25. Rhett Walker Band- “Come To The River” Roots music
experienced a huge renaissance in 2012, more than likely spring boarded by the
popularity of Needtobreathe. Thus it seems appropriate that my top albums list
this year begins with a roots album. These guys name Lynyrd Skynyrd and
Needtobreathe as influences and it shows. Plenty of raw, southern rock drawl
here, especially on songs like the title track and “Get Up, Get Out.” However,
the true gem of this album is the acoustic “Singing Stone” which brings the
album to a worshipful close, set against the backdrop of God’s creation of the
world and a simple strummed acoustic guitar, with a little slide chime thrown
in for good measure.
24. Brandon Heath- “Blue Mountain.” Similarly to Rhett
Walker, Brandon Heath has gone roots rock for his third release. “The
Harvester” sounds like it could have been a Welcome Wagon outtake, with plenty
of banjo and acoustic guitar. “Diamond” and “Paul Brown Petty” showcase Heath’s
fine ability as a storyteller, which is another budding trend we are seeing in
music this year, the return of story songs to the music world! “Dying Day” may
be the true album masterpiece, as Heath writes a first person account of a man
who knows his time has come to die, and the reflective almost Ecclesiastical
way in which he reviews his life.
23. Children 18:3- “On The Run” Remember awesome late 90’s
pop/punk bands like Bleach, Blink 182, and Ace Troubleshooter? Tooth and Nail
records did us the great service back in 2010 of helping bring back that sound
by signing Children 18:3 out of Minnesota, as a three piece band of recent home
educated grads! “On The Run” is their sophomore project, and it brings the fun,
energetic punk that infuses enough pop to make the lyrics intelligible.
“Bandits,” “Jenny,” “We’ll Never Say Goodbye,” and “I Tried To Do The Right
Thing” will easily have your head bopping and feet tapping! “Always On The Run”
slows things down for a ballad about the need to stop running and come home, a
kind of prodigal son story song.
22. The Glorious Unseen- “Lovesick” These guys are taking
worship music to a different direction than many are used to! Musically the
songs stretch out and often mesh into each other, as one song often sounds
similar to the next. However, the sound is very much Coldplay, U2, Hillsong,
and Jesus Culture all rolled into one, so that is not a bad thing that each
song rolls into the next one. Lyrically these folks are all about God’s
redemptive work in our lives, and the fact that our Father in Heaven hasn’t ever
abandoned us, especially on songs like “The Love Of God,” “The More I Seek You”
and “In This Moment”
21. Nada Surf- “The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy.” I
had lost track of these guys since their 2005, college radio hit “Always Love”
became a huge part of my freshman year of college. 2012, saw them catch my
attention again especially with “When I Was Young” which begins with a acoustic
guitar picked quietly and calls to mind anything by The Dawes, or All Sons
& Daughters. However about halfway through the electric guitars and drums
crash in, and that familiar Nada Surf rock and roll sound is back! The rest of
the album is exception fun rock at its best particularly on songs like “Jules
& Jim” and “Teenage Dreams,” which carries with it the hopeful message of
not giving up on the dreams we all had as children and young adults!
20, Alabama Shakes- “Boys & Girls” This past summer I
felt as if I had traveled back in time to 1967 when the first notes of this
album shot through my headphones. The Alabama Shakes have decided to revisit an
era of music that we really haven’t seen revisited in modern day music: soul;
and more specifically the kind of soul that would have been on the Motown
Records imprint in the 1960’s. There is plenty of Diana Ross & The Supremes
in songs like “I Found You” and “Rise To The Sun, while songs like “Hold On”
sound a little more like Stevie Wonder. The ballads like the title track and
“You Ain’t Alone” call to mind Ray Charles. Needless to say this was a very
significant release this year, and one that deserved more attention and fan
fair than it received!
19. Matt & Toby- “Matt & Toby” Two guys from Emery,
a Christian hardcore band decided to start an acoustic based duo represented by
each of their respective first names and Tooth & Nail Records took notice
and signed them pronto! Their investment paid off, as “Matt & Toby” is as
good a true acoustic guitar pop album that the music industry has seen since
The Format’s debut “Inventions + Lullabies” back in 2003! The heart of this
album is the stories the songs tell, albeit at times simple and lighthearted.
Standouts for me include “Life Of The Party,” “Sunday Morning, February 12th”
and the autobiographical sounding closing ballad “The Last One.”
