NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  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

The eponymous album by Flyleaf opens with a dirty, distorted bass on the song “ I’m So Sick .” Then 19 seconds into the song, after lead singer Lacey Mosley (now  Lacey Strum) sings in an eerie, childlike voice, she erupts into a growl. While there isn’t a song on Flyleaf that quite matches the intensity of “I’m So Sick,” the grungy debut album from the Texas-based band proves that a female-led rock band has a place in the then male-dominated genre. The album was released in 2005. Christian Rock radio station RadioU had been playing the band’s demos before Flyleaf’s debut album was released.  The band toured relentlessly on their first album cycle between 2005 and 2008 before returning with their sophomore record, Memento Mori , in 2009. These tours with bands like Stone Sour , Three Days Grace , and Christian bands like Skillet solidified the band's place in both the Christian and active rock scenes. I BEGIN TO FADE INTO OUR SECRET PLACE. In 2007, two years after releasing t

Kye Kye  released two albums in the early 2010s. My earliest memory with this indie-electronic band was their single "Broke" on  RadioU , which took a while to grow on their listenership, failing to beat the other singles of the week on their " Battle of the Buzz " program. However, when the single was finally released to regular rotation, it quickly topped their " TMW " (Ten Most Wanted) program. That summer, I saw the band perform at Cornerstone in the Come & Live tent before or after Showbread. Lead singer, Olga Yagolnikov Phelan , seemed a little shy when talking to the audience, but the band sounded great when performing. The band's strength lies in their atmospheric sound rather than their spiritually cryptic lyrics.  TAKE YOUR TIME; I ALREADY SEE IT.  One Saturday night in college some of my friends and I were invited to one of our professor’s homes. That night the professor taught us a game involving classic issues of National Geographic an

  Slowly, Thousand Foot Krutch is coming back to life with their The End Is Where We Begin recording project. The band is releasing a track-by-track rerecording of the album, and each track features another band. The band has not yet released a new version of today’s song, “ Be Somebody .” I can’t remember if “Be Somebody” was released as a single from the album, especially because it was released after I paid attention to Christian radio. However, The End Is Where We Begin " fits the band’s usual formula, with “Be Somebody” being the band’s most standout ballad on the album. This meant that while the hard rock hits would go to RadioU and the ballads would go to Air1 . The mid-tempo track is one of Thousand Foot Krutch’s best slow songs. It features Trevor McNevan’s soaring vocals and the acoustic guitars. WE'RE ALL SEEN THROUGH JUST LIKE GLASS. Today, I'm bringing my Chilly Mix to Apple Music. Again, it's very hard to define what creates this musical quality. But s

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 end 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 Grits be

When Eisley began their career, they were the indie band that had the opportunity to open for Coldplay on the North American leg of A Rush of Blood to the Head tour. Soon, the band "became too big" for RadioU and Christian rock radio. The only problem is that Eisley came up at a time when every major label was trying to suck up indie talent, but the indie talent rarely made it to radio. Hence, these bands didn't keep their major label deals. YOU WON'T TAKE THE BREATH FROM THROAT. I'm sure there's a backstory to Eisley's second record, 2007's  Combinations, especially regarding lead singer Sherri DuPree-Bemis . Today, I intend to tread respectfully with the dating dynamics of the Christian-adjacent indie scene, particularly as it relates to two up-and-coming bands in 2007: Eisley and Paramore , and how they are related. Both female-fronted bands had gained acclaim both in and out of the Christian circle. In 2007, Paramore had just released their bre

Prior to signing with  Gotee Records  in 2009, Wichita-based band,  Abandon Kansas  garnered radio play on  RadioU  as an indie band. The band recorded with Gotee for five years before going independent, partnering with  BadChristian Music  to release their final project,  Alligator ,  an album in which lead singer Jeremy Spring talked about with the  BadChristian Podcast  as an album dealing with his personal struggles in the band/Christian band circuit, dealing with doubt, substance abuse, and depression. To some Christian music fans,  Alligator  was too profane compared to their previous works and other Christian Rock bands in the scene. To others,  Alligator  proved to be a refreshing take on authenticity which the confounds of most Christian record labels censored. After the album was released, the band planned to tour with the album, but ultimately personal issues forced Spring to cancel the tour. The band went on indefinite hiatus, but in 2019 they renamed the band to  Glass Ag

