Hello Seattle, I am an Albatross.

The iTunes free single of the week is a hit-and-miss affair.  The good ones have been great and the bad ones have been deleted from my library halfway through play one.  There’s a band called “Owl City” that a number of my friends have talked about for a while.  I never listened to their music, and never formed an opinion on the band until last week.

My little sister, Hannah Grace, is more of a music junkie than I ever was at 15.  Her favorite bands include Copeland, Eisley, Jason Morant, and Coldplay.  I love all these bands.  At her age I still thought P.O.D. was a good band and U2 was boring.  Hannah tells me the other day, “JD, you need to listen to Owl City.”  I had downloaded “Fireflies” as the free download of the week but had irresponsibly not listened to it yet.  I gave it a whirl once and was not excited, it was cheesy and poppy.  I like cheesy poppy though, so on a second listen I was really enjoying the music.  It made me happy.  I listen to less happy music than sad music.  I need more happy music.

On that thought I bought the rest of the album on iTunes by faith.  All week in my car and in my house, I’ve had it cranked.  This guy, named Adam Young, does all the singing, beat making, and produced the album beside Matt Thessien from Relient K.    It sound really good.  That’s what always gets me about the record.  How is it so full and balanced?  The sound is entirely electric, probably just a collection of clever Logic files.  But combined with great vocals and catchy love song lyrics, occasionally singing God’s praise, the music has got me.  It’s bothersome.  I should not like such cheesy pop music.  I do though.  Postal Service vs. Mae.  I love it.  Listen to “Cave In” or “Umbrella Beach” off the newest album from the band, “Ocean Eyes”.  It’s great.  Thanks that’s all.

Winter Albums Are For You.

Every year I get locked in a groove of winter music.  Not Christmas music, that has it’s place, but “Winter” music.  Songs that make me think of walking under frosty trees in the oval (pictured above) coming home from class, or driving in a warm car as the world around me claws the hard-packed snowy road for traction.  Songs of joy or songs of contemplation.  Albums that seamlessly convey hopeful or thoughtful themes.  Winter music.  A wonderful part of the season.  So here’s my list of winter albums your season will be incomplete without, in no particular order:

• “Into the Blue Again” by The Album Leaf
• “As Tall As Lions” by As Tall As Lions
• “3 Rounds and a Sound” by Blind Pilot
• “Letters” by Butch Walker
• “Brothers and Sisters” by Coldplay (specifically the song “Easy to Please”, probably my all-time favorite Coldplay song)
• “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” by Copeland
• “You Are My Sunshine” by Copeland (a new addition to the list)
• “O” by Damien Rice
• “The Photo Album” by Death Cab For Cutie
• “The Last Broadcast” by Doves
• “Marvelous Things” by Eisley (no longer on iTunes apparently)
• “Fleet Foxes” by Fleet Foxes
• “Now That I’ve Found You” by Alsion Krauss
• “The Moon Is Down” by Further Seems Forever
• “The Eleventh Hour” by Jars Of Clay
• “Winter” by Jon Foreman (crazy, right?)
• “Catch For Us The Foxes” by mewithoutYou (actually perfect for all seasons)
• “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones
• “Distorted Lullabies” by Ours (best blizzard driving music)
• “( )” by  Sigur Ros (life changing record)
• “The Eraser” by Thom Yorke of Radiohead
• “Set Yourself on Fire” by Stars
• “Sky Blue Sky” by Wilco

I guess that order turned out kind of alphabetical.  Don’t be overwhelmed if you don’t own every album listed above.  But definitely talk to me if you want a few of them, I would LOVE to hook you up.  A great place to start is “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” by Copeland.  If you don’t have that album don’t go any further till you do.  Amazing music.  Some of my favorite.

 

Seasons have a sound.  Summer sounds like Bleach.  Fall sounds like Augustana.  Spring sounds like old Mae.  But Winter cannot be named in a single band no matter how hard you try.  That’s what I think.

 

What are your favorite winter albums? Comment and tell me!

Good Morning Fire Eater.

Today I woke up to the first legitimate snow of the year here in Fort Collins. I left for class early and took my time walking there from my house, smoking my pipe and enjoying the cold air (I’m such a freaking poet…). I walked softly under the barren trees in the oval, thanking God for his goodness and leaving the tread on my Goodwill shoes stamped into the thin layer of snow behind me on the wet sidewalk.  Days like today are great.

Now i’m sitting in my awful history class blogging from my iPod. My fur hooded coat still smells like pipe smoke and I can still taste it in my mouth. Say what you will about health and having responsible habits, pipe smoking is wonderful. Get some this holiday season. Love love love.

Strange and Unprepared

Some nights call for thinking a lot.

