purchased by me. This proves total human depravity more than any other experiential evidence ever could.

5. Boyz II Men – End of the Road

No this isn’t cool, not even in a reminiscent sense. Confession: I remember playing this in the background as I talked to ladies on the phone when I was in middle school. I was Leon Phelps smooth. Double Halfway confession: I actually did this first in the 5th grade to a much worse song that I will take to the grave. I’ll never tell, my mom reads this blog for heaven’s sake. Mom aren’t you amazed I made it through?

one more as a special bonus…

6. Randy Travis – Open the Eyes of My Heart

If Jesus would have opened the ears of my head up I would have nothing to do with this track. This officially marked Open the Eyes of My Heart covers had run their course. The Randy growl going into the chorus does bring a smile to my face for all the wrong reasons. Lord I apologize, I should have stopped at 5.

Ok so let’s hear it, don’t be embarrassed we all have our musical skeletons in the closet. What’s the worst in your collection?

The Rep performing “Praiz Him” Live at LCC

Kyle — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:09:09 +0000

If you’re like the rest of the Christian hip hop community starved for good music, then you gotta check out The Rep. Dude is crazy talented, crazy in love with Jesus, and speaks crazy truth in every track. He performed live at Life Connection Church (my church) on May 8th of this year and we’re releasing a track, maybe 2, as a teaser. Go check him out on myspace and buy his new album Say No More!

Must have music: Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Kyle — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:45:14 +0000

This is one of the best records of the year so far and will be right up there at the end. If you are into MGMT then you will dig Phoenix. Easily the best French band I’ve ever heard, though I couldn’t name another one, even still they take the top spot. They just released their record Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and I highly recommend picking it up. Here’s a video to give you a nice sample.

Lisztomania (The Brat Pack Special)

Anyone know any better French bands? Please chime in.

New music: Flagship (Brigade) – live videos

Kyle — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:39:42 +0000

I’ve hit the wall with my current music selection, I need a refresh. Enter my friend John Mark McMillan. We were chatting about him coming out to Phoenix again to play some shows(gonna be off the chain BTW) and he mentioned his former bass player’s new band Flagship (formerly Flagship Brigade). Check Flagship out on myspace, they are incredible! I’m just bummed that there newer stuff doesn’t seem to be released yet.

But you can get their older EP “We Are Lions” on Amazon and Snocap downloads on their myspace. Here are some live videos of them performing. Killer stuff and ironically some tunes come across very Killers’ish, as in the band.

holy ghost live

cautious eyes live 2nd show ever

Wedding music reflections on our anniversary

Kyle — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:27:08 +0000

Today marks 8 years of marriage to my beautiful wife Melissa. Much has changed since we married on April 14th, 2001, much has grown, much has been gained and lost. We are now 3 kids deep, we moved from our hometown of Santa Barbara CA to the desert, and I was able to convince Mel to enjoy a lot of foods she vowed she hated when we first met. A couple days ago I talked with my wife and we both agreed that each year we learn something new about each other that causes us to fall deeper in love. I know my wife so much better today than in 2001 and our love truly keeps on growing.

I thought a cool way to tie today’s celebration into ORS would be to take a musical journey through our wedding, the songs we chose and why. So let’s get started.

Wedding party walk in

Ben Harper – The Three of Us (Welcome to the Cruel World)

Download audio file (01%20The%20Three%20Of%20Us.mp3)

I love the vibe of this acoustic instrumental. Felt like a perfect fit for the initial wedding party walk in. Just the right length and everything.

Here comes the bride

Deseree – Kissing You (Supernatural)

Download audio file (Kissing%20You.mp3)

The greatest moment in our wedding, the coolest thing I’ve seen in any wedding, with all due respect to my friends and family who thought they had cool parts in their wedding, this beat em all. My wife starts her walk down the aisle from this trail (actually called the Campos trail) that winds down the hill from above the grass area the wedding is at. This song is playing as she walks down the path, obstructed by trees and rock, then emerges and walks across the creek and down the aisle.

Ceremony walk out

Victoria Williams – Let It Be So (Musings of a Creekdipper)

Download audio file (14%20Let%20It%20Be%20So.mp3)

One of the greatest wedding songs ever written, in fact I believe Victoria wrote it for her sister’s wedding. Joyous, unique, truthful lyrics, just seemed like the greatest way to wrap up the ceremony. Walk out in joy and have some fun after being uptight and formal for too long.

First Dance

Stevie Wonder – Ribbon in the Sky (Original Musiquarium I)

Download audio file (1-11%20Ribbon%20In%20The%20Sky.mp3)

Probably one of the most popular wedding songs of all time. The only reason I didn’t want to dance to this song was due to it’s popularity, but then I thought that’s a dumb reason. We both loved the song and it felt so perfect to dance to so who cares if others feel the same way. Nobody does it like Stevie, just beautiful beautiful music plain and simple.

Special Dance

Kyle Campos – Become One (Pneumatics Demo)

Download audio file (05%20Become%20One.mp3)

I wrote this song especially for our wedding, it was a simple love song to my wife. One a couple weeks before our wedding I sat down and just started writing my my heart and hopes for the future. I wanted to thank God and give credit to him for bringing us together and then sing our hope and desire for the future. It was hastily recorded, maybe even the night before the wedding, I can’t remember but I know I was panicking. Despite it’s rough quality it expressed my heart to my wife and she loved it so that’s all that matters. The lyrics to this song were also in my vows to my wife in the ceremony.