One of the often forgotten  RadioU  minor groups,  Furthermore   was another group that only released two records, 1999's  Fluorescent Jellyfish   and 2003's  She and I .  Furthermore was a trio consisting of vocalists Daniel Fisher and Lee Jester and DJ Jason Jester . The group arrived on  the  precipice of Tooth & Nail Records '  golden age and left the roster shortly after releasing She and I. Fisher went on to play in several bands, and apparently released several other projects under Furthermore after the group's Tooth & Nail run, including a single in 2020 and several singles earlier this year.   BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE.  Furthermore is a vestige of when Tooth & Nail signed artists without thinking about the financial consequences. Christian Rap was a burgeoning market for Christian audiences, but rock, punk, and hard music eventually became much of the label's focus. Christian Rap tended to be more evangelistic, whereas many of the rock bands ten

The season 2 Labeled  podcasts finale concluded the story arc of Tooth & Nail Records ’ start from collecting likeminded, DIY-spirited bands to a marketably lucrative record business backed by major- label distribution, a slowing in the market and uncertain times, then back to a purely indie label. As the story goes, the label had signed two bands for general rock radio, The Classic Crime and Jonezetta . These bands were not intended for Christian radio, like how The Juliana Theory had been half a decade before. In 2006, at the time of this marketing strategy, the label was losing some of its most successful acts to major labels. Could the new signees save the label? WHEN THE CHORUS DIES, DOES IT KILL YOU TO BE ALONE? Neither bands reached the level Tooth & Nail had planned for them. The Classic Crime has had a successful career, but mostly because the label accidentally marketed them to Christian radio. Jonezetta, however, wasn’t played on RadioU , but I think I bought their

Sticking with the theme of often forgotten RadioU minor hits, Furthermore was another group that only released two records, 1999's Fluorescent Jellyfish and 2003's She and I .  Furthermore was a trio consisting of vocalists Daniel Fisher and Lee Jester and DJ Jason Jester . The group arrived on  the  precipice of Tooth & Nail Records '  golden age and left the roster shortly after releasing She and I. Fisher went on to play in several bands, and apparently released several other projects under Furthermore after the group's Tooth & Nail run, including a single in 2020 and several singles earlier this year. BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE.  Furthermore is a vestige of when Tooth & Nail signed artists without thinking about the financial consequences. Christian Rap was a burgeoning market for Christian audiences, but rock, punk, and hard music eventually became much of the label's focus. Christian Rap tended to be more evangelistic, whereas many of the rock band

  The smoothest, easiest, most chill record by Anchor & Braille is titled Tension . The album was written and recorded before the pandemic but released in May 2020 in a time when the U.S. was still under the shock of job loss, fear, and illness both physical and mental. According to a podcast I listened to today , lead singer Stephen Christian thinks of a scene from a movie when writing his Anchor & Braille albums. Whereas Songs for the Late Night Drive Home literally described the dark yet enchanting movie scene in the title, Christian said that Tension was about those quiet moments in your room by yourself or with a loved one. BY MYSELF, EYES WIDE CLOSED. The opening track to Tension claims "This ain't no ordinary love song." The song alludes to the early days of a romantic relationship, when late-night conversations with that person can keep you awake all night just fantasizing of all the possibilities of where that relationship can go. When Stephen Christia

If you search "City of Auburn" on YouTube, you'll find several YouTube channels for city councils in various states. But today, we're not talking about any of those places, nor Auburn University, located in Auburn, Alabama. We're talking about a small Christian Rock band with about 32,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The band comes from McKinney, Texas, and have released several EPs starting with 2014's Soul Searcher , which was a solo project of lead singer Michael James Osborn at the the time. For City of Auburn's second EP Spinning  in 2018, the band recorded with producer Matt Goldman . You may recall Goldman is especially known producing most of the Solid-State era Underoath records as well as producing a wide range of mostly Christian records from Casting Crowns to The Chariot .  I'M TAKING THE NEXT TRAIN. You may also recall that   Goldman is also responsible for recording Anberlin 's demos that garnered the interest from Brandon Ebel

Taking long breaks between albums in order to self-record in old mansions around Nashville, Paper Route has only produced three full-length albums in their fifteen years active. Whenever they announce a new album, it's met with delays. Their sophomore album, The Peace of Wild Things , is no exception. After the departure of guitarist/co-vocalist Andy Smith , the band didn't have a permanent lead guitarist, and wouldn't until Nick Aranda joined the band before recording Real Emotion .   The Peace of Wild Things is a more pop-friendly album than their etherial debut, Absence . Peace builds the band up lyrically and contains some memorable choruses. But songs like " Sugar ," " Rabbit Holes ," " Tamed ," " Calm My Soul ," and today's song, " Glass Heart Hymn ," the otherwise straight-forward pop album down an artistic journey. MY FEET HAVE LED ME STRAIGHT INTO MY GRAVE. Named after a poem by farmer and environmentalist We