11 Days: Music of My Heart

Excuse the throwaway NSYNC/Gloria Estefan reference. I had to keep my streak of “song titles as blog titles” alive. And it seems appropriate enough. So I’ll be reflecting the 11 songs that had the most impact on me this year in no particular order.

1. Playback – Collie Buddz The romantic in me instantly connected to this song. when he says “Your love is like a soundtrack,” that just conjures so many memories for me. I want someone to be able to say that about me. I want to be able to say that about someone. But I guess I’ll just have to keep waiting…

2. Last to Speak – Allen Stone I love, Love, LOVE this song. It just really hits home for me. As many gripes as I have about the Church, politics, and society, I’m not even in a position to offer a truly constructive criticism. So next year I’ll be working on removing the plank in my eye. Fun times.

3. For Once in My Life – B.Reith & PJ Morton This track came along at a perfect time in my life. It really confirmed that I need to stop letting my fears control me and start making some major moves in my life.

4. #CougarSwag – Heath McNease & Playdough I love this song if for no other reason that I can make a terrible spinoff called #PumaSwag and thoroughly disgust Playdough. This song is hilarious and it’s just fun.

5. Beautiful Things – Gungor This song just gives me so much hope. god really does make beautiful things out of us, and I’ll never understand why. But I’ll always be appreciative.

6. Where I Belong – Switchfoot This song slays me. Plain and simple. It sums up my view on mortality and living a life of consequence.

7. Give Me – Kirk Franklin f./ Mali Music How can you not love this song? Like, seriously.

8. Song of Intercession – William McDowell “The change I wanna see must first begin in me. I surrender so Your world can be changed.” Those lyrics get me so hard every time. I really do have to be the change I want to see in the world, and I’m slowly but surely making the right steps towards that.

9. Hang With Me – Robyn I know this is an older song, but I really discovered Body Talk this year. And those lyrics provide a great disclaimer for me to guard my heart the next time I enter a relationship. “Just don’t fall recklessly headlessly in love with me, because it’s gonna be a heartbreak…”

10. Dry Bones – Gungor I think they’re albums were my favorite of the year (more on that tomorrow.) The emotion is so potent in this song, you can’t help but be held captive by it.

11. Love is Here – Royal Tailor This is a fantastic song that very recently became a favorite of mine. It’s very Michael Jackson-lite, but I enjoy the complete work of the song. Royal Tailor is this generation’s Plus One, hands down. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing since I loved Plus One (especially Exodus…that album was just great), but I do see RT eventually being more successful.

Tomorrow I’ll break down my top 10 albums of the year. Until then, what songs really impacted you this year?

 

[Album Review] Playdough & Heath McNease – Wed, White, & Wu

Click here to download the mixtape for FREE!

It’s finally here! I got an advance copy of it yesterday and I had to sit on it for awhile and talk about it to a friend. I came away with a lot of thoughts:

First: I hipped my friend to Playdough & Heath literally like last week. I made a mixtape for her with a lot of different tracks that were mostly upbeat. So when she heard this she wasn’t as prepared for it. Mostly because she doesn’t usually listen to Wu Tang Clan or any gritty hip hop like that. But the mixtape served to provide several juxtapositions. Whenever I hip her to music, it’s either purely Christian/Gospel or purely secular. To have something that mixes the two was interesting to her. And it provided great discussion that shall lead me to the following soapbox:

You can’t really win for losing being a Christian. It’s as if when you’re a Christian you fall into one of these categories: completely isolated from the world and judgmental or so hypocritical that no one really knows you’re a Christian except for when you say it. I already know that I can’t share this mixtape with some of my friends because they’re going to be like “Wu Tang? That’s not holy.” or “That can’t edify your spirit” or whatever holy speak we like to use when sounding super spiritual. While I appreciate that view and certainly don’t knock it, it feels like we as super deep Christians can miss the point, or worse yet miss the opportunity to really learn something. I truly subscribe to the concept that you can’t just watch/listen to/participate in just anything. We can’t try to get so close to the world that we lose our Christian identity, but at the same time we can’t be so isolated that we become out of touch. It is ENTIRELY possible to be Christian and NOT BE A LAME!! You can speak about love and faith and hope, and still be cool. You can talk about video games and relationships, and other unimportant things and still have a heart for Christ. How do you find that balance? That’s entirely subjective, but it can be found.

Now with that being said, there really is something for everyone in this mixtape. The rhymes are as deft and discerning as ever. You can really sense how hard everyone worked on this mixtape. Every time you listen, you’ll get a different understanding of a lyric, or you’ll just hear something so outlandish that you can’t help but laugh out loud. While this mixtape won’t be for everyone, it is still pretty stellar. I couldn’t recommend this mixtape enough. So click on the link, download it, and donate. We need to support good music whenever we can so do it!