18. Sixpence None The Richer- “Lost In Transition.” This
album literally took over two and a half years to see release, after label
deferments and delays kept it locked away in a studio vault for way too long!
This summer it finally dropped, and the result was a fine enjoyable middle ground
rock album from the reunited Leigh Nash and company. Specific tunes that I
liked were “My Dear Machine,” “Should Not Be This Hard” (a song about sticking
it out in a dating relationship, recognizing that it is not always easy), and
“Radio” (a song about the sentimentality certain songs can possess for us)
17. Audrey Assad- “Heart.” Here we have the sophomore
project from Audrey Assad, one of the finest songwriters to emerge out of the
folk music revival that has occurred in the semi-underground music scene the
past five years or so. Lyrically, Assad is just getting better, as she wrestles
with struggles in desiring to understand the nature of who God is, and how He
works in a broken world. This desire is most strongly conveyed in “Slow” my
personal favorite from this project, as Assad writes about how our faith often
holds on by a ‘little burning ember underneath the snow.” “Blessed Are The
Ones” is about seeking God, while “Sparrow” is a song affirming God’s daily
providence for our lives. “Even The Winter” similarly is a reminder that our
walks with God go through seasons, and that the “winter won’t last forever.”
Hope amidst struggle is a running theme as this fine album!
16. Ben Folds Five- “The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind.” The
reunion of the Ben Folds Five, for their first album since 1999, has seen a
definite sign of maturity on their part, particularly on the songwriting Ben
Folds, who has compiled 10 of his most reflective tunes on this project. Many
songs on here reflect on growing older and realizing that life often doesn’t
turn out the way one expects it to when he is 25. “Michael Praytor, 12 Years
Later,” “Hold That Thought,” “Sky High” and my personal favorite “On Being
Frank,” written from the perspective of a man who once was Frank Sinatra’s
butler, all possess a certain air of lessons learned and life lived. The title
track is all about how our minds process information, and “Thank You For
Breaking My Heart” is a haunting ballad that should easily rank among Folds’
finest of his career.
15. Lovedrug- “Wild Blood.” Since their 2007 magnum opus
“Everything Starts Where It Ends” I had been disappointed with Lovedrug’s
releases. Thus, I was uncertain what to expect when “Wild Blood” dropped back
in March. Let me just say that this album by far seems to get them back on
track! “Great Divide” was easily one of the best songs of 2012, featuring some
excellent pounding bass and chiming and whining guitar with lyrics that seem to
reflect Romans 8, where Paul speaks of creation groaning and longing for
redemption. The title track is probably the finest guitar song they’ve written
while, “Girl” and “We Were Owls” are the closest thing Lovedrug come to love
songs, considering much of the songwriting of Michael Shepherd is dark and
bleak. “Your Country” somewhat subtly seems to reference how the decisions
people make in power affect the everyday person, including their decisions on
freedom of religion and Christianity in the line “pray if you want to it’s your
country.” I can easily say that “Wild Blood” is a fine album for fans of deeper
and darker introspection.
14. Heath McNease- “The Weight Of Glory: Songs Inspired By
The Works of CS Lewis.” Anytime an artist chooses to do a project centered on
the writings of one particular author, especially an author of Lewis’ acclaim,
you are bound to end up with some awesome and memorable songs. McNease here
give us songs from many of Lewis’ works, both fiction and non-fiction. Some
quote directly from the books they are named after (“The Great Divorce,” “Mere
Christianity,” “The Weight Of Glory,” “A Grief Observed”), others take on a
more thematic approach (“The Four Loves,” “The Screwtape Letters,” “The Problem
of Pain”) and others are named after characters or places from his books
(“Edmund” and “Prelandra”). What you end up with is a buffet of different
sounds and songwriting styles, though the main musical influence is definitely
folk. Certainly one of the more unique releases this year, and even better as
of press time it is still FREE on noisetrade.com!
13. Paper Route- “The Peace Of Wild Things.” Much like
Lovedrug, Paper Route write about the darker themes of life such as loss,
despair and depravity. However, they still balance it out with hope. “Better
Life” seems to draw at least some inspiration from John 10:10 where Jesus
states he came to bring us ‘life and have it abundantly.” “You & I” and
“Love Letters” are both love songs, which balance out songs like “Letting You
Let Go” (about the ending of a dating relationship) and “Glass Heart Hymn” (about
loneliness). “Calm My Soul” concludes the album with a prayer for peace in the
midst of the storm. While often not overt, Paper Route certainly direct their
often dark view of the world, back to hope, hope that comes from their
Christian worldview, that while they try to avoid being marked a Christian
band, shines through the darkness, if one is listening close enough!
