NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  We haven’t talked about the latest Anberlin EP, Silverline . Last summer, the band released their first project since 2014’s supposed-to-be swan song, Lowborn . This time, Anberlin has partnered with Equal Vision Records , rather than with their old family at Tooth & Nail . Rather than releasing a full-length record, the band decided to release it in two parts, Silverline and Convicted , which will arrive at the end of this month. On an episode of Lead Singer Syndrome , Stephen Christian said that the band had decided to release the album in two parts because he “didn’t understand the music industry these days.”  YOU KEEP GETTING CLOSER BUT YOU’RE SO DISTANT INSIDE. Anberlin isn’t the first band to release their albums as a series of EPs. When Mae became an independent artist, they released their ( m)orning , ( a)fternoon , and ( e)vening , which later combined into ( m)(a)(e) . Relient K released their K…Is for Karaoke record in two parts. Acceptance ’s latest record was re

Today, I'm going to present an evolving list. Last year, I chose an album of the year. In 2021, it was difficult because so much music was re-releases and nothing seemed dynamic enough to be album of the year. I finally settled on Scaled and Icy by twenty one pilots, but I actually didn't listen to it much in 2021. It seemed that 2021 was a year for good music outside of my immediate band preferences. Like many music listeners, my tastes are evolving, and I'm continuing to discover or just listen to older albums, which may change today's list. However, I'm going to try to present a list of the best albums from every year that I have been alive. I get this rank based on how much I've listened to the album, rather than by critical reception. Enjoy! 1987 The Joshua Tree by U2 . This was arguably when U2 became a cultural phenomenon. The first four tracks are the biggest hits from the record. The band always tackled issues of faith and doubt, but The Joshua Tree

  Kicking off Matt Thiessen ’s break up record, the title track of Forget and Not Slow Down introduces listeners to the themes of the record. I’ve talked about how Forget and Not Slow Down has a shadow story , one in which the Relient K frontman ends his engagement with radio DJ Shannon Murphy . While I have not seen any statements from Thiessen about the meanings behind the tracks on the album, I’ve referenced Murphy’s story that seemed pretty damning toward Thiessen, and it doesn’t seem that there were any libel lawsuits. Forget and Not Slow Down was a record that helped me through a difficult time in life, so I will be forever grateful to Relient K, but I’ve also had to think critically as to whether or not the album is too problematic to enjoy. So today I’d like to talk through my judgement of the band’s 2009 record. HOW MANY TIMES CAN I PUSH IT ASIDE? “Forget and Not Slow Down” shows a youthful resilience toward the ending of a relationship. The songs on the album deal with a r

In 2003, Relient K released their first Christmas album titled Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand . The record is no longer available for sale or on streaming platforms because the band replaced the ten-track record with 2007's Let It Snow Baby . . . Let It Reindeer . The 2007 version added seven tracks to Deck the Halls. The two versions of Relient K's Christmas record spans two eras of the band. Deck the Halls was released as a bonus disc with the band's third record, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right... But Three Do , and Let It Snow was released between Five Score and Seven Years Ago and The Birds and the B Sides .  HOW MUCH YOU'VE TOUCHED MY LIFE.  Last month when I was researching Relient K, I found out that there's a fan podcast titled Sadie Hawkins Pod  in which two Relient K fans dig into the band's history, discography, and fandom, delivering their insights to their listeners. I'm not sure if their facts check out because one of the insights they h

  Today our representative song is Wham!' s " Last Christmas ." Maybe it's overplayed, but it's a synth-pop classic. It's the kind of song that gets stuck in your head for days, and it's okay because it's Christmastime. It's one of the signature songs of Wham!  and one of the most played songs of Christmas. It's been covered by many artists from Jimmy Eat World to Carly Rae Jepsen to Hawk Nelson and each cover has its merit. But today, my Christmas mix begins with the original. Enjoy the mix! 1. "Last Christmas" by Wham! 2. " (Christmas) Baby, Please Come Home " by Anberlin 3. " Wish " by Paper Route  (The band has a bigger Christmas catalogue, just not on Spotify). 4. " Amy, I " by Jack's Mannequin   5. "The Winter Song" by Eisley 6. "Happy Christmas" (War Is Over) by Sent by Ravens 7. " O Holy Night " by Stacie Orrico 8. " I Celebrate the Day " by Relient K