Throwaway note: I never realized what a wrestling fan Heath McNease was until this mixtape. I heard at least 2 Lex Luger mentions and a shout out to Randy Orton. As a big wrestling fan, that just made my heart happy.

Rating: 4.4/5

Tracks to Repeat: “#CougarSwag”, “C.R.E.A.M.”, “Sweet Love”, “Gravel Spit”, “27 Club”

Tracks to Skip: “You Know My Steez”, “Half Ghetto”

 

[Album Review] ‘Da T.R.U.T.H. – The Whole Truth

Click here to purchase "The Whole Truth" from iTunes

 

I couldn’t tell you how excited I was when I heard that ‘Da T.R.U.T.H. was releasing a new album. Friends of mine called him the best Christian rapper alive, and while I wouldn’t go that far, I still loved his music tons. So I anxiously waited until the album dropped today to check it out.

Aside: I can’t tell you how much Spotify has enriched my life. Just the fact that I could stream the whole album (legally!) and then make a decision on whether or not to buy it is tremendous. I love that I can just randomly think “Hey, I haven’t listened to Third Eye Blind in awhile…” and then not only listen to them, but spend 2 solid hours making a 90′s Rock/Alternative playlist and be immersed in nostalgia. Spotify is about to get $10 from me every month just for offline service. It’s just amazing. End aside.

So I started listening to the album, and I just felt perplexed. I loved the honesty and emotion behind the lyrics to the album (best lyrics of the album: “These ain’t just lyrics; this is a contrite heart.”), but the music and production just felt lacking. Subpar even. It didn’t help that the first half of the album was all mid-tempo tracks save 1. The last half of the CD really picked up and it was really good. The lyrics were hard hitting and timely but the music just left me underwhelmed for the most part. Long time T.R.U.T.H. fans will enjoy this album, but it may be hit or miss for his newer fans or those who’ve never heard him before.

Rating: 3/5

Tracks to Repeat: “Alive”, “Alive Remix”, “Brainwashed”

Tracks to Skip: “Impossible”, “Can’t Believe”

 

 

Get Familiar: Heath McNease

A month without a new blog post? Tragic I know. That’s what Grad school will do to ya… but I’m back now!

He’s been flying under the radar for so long, I don’t understand it. Y’all know my weakness for white boys who play guitar, rap, and love Jesus. (I’m sure it is God’s work that I haven’t met B.Reith yet, despite the fact we live an hour away from each other, but I digress… #notastalker) I never knew Heath McNasty existed until I saw a video that Playdough tweeted awhile back. And if something or someone has Playdough’s stamp of approval, chances are more than likely that I’m gonna love it.

This was no exception. He sings, he raps, he plays guitar, and he has hair longer than mine. These are 4 important factors that will have me head over heels for a musician. And he is the BOMB freestyle rapper! He’s just dope, no matter how you look at it.

So watch this amazing video of Heath, Playdough, and Manchild freestyling and get familiar. After that, cop his new album “The House Always Wins” post haste. You can find his website here and you can follow him on twitter @theheathmcnasty

 

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: Your least favorite song.

So as much music that is out there that I love, there is so much more that I hate. This song in particular though, I hate with a passion.

Billy Ray Cyrus ruined my 2nd grade.

As a wee lad going to a gifted school in Madison, FL, we had lots of different activities. We sang songs in Spanish, we put together a play, we played massive amounts of kickball (at which yours truly is a CHAMP at. I’m not bragging, it’s just a fact). But the one thing we did EVERY morning during the school year was we got into two lines, and we did the bus stop (folks not in the south know this dance better as the electric slide). To Achy Breaky Heart. When I say that we did this every morning without fail, it is true. It was my first true lesson in consistency. And it might it explain why I’m not a consistent worker to this day. Repetition annoys me to now end. And you can thank Billy Ray Cyrus, his fantastic mullet, and my 2nd grade teacher for that. UGH.

 

[Album Preview] Playdough – Hotdoggin’

One of my favorite emcee’s is back and ready to release a new album! I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peak at a track (“My Cadillac”) and I am super-de-duper excited about the album. Pre-orders are going on now here, and the first 100 orders get the Limited Edition Package with the album, a t-shirt, and a poster.

So check out the teaser video, and pre-order it now! There’s not much good music coming out lately, so don’t pass up the opportunity to get some great music from Playdough.

All you tweeples can follow him on twitter @_playdough

 

[Music Video] Richman (f./ J. Simms) – Apostolic

Call me biased because I work with the rapper, the director, and several people involved in the video. But if it was wack, believe that I’d tell them about it and not promote this at all.