12. Tenth Avenue North- “The Struggle.” This album ranks
this high for the simple fact that is it, for all intensive purposes a
mainstream CCM album, and as a mainstream CCM album, it revolves around the
concept of struggle, sin, pain, and unexplained difficulties that we all face
in daily life, but often goes unacknowledged by bands who are radio favorites.
Tenth Avenue North have never shied away from these topics in the past, but
this album is off the charts. “Don’t Stop With Your Love” the title track,
“Worn” and “Strangers Here” all point to the fact that we are in a fallen
world, that can’t therefore ever feel completely like home to us here on earth,
because we long for the perfect world God created before sin entered the
picture, and we will only have that one day when Christ returns to establish
his Kingdom here on earth!
11. The Royal
Royal- “Royalty.” These guys are coming out of Canada and dropping to fill the
void of ‘worship band of many stylistic influences’ left since David Crowder
Band disbanded in January 2012. Lots of synths, mixed over layers of guitars
and driving drums and bass lines make this for an awesome listen. Think of
David Crowder Band in their “Church Music” album era, only a little more rock
than pop. Lyrically these guys are straight ahead worship music with much
energy to be had as your they take your eardrums on a journey through songs
like ‘Praise Him,” “Love,” “My Hope,” “Heartbeats” and “To You.” A foresee a
lot of great work coming from these guys as the decade progresses!
10. Passion: “White Flag.” This album serves as the souvenir
for my first ever trip to the Passion Conference in Atlanta Ga, from January 2nd-5th,
2012. Kristian Stanfill’s “Not Ashamed” opens this album with a fury and
flourish as he boldly leads the more than 45,000 college aged students and
twentysomethings, in the bold chant of “I’m not ashamed of the One who saved my
soul!” “White Flag” from Chris Tomlin encourages surrender to God and his will
for one’s life. “All This Glory” the final live recording of the David Crowder
Band, who played their final concert at Passion 2012, is an almost Christmas
themed song about how God sent Jesus “in the middle of the night, after all
this quiet.” “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman while not a brand new song for
this compilation, is one of the best worship songs written in the last ten
years, and its inclusion on this awesome project is a perfect fit!
9. Owl City- “The Midsummer’s Stations” Let me just say it,
yes I think Adam Young, the one man band behind synth pop phenom Owl City is
pretty much the guy who is saving the pop music genre right now! 2011’s “All
Things Bright And Beautiful” was a masterpiece of catchy pop melodies and
joyful, uplifting, and at times humorous lyrics. It makes sense that Young
wanted to put together a follow up as quickly as possible, and he did a good
job. On this project he received songwriting help from Relient K’s Matt
Theissen, and lyrically you can see it reflected in the more thought provoking
tone of songs like “Silhouette” and “Metropolis.” There is also the first break
up song in Young’s repertoire with “Take It All Away” and a duet with Carli Rae
Jepsen (yes of “Call Me Maybe” fame *gag*) on one of the catchiest pop songs of the year “Good Time.”
8. Jenny & Tyler- “Open Your Doors.” One of the coolest
musical husband and wife duos outside of Over The Rhine released a new album
this past May, and what an album it was! Simple melodies based over acoustic
guitars, with both Tyler and Jenny trading off vocal duties, make for a
wonderful spring day’s folk album. The lyrics are often simple and direct
affirmations of their Christian faith (“You Keep Loving Me,” Little Balloon”),
as well as songs that often quote directly from the Psalms (“Fear Thou Not,”
“Psalm 86,”) and even some of Jesus’ words in the Gospels (“Abide”).
7. All Sons And Daughters- “Season One.” Similar to the
Jenny & Tyler album listed above, All Sons And Daughters are a folk based
worship band. This album is actually a compilation of two ep’s the band
released back in 2011, with a couple of new tunes thrown in. It is hard to picture a more
beautifully constructed worship album as the band shines through on “All The
Poor & Powerless” (covered later THIS same year by The Digital Age on their
debut EP) and “Brokenness Aside” a ballad about God’s ability to make us
beautiful despite our sin. “Set Free” reflects on Galatians 5:1, while “Alive”
is a bouncy two-minute number about the joy of the Lord! A fantastic debut
project from a band I have a feeling we will be hearing from for years to come!
