NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Twenty-one years ago,  Linkin Park  released their sophomore record,  Meteora .    Throughout the band's career, their sound would shift to various styles of rock music, but  Meteora  is not much of a departure from the band's debut  Hybrid Theory .  The album did, however, embrace Asian musical instruments on several tracks. At the time of its release,  Meteora  not only debuted at number 1 on  Billboard's 200 Album charts  but also set the record for the most units sold in a week beating  Celine Dion 's  One Heart .  In 2003, Nu Metal was the ruling dynasty and Linkin Park was the king of the music. I CAN'T FEEL THE WAY I DID BEFORE.  Speaking of deluxe editions, you can stream Linkin Park's 20th anniversary edition of  Meteora-- 95 tracks of live performances, B-sides, and demos; some of which have been released like their  Live in Texas   record and some remastered tracks which had never left the vault. Personally, I don't have fond memories of this reco

The idea of a remix album has been around since the 1970s. In 1987  Madonna  released her remix album  You Can Dance , the second most-selling remix album ever after    Michael Jackson 's 1997  Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix.   Jennifer Lopez 's remix album  J to tha L--O! The Remixes ,  in  2002, was the first remix album to top  Billboard 's Hot 200  album sales charts.  There have been some notable rock remix records. Nine Inch Nails released  Further Down the Spiral   in 1995, remixing their classic album  The Downward Spiral.  In 2001 Limp Bizkit released  New Old Songs , which sold 500,000 copies. However, I argue that it was another platinum remix album followed by a slew of Christian Rock artists to copy their style. The band is Linkin Park and the album was  Reanimation , a reworking of their 12x platinum debut  Hybrid Theory.  HE'S IN THIS PLACE TO QUESTION WHO YOU ARE .  Reanimation  featured collaboration between rockers and underground rapper

  In 2017, Aaron Sprinkle released Real Life , his last release on Tooth & Nail Records . The legendary producer had released solo work sporadically since the ‘90s; however, being the go-to producer for some of the most successful bands in Alternative and Hard Christian Rock was time-consuming, and Sprinkle felt that producing great records was more successful than trying to promote a solo career. Sprinkle’s production always felt cutting-edge when he recorded, whether for Anberlin , Acceptance , Demon Hunter , Falling Up , or a host of other bands. Real Life, however, feels very 2017. Today, let's explore the album, track by track. 1. Invincible kicks off the album with that 2017 electronic sound. Featuring Poema ’s Elle Puckett contributing a spoken-word/ rap part, the song sounds nothing like what you’d expect from either artist. The lyrics seem to be the speaker coming to realize that he is not invincible. Puckett tries to convince the first speaker that he never needed

  My Christian school took an annual mission trip in the spring to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The school had partnered with a church in the inner city that had a Habitat-for-Humanity sort of outreach. It was one of those "I feel more ministered to" type mission trips. We ended up doing a lot of grunt work for ongoing projects, but we were made to believe that we were of some use. Of course, this was before I learned that most of the churches built on mission trips overseas have to be torn down the minute the  missionaries  step on the plane because of course unskilled builders don't know how to build--but I digress. DO YOU HAVE THE TIME TO WASTE AWAY THE DAY?  One of the rules of the mission trip was that we were only allowed to listen to Christian music. It could be any genre, but it became a time for some of us to show off our CDs of the hard rock, metal, punk, and Emo-Christian records that made their way to the Family Christian bookstores. Sometimes we'd listen to Gr

On October 25, 2005, Falling Up released their sophomore record, Dawn Escapes . The album, produced by Michael “Elvis” Baskette , varies from the band’s Hybrid-Theory - inspired debut Crashings . Rather than maintaining the momentum of the synth-driven rock on Crashings, the band’s sophomore effort focuses on a dreamy ambiance enhanced with hard rock guitars. The first single from the album, “ Exit Calypsan ” (Only in My Dreams)--released earlier in 2005 on the Christian Rock compilation X2005 -- is slower than the singles from Crashings. The chorus brings heavy guitars in to keep Falling Up a rock band. Dawn Escape ’s second single, “ Moonlit ”; however, broke the band’s electronic formula and gave them a riff-heavy rocker. With the two singles preceding the album, listeners were treated to a dreamy experience that perfectly wrapped the dichotomous songs.   THIS PLACE I PASS. The album cover of Crashings showed a fresh-faced six-peace band. According to their cover artwork, Falling

The Classic Crime released their debut album Albatross in 2006 on Tooth & Nail Records . The album charted on Billboard’ s Heatseekers Albums charts, and the band quickly became connected with both the Christian and the pop-punk scene, touring with fellow Tooth & Nail acts, joining the Warped Tour , and forming friendships with the likes of Relient K and Emery . The band filmed a music video for the first track on the album, “ The Fight ,” which appeared on TVU . In 2006, Tooth & Nail was in the middle of its golden age. Albums were selling and bands were bridging the divide between Cornerstone and Warped Tour. The Classic Crime was supposed to be the label’s next big band, but Albatross didn’t meet the label or the band’s sales expectations.  OUT ON THIS LONELY LANDSCAPE I AM FINALLY FREE. The Classic Crime’s debut album, Albatross, was produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette . The band would work with the Baskette on most of their albums until 2017’s How to Be