With that being said, this song is pretty dope, and the hook is catchy. So enjoy! Happy Wednesday y’all.

 

[Music Video] Jimmy Needham – Grace Amazing

So I love, Love, LOVE me some Jimmy Needham. He performed here over the summer and he was great. Humble, funny, and ever so self-depreciating, he vaulted to the shortlist of my favorite singers ever. And when I get married, I will be walking down the aisle to “Unfailing Love,” mark my words.

Grace Amazing is one of my favorite songs from Nightlights, so when I heard there was gonna be a video I was very excited. The video did not disappoint. AT ALL. The video is clever and well executed. I got excited near the end once everything came together and it made me really reflect on how God’s grace is indeed amazing.  Check the video. Post haste.

 

[Album Review] Playdough – Writer Dye

Now y’all know that I loves me some Playdough. Just barely my favorite member of Deepspace 5 (Please don’t tell Listener or MC Fong) and if the only way I could see him perform was in Texas, then I would give it some serious thought. That’s a huge step for a girl who has a huge Anti-Texas bias thanks to a jerk ex-boyfriend. (How bout dem Cowboys by the way! *smirk*) Currently there is only one sure fire way I’d step back into Texas, more specifically into Dallas, and that’s if the Titans make the Super Bowl this year. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I’m not booking my flight just yet either, but I digress.

I got an advanced copy from Playdough himself and I was UBER excited. Then as I downloaded it, I was plagued by fear. Why? Well I now have 6 Playdough releases, and I have loved each one more and more. Bible Bus Mixtape beat out Don’t Drink the Water as my favorite release, but by the smallest margin. So with number 7 now in my iTunes, I’m wondering if Writer Dye is going to affected by the John Mayer Corollary. What is the John Mayer Corollary? you ask. I’m so glad you asked.

As my homie Toya can attest to, the John Mayer Corollary is when so many albums are so progressvely better than the next, eventually there will be one album that does not meet your expectations and you are CRUSHED. With John Mayer I loved Room for Squares. I especially loved Heavier Things. Thought he possibly couldn’t top that. Then he exceeded my wildly high expectations with Continuum. That album SLAYED me. (Why do you think i have a blog category called “from the Book of John [Mayer]“? He’ll preach to you if you let him.) Each album was progressively better because it spoke to me at each stage of my life. So when Battle Studies came out I was super excited. Then I was super disappointed. I mean it happens, you’re not gonna love everything an artist does. But that hurt particularly bad.

It took the 4th John Mayer album to disappoint me. With that in the back of my mind, I was afraid that this newest release of Playdough would finally hit that point. Would Playdough let me down, like most guys from Texas do? (I swear I’m not bitter…)

Click here to download Playdough's Writer Dye

I can proudly say that Writer Dye has not succumbed to the John Mayer Collorary. Now this won’t usurp the Bible Bus Mixtape as my favorite release, but it can gladly get lost in the jumble of releases I’m having trouble ranking. I LOVE the concept of this album which is to take lyrics from other bands and make them the chorus for his tracks, structuring a new song completely. He has few guest spots (which I always love) and each guest spot fits perfectly within each song, balancing Playdough without overshadowing him (which I love even more.)

Playdough comes out with the first track “Modest Mouseketeer” and poses the question “Are you dead or are you sleeping?” When he finally declares “Man, I sure hope that you are dead.” I can only hope this was directed at the mainstream music industry. After all they MUST be dead to allow this garbage to dominate the airwaves, but I digress again. Sampling Kings of Leon might be the quickest way to my heart (if you do it right that is) but Playdough and Sivion do an amazing job. Best line out of this song (and possibly the album): ”Wherever I end up, God will be lifted. That’s what success is.” I literally had to do a double take and I wondered if Playdough copied my notebook or sat in on my last church’s service, because that’s indeed what we talked about. But sometimes, that’s just how God works.

Near the end of the album, Playdough comments, “I don’t know what I’m living for, but I know that I just wanna live some more.” Isn’t that the declaration of the youth as a whole? Such a poignant statement. If Playdough continues to make releases like this, then I want him to live some more too.

You can download this album for FREE at http://playdough.bandcamp.com

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tracks to Repeat: “Modest Mouseketeer”, “Leon is King with Sivion”, “Bending Benson”

Tracks to Skip: “Stickabush”

 

[Single Review] Nadar Cade (f./ DJP & Richman) – JNDB

This song makes me giggle. The production on this song is great and it’s almost silly enough to be taken seriously. I mean this is still less auto-tune than T-Pain uses in one visit to the studio. I’m just sayin. This indeed is a fun track, and I defy you not to want some Jack in the Box afterwards.