6. The Vespers- “The Fourth Wall.” Some will argue with me
that I should rank this album higher, and to be fair, I could easily entertain
those arguments. Here we easily have one of the best folk/bluegrass albums
released in the last decade! There are so many instruments used on this
project, as while only sporting four members, The Vespers all play multiple instruments.
There are banjos, fiddles, cellos, xylophones, guitars, basses, mandolins, and
drums, sometimes all used in the same song! “Flower Flower” is a basic love
song that bounces and sways leaving the listening unable to keep from tapping
his foot. “Got No Friends” starts out as a sort of snarky look at not having
anyone to talk to, but by song’s end finds the songs protagonist remembering
“Jesus, I will always have a friend in you.” “Jolly Robber” is just a plain fun
song for the ears to consume! “Instrument For You” is easily the most
worshipful song on the album, while “Footprints In The Snow” and “Winter” both
use the seasonal visual landscapes often present at that time of year to invoke
moods and feelings. An exceptional project from start to finish!
5. Mumford & Sons- “Babel.” Easily one of the most
anticipated releases of the year for me, “Babel” delivered and then some!
Following the heals of their incredible 2010 debut “Sigh No More,” it would be
easy to think Mumford & Sons might take a step down with their follow up
and fall prey to the ‘sophomore slump’ as they say in the music industry. Never
fear, this didn’t even come close to happening. The more I listened to “Babel”
this past autumn, the more I realized it is truly a love story album, about the
pursuit by a “Lover Of The Light” for his “Lover’s Eyes.” It is about the
“Whispers In The Dark” he gives her, and the way he sings “I Will Wait” for
you. It is easy to view this album as working on two levels as well. The “He”
could be Jesus, and the “she’ could be Jesus’ bride, the Church. Knowing that
Mumford & Sons are writing from a Christian worldview makes these jumps all
the easier to make, and it is easy to think they intended you to interpret them
as such! As a side note, the bonus track edition of “Babel” includes three
extra songs, one of which is a fantastic cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s
classic “The Boxer”
4. David Crowder Band- “Give Us Rest: Or A Requiem Mass In
C, The Happiest Of Keys.”
2012 was the year of goodbyes for David Crowder and his
fellow band mates. They performed one final concert on January 2nd,
2012 at the Passion Conference in Atlanta, Ga, where I was in attendance! This,
their final album would go on sale the following week, but all attendees of the
conference had a chance to buy it early, so of course I did so immediately.
Once I returned home and had a chance to dive into this incredible double album
2-Disc finale, I realized I already had my hands on what would be one of the
best albums of the year! There is so much music here to hear! “Oh Great God
Give Us Rest” opens the project with a piano only ballad that builds into an
all out rock song by the end. “Let Me Feel You Shine,” “(After All) Holy,” “I
Am A Seed,” “Come Find Me” all travel the various musical styles David Crowder
and company have been known for throughout their career. From folk, to
electronic, to bluegrass, these guys cover the gamut! The albums closes with a
series of bluegrass gospel songs including “I’ll Fly Away” and one finest
remakes of the classic Gaither tune “Because He Lives.” To say this is the
crowning moment of the David Crowder Band’s career would be an incredible
understatement! Talk about going out on top!!
3. Andrew Peterson- “The Light For The Lost Boy.” Andrew Peterson is easily one of the
best folk influenced musicians and songwriters to always be on the edge of
becoming a household name, but never quite making it there. Many have compared
his lyrical expressions of finding God in creation and the day-to-day life to
that of the late great Rich Mullins and those comparisons have over the years
been quite valid. However, with ‘Light For The Lost Boy” Peterson has given us
the darkest lyrically themed collection of his career, and what would be hard
to argue, also his finest album as well! Indeed this album title fits this
project quite nicely. There is plenty of darkness, death and sadness on this
album, in songs like “Come Back Soon” which speaks of a flood that caused
destruction and death in the sight of child, and “The Ballad of Jody Baxter”
which speaks of being lost in the woods. “Day By Day” chronicles a first person
account of a sad day in the life of the protagonist, while “The Cornerstone”
wrestles with some of Christ’s difficult teachings. However, all is not dark,
as “Rest Easy” reminds us that God promises rest to those who seek Him, and
“Don’t You Want To Thank Someone”(which clocks in at almost 10 minutes in
length) is easily one of the best songs of the year, as it speaks of seeing so
much beauty in creation and how it stirs (or certainly should stir) in our
hearts gratitude and joy!
