This blog examines, reviews and discusses how worship is being lived out in culture and in the church. We tackle everything from songwriting techniques in corporate worship, to interviewing worship leaders and pastors, to reviewing the last big rock concert.
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.
Thanks Brett for passing this onto me. This is a pretty sick display of ability by Ryan Leslie. It reminds me of what I look like when composing. I always dress in a full suit and wear sunglasses in my bedroom, dancin around, shouting out to the nonexistent crowd. My wife loves it.
Oh wait actually it’s more of me in my pj’s, haven’t taken a shower in a couple days, chained to my desk, pounding Hansen’s natural soda, wondering if I’ll ever have another creative thought in my life. Yeah, stark contrast. Watch and enjoy.
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.
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.
Live looping is a technique made more popular recently by people like KT Tunstall, but it’s not really a new concept at all. Basically it consists of one or more musicians capturing live audio in a loop and adding more layers on to the loop throughout the song. Usually accomplished with something like a Boss Loop Station or Electro-Harmonix Super Multi-Track Looper. If done well it can be an incredible thing to see and hear.
Andrew Bird is an incredible musician, vocalist, live looper and whistler. In fact I’ve not heard many give as clean and on pitch whistle as Andrew. Noble Beast is Andrew’s latest album and it sounds incredible.
We like to give tips on gear, software, songwriting, loops, you name it. Something often overlooked is how to properly hold and speak/sing into a microphone. Here is a demonstration on how not to use a microphone.
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