Following the traumatic experience of surviving cancer between  Jack's Mannequin 's first album ( Everything in Transit ) and second album ( The Glass Passenger ) , lead singer  Andrew McMahon  decided to write about the  people  and  things  that he appreciated the most. The singer talks about deciding on the name for the project quite early in the album's production process in the podcast  Meet the Musician .  People and Things  topped  the Alternative albums chart, but the lead single, " My Thoughts Racing ," only peaked at #43 on the  Rock Digital Sales chart . The album was released in October of 2011, but by February of 2012, McMahon started publicly discussing dropping the band's name. "I foresee an end to the usage of that name. I don’t know that it’s doing for me what it used to," he told  Lehigh Valley Music . To McMahon, he wanted to start fresh. Healthy, married, and becoming a father, the concept of Jack that McMahon had created in his e

For some musical acts, it takes a while for their audience to take them seriously. Take for example Relient K . After three records of lyrics about Marylin Manson eating girlfriends , manipulating emotional girls to wear mood rings , and fantasizing about showing up to an '80s-themed prom in a pink tux listening to Tears for Fears , the band scored two mainstream pop hits from their not-quite-as-cheeky Mmhmm album.  TOO OLD TO BE GROWING UP.    Relient K's latest effort Air for Free was released in 2016 and the band continues to tour with the record. While the band gets playful with songs like " Local Construction ," " Cat ," " Mrs.  Hippopotamuses '" and " Elephant Parade ," there are serious moments on the record. One of the most serious songs is " Man ," the fifth track. Relient K's early music was almost exclusively punk rock--electric guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. But little by little, Relient K began introdu

If you're driving through Columbus, Ohio you can tune your radio to 88.7 and find out where music is going. First hitting the airwaves in 1996, the radio station went worldwide via SkyAngel satellite network.  RadioU  plays Christian Rock and has been home to artists who would otherwise never hit the radio waves. However, bands often disappear from the playlist over time. This can because the band changed their sound or their message. Artists like the  Newsboys ,  Audio Adrenaline ,  dc talk , Jars of Clay , and Jennifer Knapp were played in the '90s and first few years of the '00s, but the listeners didn't like the direction that those artists took in their later careers. Other groups like Copeland , Mae, and  MuteMath  started out with RadioU and "got too big," or at least that was the story. Sometimes they will pick up groups like Thrice, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Paper Route, in the middle of a successful career.  TAKE IT SLOW . Partly because of RadioU

  Starting out as a three-piece band, expanding to four members, and five members, and finally reducing to back to core members Matt Thiessen and Matt Hoopes , Relient K has been through many changes both sonically and thematically in their discography from their All Work & No Play EP in 1998 to their latest record, 2016's Air for Free . The band's maturity on their later releases certainly goes unappreciated by the majority of youth group kids whose parents just wanted their kids to listen to the Christian version of Green Day and Blink-182. Air for Free is mature in that it is nostalgic for childhood and not obsessed with adolescence like the band's earlier catalogue.   GRAB ANOTHER DIRTY TAMBOURINE AND SHAKE IT . The spiritual sequel to 2009's  Forget and Not Slow Down , Relient K's eighth studio record Air for Free has a similar approach to production. After Relient K had released tons of EPs, K ... Is for Karaoke , and a panned attempt at a pop career on

Forget and Not Slow Down   is   Relient K 's sixth album. The band had shifted away from " tongue-in-cheek " lyrics in previous albums and had enjoyed mainstream pop radio success as well as topping the Christian charts.   Forget and Not Slow Down , however, starts to see a shift away from the safety of the youth group, as vocalist and songwriter   Matt Thiessen 's writes about the dissolving of a  relationship with radio DJ Shannon Murphy, the   details of which Murphy shared  haven't been confirmed by the Relient K frontman, but the lyrics become clearer in the context of this interview. IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD, JUST YOU AND ME.   Forget and Not Slow Down  is a breakup masterpiece, and one of the most cohesive and listenable, yet under-rated Relient K records, particularly if you don't like Relient K.  Musically, the band is joined by The O.C. Supertones and Project 86 guitarist Ethan Luck , playing on the drums for this record. The band is also

  If you play by the rules, you can win the game. At least that's what kids are told when they're growing up. But somewhere along the way, the tales of how it's supposed to be don't seem to match what's actually happening. The prophets who have gone before you have foretold of a golden age when life was easy. Just follow the formula. Of course, there is no formula for being in a rock band, and success is never a guarantee. But in the mid-'00s it seemed that being signed to Tooth & Nail Records was a guarantee into both Christian and mainstream markets. Tooth & Nail was a sure-shot, until it wasn't. WE’LL START A FIRE SO BIG THE HEAVENS CAN SEE IT. Search the City in 2004 formed when two Michigan high school friends decided to make a band. Guitarist Alex Sheldon and drummer Adam McMillion were eventually joined by singer Josh Frost , guitarist James Czech, and bassist Eli Clark. After recording the EP Ghosts in 2008, the band signed to Tooth &