NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

East West  was a Christian hard rock band that released two albums in the early 2000s. The most successful single from their debut album  The Light in Guinevere's Garden   was the guitar ballad " She Cries ," in which the band didn't scream the lyrics. East West's two releases are between two very important releases in Hard Christian Rock:  P.O.D. 's  Satellite  and  Underoath 's  They're Only Chasing Safety . The band's follow up,  Hope in Anguish  was produced much better than  TLiGG.  The grungy sounds of slow songs and the gut-punching screams of the heavy songs met the drums, effects petals, and truly depressing lyrics--dealing with addiction, child abuse, and the music business. Four of the songs--three of the non-screaming tracks--made their way to Christian Rock radio. East West was a band that showed that they could write a hit and have a heavy album.  I COULD NEVER REALLY FIND THE ANSWERS.  Three years after the release of  Hope in Anguis

Last year,  Lau ren Daigle  returned with her first record since 2018’s blockbuster sophomore record,  Look Up Child .  Daigle’s music has been featured in movies and television shows from  Blade Runner 2049  to  Grey’s Anatomy ,  which makes the singer stand out from other artists in her genre, Contemporary Christian Music, a genre she dominated with the number-one Christian song for  sixty weeks  for the crossover hit, “ You Say .”  WE KNOW THE FUTURE’S BURNIN’ BRIGHT.  Maybe like me, you spent a part of the ‘10s backsliding from your evangelical upbringing. Don’t worry, I’m not here to tell on you. You probably stopped listening to  DC Talk  and  Michael W. Smith , and maybe became a “ Bad Christian ” with  Emery , followed  Michael Gungor ’s journey, or went full-out atheist like  Underoath . Somewhere along the way, what was playing on Christian Radio sounded like a bad version of what was popular two years ago on the pop station, only mellower. Somewhere along the way,  Hillsong

  Musically,   Underoath ’s most recent record   Voyeurist   pays homage to different points in their 25-year career. On the band’s breakthrough album,   They’re Only Chasing Safety , Underoath experimented with elements not always heard in Metal. One example was including a church choir on the song “ It’s Dangerous Business Walking out Your Front Door .” According to   Tim McTague   on the episode of   Labeled Deep Dives   about today’s song “ Hallelujah ,” the Underoath guitarist said he made up a story about how the 2004 single had religious significance in order to record a youth choir in a church basement. Eighteen years later, the second song on Voyeurist prominently features a choir, this time in the chorus. But unlike “Dangerous,” Underoath had distanced themselves from the Christian music scene.  In an interview with   Loudwire , Tim says that “Hallelujah” is about “struggles with everything – faith, life and so on.”  The presence of a choir on “Hallelujah” and the track’s tit

In 2016, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus opened for singer-songwriter Julien Baker on separate dates. It turned out that the three queer-identifying indie-folk songwriters mutually appreciated each other's music. In 2018, the three musicians decided to have a co-headlining tour. To celebrate the tour, they decided to join forces and record a six-song EP titled boygenius . Tired of the misogyny in the music industry that compared women to women while pinning female artists against female artists, Dacus stated : “I hope people see the three of us and know there isn't competition. You don't have to compete with your contemporaries. You can make something good with people you admire.” And in that statement lies the genius on which the collaborative supergroup is founded. BLACK HOLE OPENED IN MY KITCHEN. The debut self-titled EP by boygenius was made almost entirely by female musicians. The band’s name is ironic. Julien Baker told Newsweek that the name refers “to the archet

In 1996, David Josiah Curtis and friends formed a punk band called Side Walk Slam . The Southern Illinois-based band released an independent record, Rock Anthems from the Midwest , in 1999 before signing to a small label, Boot to Head Records , and releasing Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back the next year. Then in 2001, the band signed with Tooth & Nail Records and released three records between 2001 and 2003. Little by little, the bare-bones punk rock band started incorporating more and more production on their records. By their 2003 record, And We Drive , the band even included a piano. It was after releasing And We Drive, that the band decided that Side Walk Slam had strayed from their Punk Rock sound so much that they decided to change their name, rebranding with a new sound and retiring the expectations that the band would sound a particular way.  YOU’LL HAVE YOUR UPS AND DOWNS. Run Kid Run released their debut record This Is Who We Are three years after Side Walk Slam

Tooth & Nail Records became a front-runner in the race for general-market-ready Christian Rock. Feeding bands like  Anberlin , Mae , and The Almost  to major labels and supporting Underoath as they shaped the world of metalcore, the label defined a generation of Christian music. No longer were rock festivals giving Christian Rock the stink eye. But as the label’s marketing expanded to the general market, some complained that the message of the bands had been watered down. The name of Jesus rarely appeared in lyrics printed in the Ryan Clark-illustrated flyleaf in the crystal jewel case. That’s where Flicker Records and ForeFront Records came in, offering bands with distinctly Christian lyrics. That's where we meet ForeFront Records' This Beautiful Republic. DOUBT HAS NEVER PROVEN ANYTHING. This Beautiful Republic formed in 2004 when alumni of Toledo Christian Schools in Toledo, Ohio joined California drummer Cameron Toews. After the band’s lead singer left the band, energ

The 1975 released their fifth album Being Funny in a Foreign Language in October 2022. The production of the album had been delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The album was slated to be produced by BJ Burton . Lead singer Matty Healy was a fan of Burton’s production  work on Bon Iver ’s 22, A Million and Low ’s Double Negative and Hey What . However, there were creative differences between the producer and the band. The 1975 began working with producer Jack Antonoff ; known for his work with Lana Del Rey , Taylor Swift , and Lorde ; which ended the production sessions with Burton. Antonoff builds on the art rock direction The 1975 had been working on throughout their discography. Their previous album, Notes on a Conditional Form , had experimented with classical music. Antonoff took the band in a jazzier direction. THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THAT NOW I CAN’T REMEMBER. Jack Antonoff brings a more even sound to The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language. Previous albums