Party Dance

Earth Wind & Fire – September (Discover Earth, Wind and Fire)

Download audio file (September.mp3)

My favorite group and song to dance to. I LOVE Earth, Wind and Fire, nobody breaks it down like them. Ridiculous vocals, crazy hip rockin disco, they are the bomb. our party hasn’t started until the first EW&F song drops, believe it.

Looking back on that day makes me smile and see just how lucky I am. I love my wife and family. Happy Anniversary Mel!

Death In His Grave – an Easter song more should be doing

Kyle — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:00:09 +0000

I feel so guilty that I’ve kept John Mark McMillan’s brilliant song, Death In His Grave too close to my chest. I did mention in my review of John Mark’s “The Medicine” album that this song was one of the best on the album and I couldn’t wait to do it on Easter. Well Easter is upon us and as we practiced this for the first time I was just as encouraged, moved, convicted, slammed, by the song as I had hoped. It’s the perfect Easter song and I’m so thankful for John Mark writing it. Here are the words:

Though the earth cried out for blood
satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed the raging seas
for the souls of men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

Chorus
On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with the keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throws of death
And over turn his rule
Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

(to chorus)

Bridge
He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all

The only lyric I will change is “cheated”, I believe I know the intent there but I think “defeated” is a clearer way of presenting it, so we’ll make that change. I’m sorry if this is the first time you’ve heard this song and it’s too late for you to incorporate in your service. I take full responsibility.

By the way if you don’t already you can follow him on twitter @johnmarkmc and John Mark also started a blog at johnmarkmcmillan.blogspot.com

Album Review: The Rep “Say No More”

Brett — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:49:34 +0000

Fresh out of the Valley of the Sun, comes Brandon Kagel a.k.a. “The Rep” with his sophomore project- Say No More courtesy of Blood Marked Entertainment. This album is a definite banger with beats by Mustafas Beats and guest appearances by lyrical monster Lee Green as well as vocals by Suzie K and L Sol. This masterpiece contains incredible diversity, tracks that will make you bang ya head till ya neck hurts on tracks like Say No Names, as well as melodious heart hitting tearjerkers on Dear baby which is a letter to his son, and Unborn Child which is a rhyme from the inside of the womb of a pregnant woman.

The Rep is definitely a Phoenix Son and his music reflects the essence of the inner city and cries out for the redemption of our blackout generation. “He was age 5 when the movie Goonies came out, and put 5 on a doobie when the Looniz came out..” If you can relate to that, then this album is definitely for you.

I definitely admire and respect the boldness that is brought forth on this album with straight up no BS truth about struggles that our generation faces today. With hard knock punchlines and similes that you don’t catch until 8 bars later. The Rep is a BEAST on this one and it is a must. Go pick this one up, you can thank me later.

John Legend sings about cheating Christians

Kyle — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:25 +0000

I’m a sucker for some R&B, I dig John Legend. But the thing about R&B is the lyrics are usually the most blunt, abrasive ways to communicate a story. Metaphors and poetic phrasing are of no use to the R&B community. They just go to the basest level of language to express themselves, which is certainly efficient if not tactful. How else do you explain “I wanna make love in dis club“? Tell me how you really feel Usher.

John Legend has this song called Number One, which is sung from the perspective of a cheating boyfriend basically telling his girlfriend to stop whining about him cheating, in fact the opening line is:

You can’t say I don’t love you just because I cheat on you

I always found the song grossly comedic and had a fun time singing it with my wife in the car in jest. But as I was singing the chorus I got convicted that I’ve sang this same chorus to God many times, with the same pathetically transparent BS that John sings with. Tell me if you’ve ever sung this to God during worship:

You know that I love You
There’s no one above You
I said it the last time, that this is the last time
Don’t make me over
Cuz I can be faithful
You’re my number one, You’re my number one

We carry on “struggling” in sin, willfully choosing ourselves over God throughout the week, walk in on Sunday and sing this weak love song claiming that “this is the last time.” We should stop making promises to God we have no intention or ability to keep. Matt Chandler addresses this topic of “white knuckle struggling” where in our flesh we just grit our teeth and repeatedly promise to never do it again. Only to fail time and time again. But as Paul said in Romans 9:16

“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

How do I need to continue to rest in the Holy Spirit and to continually place myself in his hands to form me and shape me. I can’t do it on my own no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want it. Religion is a tricky thing, it’s constantly at our heels, presenting itself as some new level of spirituality. Take me back to your heart Jesus, I have no righteousness in myself.

How to sync two live bands

Kyle — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:00:17 +0000

Bryan Nelson at Vertical Resonator recently did a post showing how his church actually syncs two live bands in 2 different rooms for their worship service. He leads worship at Topeka Bible Church and is really doing some great creative stuff. The two bands play the same set, at the exact same time in 2 different rooms and are forced to do this due to the bleed through in the rooms they are in. It’s a really awesome and interesting setup. Here’s the full diagram showing the setup.

Heavy metal monk terrifies Satan

Kyle — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:51:04 +0000

This monk figured he’d beat Satan at his own game, a little musical/spiritual jujitsu. The demon scream at the end had Satan wetting himself in fear.

Our Rising Sound» music

Loop making process, Part 1: main groove (audio)

Part 1. Main Groove

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