2. Bill Mallonee- “Amber Waves.” Yes Bill Mallonee is my
favorite living songwriter, and yes, you say of course I would rank any of his
albums high on my list. However, I find myself truly realizing as time passes
how this album is truly one of the best in Mallonee’s long and incredibly
prolific career! This album is actually Mallonee’s 50th since 1990,
counting all his independently released projects, ep’s and all his great 90’s
albums as front man of the Vigilantes of Love! Over these 50 albums Mallonee
has often crafted semi themed albums. “Amber Waves” appears to do that, be it
intentionally or unintentionally. The title track opens the album and features
the lyrics “There are songs for the beginning, and songs made for the end, and
songs for when you begin again.” From there we get several songs about
beginnings especially relationships (“Pillow Of Stars,” “Faith (Comes Soaked In
Gasoline),” & “To The Nines”) songs about endings, be it life, or chapters
in our lives (“Long Since Gone,” “Once Your Heart Gets Broken,” “Into God Knows
What” & “Walking Disaster”) and songs about beginning again (“Yeah, Yeah,
Yeah (Faith Like A Butterfly’s Wing),” “Walking Disaster,” & “Break In The Clouds”).
As always Mallonee peppers and seasons his lyrical expressions with a dogged
Faith in God and His ability to work through every trial we face, and His
presence in every joy we experience! Personally this is my favorite Mallonee
album since the days of the Vigilantes of Love, and in some ways it shouldn’t
surprise me, as two of the most long tenured members of the Vigilantes make up
a great deal of Mallonee’s band for this album as Jake Bradley plays Bass and
Kevin Hauer plays drums!
1. Rend Collective Experiment- “Homemade Worship By Handmade
People.” Plain and simple this album is the most vibrantly and energetic
worship album you may ever encounter! This five member band from Ireland play
all different kinds of instruments including some that are ‘homemade’ and you
would never see elsewhere. Think a giant metal garbage can with a long
drumstick, and a strange stringed instrument that resembles a thin saw blade
with a rounded handle played with a bow. There are also xylophones, bells,
mandolins, fiddles, trumpets and trombones in addition to guitars, keyboards
and drums. I had a chance to see these guys when they opened for Tenth Avenue
North this past autumn and they totally brought the house down! They performed
only four songs, all of which appear on this project: You Are My Vision” (a
slightly reworked “Be Thou My Vision”) “Praise Like Fireworks,” “Desert Soul”
and what is easily the best worship song of 2012, “Build Your Kingdom Here,”
and totally blew everyone in the audience away! “Build Your Kingdom Here” in
particular stands out to me lyrically as it is bold cry for God to ignite the
Church with a passion to see Him move and “unleash His kingdom power on our
hearts” while acknowledging that as Christians “we are Your Church, we are Your
hope on earth!” The album only lasts 45 minutes, but there is not a dull moment
in that 45 minutes, and you will most certainly wish it were longer once it is
done! I pick these five people, who are so humble they refuse to put their
names inside the album jacket, to be the future of worship music today! Let’s
see where they go in the next ten years!!
One album I acquired this year that should have been on last
year’s countdown:
Josh Garrels- “Love & War & The Sea Between.” Hands
down the most incredible album of 2011. Garrels is the best songwriter since
Mark Heard to articulate the all out battle of living in a fallen world while
clinging to Hope in Christ. He travels so many musical styles here as well,
from folk to rock to hip-hop and he does them all really really well, but the
heart and soul of this album are the lyrics, especially songs like “The
Resistance,” “Ulysses” and “Farther Along.” This album spent a solid two months
this past spring as a free download on noisetrade.com and that is where I and
so many of my close friends had a chance to first discover this incredible
songwriter who had an impact on our faith tremendously this year!
Honorable mentions:
Of Monsters & Men- “My Head Is An Animal”
Big Tent Revival- “The Way Back Home”
The Lumineers- “The Lumineers”
Poema- “Remembering You”
Beach House- “Bloom”
House of Heroes- “Cold Hard Want”
Anberlin- “Vital”
Sarah Macintosh- “Current”
Dave Matthews Band- “Away From This World”
The Avett Brothers- “The Carpenter”
Young Oceans- “Young Oceans”
