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!

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.

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.

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.

Helio Sequence headlined a show at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix last Tuesday (Mar 18th). Our Rising Sound band attended and was tasked with a homework assignment. Observe, enjoy, taken in the experience but more importantly assess. See what we as a church can receive, what can be redeemed and what we must reject. I’ll try and summarize the observations of ORS and inject some of my own.

It was absolutely one of the best small venue shows I’ve ever attended. Helio just destroyed the place, they were flawless and they left many of us from ORS inspired. Those of you in religious bondage may be asking, “How could you possibly be inspired by a secular band”. I’ll get into the redemptive aspects of the show, but first lets take a look at what we can out right receive as the church.

Receive:

• arrangement philosophy – Helio plays to pre-recorded tracks as you may know, so their arrangement is pretty much set in stone. Usually a live show is the band’s opportunity to mix things up, I usually find it a mistake and wish they stuck to the record. So I was looking forward to hearing what I like. Josh noticed he was fearful or getting stuck in arrangements in worship. But upon seeing Helio realized that an expected arrangement can actually be liberating. Too much mucking about with the arrangement can be really distracting for a congregation even though it might be exciting for the band. Find an arrangement that serves the song well and stand by it.
• musicianship – both members of the band, Brandon Summer (vocals, guitar) and Benjamin Weikel (drums, synth work), are incredible musicians. The creativity they display is unbelievable but it always, always serves the song. Very rarely do you hear something out of left field that seems indulgent. Brandon’s guitar work is so unique and he’s certainly carved out a signature sound. I thought for sure with the amount of delay and reverb he plays with it would muddy up the room, but he’s able to cut through and knows how to manage it, let’s it get crazy sometimes but mostly does a lot of single string work. Benjamin’s drumming is phenomenal. His drum patterns are so uniquely crafted and memorable, they become almost melodic. His time is perfect and with the patterns he plays it’s even more impressive how spot on he is.

Redeem:

• passion – Nearly everyone on ORS responded noticing the band’s passion. They were 100% devoted to their music, having a blast, being creative. You could tell there wasn’t anyplace else they wanted to be, it’s what they’d given their life to, given the best of themselves to, their first fruits. Passion can be a huge problem in church bands in a number of areas but it usually comes down to a single reason. Being passionately in love with God and doing what you’re called to do. One without the other leaves us a shell of a musician who feels his presence is required not desired. I can’t stand seeing 5 robots lead worship, completely stiff and completely unmoved by the presence of God. If we are ushering in the presence of the Almighty, I’d think we should make sure our bodies recognize that and respond accordingly. God can redeem the passion in this concert for music, fame, and turn our hearts to passion for Christ.
• worshipful presence – Kendra noticed the worshipful presence in the place and how people there were enthralled, consumed, in awe of the music being played. Everyone was certainly focused and in a certain meditative state. It is a real simple view of how the enemy is crafty in not having creation reject it’s purpose, but just distorting it enough to have us forsake the true purpose and replace it with a selfish one. The arts have always been a battleground in this because it’s the outpouring of ourselves we can’t just turn that off. Since we are a fallen people, our art is fallen as well. Praise be to God that by his grace he can redeem that and purpose, hope, love can be restored in that. This band who gauges their success on the worship they receive could be redeemed and success given to God based on Kingdom effectiveness

Reject:

• pride – plenty of this to go around and I don’t mean this just in relation to the band and venue. Certainly plenty of pride in the church to deal with. The only authority I feel I have in this is knowing just how screwed up I am in pride and how desperately I need Jesus.

This was a fantastic learning experience for me and for ORS. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but not many local ones. It was a great chance to see what kind of music the community is into, what the local scene is and start getting plugged into it. As the worship leader I have to know what is moving the community musically. Otherwise I shouldn’t be surprised when the community is disconnected, uninterested and dispassionate for the music in the church. I think we’ve made some good strides in this area. We have a big concert coming up and I look forward to continuing to press into the local community more and more musically.