 

I’ve found that most nights are like that these days.  I love that my future’s options are so numerous and so promising, but I wish they made any sense at all.  How can it be that I am effectively picking my future tonight?  I have to register for spring classes now and I am completely clueless.  I haven’t auditioned for music school yet, so I can’t register for those courses.  I’m not acutally enrolled in any of the Engineering schools, so those courses are all off limits as well.  I’m certainly welcome to continue registering for physics classes, but I hate physics now and would have to retake the hardest class of my life to pursue that.

 

Some people have knew exactly what they were going to do with their lives when they were in high school.  I have a number of friends studying exactly what they said they were going to when we walked out of Ponderosa High for the last time two years ago.  They’re doing great in their majors and loving what they’re learning.  I also know of people who knew their destinations from a young age not just because their interests lined up with their talents, but because God had really told them what he had planned for them.  Tyler Goerzen for example.  Beloved guitar player, best friend of mine in high school, bearded thrift store genius, my sister’s first love, etc…  Means a lot to me.  He knew long before it came time to register for Fall 07 classes that he was called to be a pastor.  Not just because his dad was a pastor, and not just because he’s in love with the word of God, but because in addition to those things he’s received prophetic conformation of the calling on his life on multiple occasions, not to mention a miraculous and incredibly convenient full-ride scholarship to the perfect Bible School for him, Azusa Pacific University.  Ask him to tell you the story some time.  It’s not like he even wanted to be a pastor that bad, he just knew he was called to that because it was built in to him and God ordered his steps accordingly.  Everything was set up and well executed for him to get a pastor’s education, which will certainly lead to God-ordained pastorship.  I hope I get to play drums at his huge church in the future.

 

As for me?  A different story. I understand that not everyone gets a situation like Tyler’s, and I understand that in the same way God ingrained a pastor’s heart into Twyler, he ingrained a musical worshipper’s heart into me.  This will probably lead to a lot of worshipping, and maybe worship leading in the future.  But I can’t lay claim to that calling’s ability to provide for my needs and the needs of my future family.  God has never clearly spoken to me about my calling,  thus I don’t know how much weight I can put on the passion I have to become a profession.  I have got to learn something else as well.  Unfortunately, The time to decide what I will learn passed 45 credits ago, and now I have a 2.7 GPA’s worth of 100-level Math and Science credits that I don’t know what to do with.  I don’t like math or science, I like music, but I cannot be selfish about this. 

 

I need clarity of mind.  I need direction.  I need to hear the voice of God, and I need for him to speak to do that.  I also need to know within the next few days so I can get accepted into whatever school, music or otherwise, and register for the classes that will be required.  I’m not actually that stressed.  Instead I just feel, as the recent Copeland song sings, “Not good or bad, only strange and unprepared”.  

 

I feel like I should have done music from the start.

I feel like I should have gone to Bible school from the start.

I feel like I should have declared a major right away regardless (lift and seperate) so I wouldn’t be so behind now.

I feel like I might need to take a semester off to figure things out, although that terrifies me because 

I feel like I might never return to school.

 

But almost more than anything, I feel like I need to hear the voice of God.  Any word right now would mean everything to me.  Any little whisper of his will.  Any hints he could give me.  I mean really, just give me the first letter of the major you want me to pursue.  Talk to me in a way that I won’t question.  Forgive the lack of faith I display by asking that.  I’ve chosen you over any other, and I would lay down my life for any cause you see fit to apply it in.  Music is in my heart, but providing is on my mind.  Here is your servant, his only joy is to see you glorified.

It’s a funny way I find myself with you.

Copeland has always possessed the number three slot in my top bands.  This weekend they might have even clenched second with their new album “You Are My Sunshine“.  It’s as good as old Copeland at least, maybe even better?  It just sounds so good.  It’s amazing feel-good music, without too much poppyness or cheesyness.  The guitar work is clever, but the way the bassist and drummer are so tight blows my mind.  Throughout the whole record, they give it that round, smooth rhythm feel.  So great.  Most of the vocals are recorded in stereo, which I always love, but to boot Aaron Marsh does these clever self-harmonies that would put Eisley to shame. A female vocalist named Rae Cassidy Klagstad joins him suddenly on three songs, and this might be my favorite part of the record.  Her voice is so crazy and fitting to the album.  It’s like Eisley meets Bjork almost, really different.  First time she came in it caught me off guard and gave me the chills.  Every time I hear it now it gives me goosebumps.

 

My little sister and I are going to see Copeland tomorrow at The Marquis theatre in Denver (a stage once graced my Cameron At Bay and Young America).  I’m absolutely pumped.  You know how now and then, like maybe once a month if you’re lucky, a new album will really just take you away?  That’s what “You Are My Sunshine” is like for me.  I’m gonna listen to this a lot this winter.