Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Caleb + Kelsey Worship Songs // How Great Is Our God-Our God-How Great Thou Art, etc.

Anthem Lights is one of my favorite bands, but I also am loving their side projects. Caleb Grimm has a side project with his wife, Kelsey, (formerly of 1GirlNation). Their voices together are AMAZING!!! If I like the song, I like their version of it, pretty much. They do covers of pop music that is really good (and their cover of My Heart Will Go On is haunting!), but I'm going to focus on their worship mashups in this post.

My favorite songs off their worship album are How Great Is Our God/Our God/How Great Thou Art and In Christ Alone/Cornerstone/The Solid Rock. I love how they mixed old and new hymns. The AL guys are geniuses at combining songs and Caleb brings that to C+K. Then there are the harmonies. The talent blows me away. 



The other great songs off the Worship Covers album are One Thing Remains/How He Loves and Mercy/Touch The Sky. They just released as a single Death Was Arrested/Reckless Love and I kind of freaked out! Those are probably my two favorite worship songs right now.


Aren't they just incredible? Totally check out their secular and movie song covers too. You won't be disappointed!

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

King Of My Heart ~ Kutless

One of my favorite worship songs right now!! I want someone to combine this song with "Yes and Amen" by Chris Tomlin. It'd look something like this:

You are good, good, oh
You are good, and all your promises
are yes and amen

What do you think? Do you agree?

Happy Listening!

 

Monday, April 23, 2018

No Longer Slaves ~ I AM THEY

Fear is a daily, sometimes hourly, battle. There is so much to fear. Our world at large is in chaos and often our own little worlds and our minds are in chaos as well. It seems to me that at times, the Devil is just saturating my mind with lies and fear, and I can't see a way out. I don't know how to stop it. 

Songs like 'No Longer Slaves' help me speak truth over myself when I'm being bombarded by lies. My mouth proclaims and my ears hear the truth of who I am in God, and slowly, I start to believe it again. This process might be repeated often, forgetful human that I am, but what matters is that I know, even when I don't feel.

May this song bring you peace as it does for me. Happy Listening!!!

 

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Walking On Water ~ NEEDTOBREATHE

I'm a flukey NEETOBREATHE fan. I either REALLY like their songs or REALLY don't like them. Obviously, since I'm posting about it, this is one that I like :)

There's echoes of Peter's attempt to walk to Jesus on the water, but it's also about our everyday life, our tendencies to look back and be paralyzed by the past or try to see ahead and be afraid of the unknown. I know I do.

A very encouraging song in the style only NEEDTOBREATHE can do. Happy Listening!

 

Friday, April 6, 2018

No One Like Our God ~ Lincoln Brewster

There is an element of worship and prayer that is often forgotten. I have a particularly hard time doing this in my prayers and so songs are a wonderful medium for me to use. I'm talking about adoration.

I have a hard time when I'm praying just telling God how amazing He is. It's not natural or easy for me. But prayers take different forms and a song can be a prayer. Lincoln Brewster's worship song "No One Like Our God" is a song of adoration. Telling God who He is and what He's done, not for His benefit, but acknowledging who He is. 

Raise your voices and hands (if you want to) and proclaim that there is No One Like Our God!

Happy Listening!


 

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

I Need You God ~ Consumed By Fire

I love this song about surrender by Consumed by Fire. I've never heard of them before. I feel like this is Proverbs 3:5-6 in song form. It's talks about how we fail and fall when we try to go it alone and do things on our own. This shows us our need for our Savior. Great message, great music, great song. 

Happy Listening!

 

Friday, March 23, 2018

Washed Over Me ~ All Things New

This is a great song for Easter time. It also reminds me of baptism. The theme is one of new life in Christ, when we've been washed in Him; freed by His grace. Plus, it's upbeat and fun! Win, win, win. Happy Listening!

 

Friday, March 16, 2018

New Owl City Music!!!!

Owl City is back with some new music. He's got a movie theme going, so the songs are released in three-track "reels". The stuff he was releasing after his score projects last year (those were INCREDIBLE!!!) wasn't really exciting me. "All My Friends" is okay, as is "Lucid Dream", "Not All Heroes Wear Capes" is a great song, but musically, didn't work for me. So I'm sitting over here, disappointed that I'm not enjoying his songs, because I really like him, and then comes "Montana". Oh my goodness! (I'm like Ruffnut in How To Train Your Dragon 2: "Okay, I love you again." :)

I'm mildly obsessed with that song, and it's much more the style I like. The new release today, "New York City", is awesome too. I'm hoping he keeps this up. Both of these songs are kind of random and goofy, though they definitely have a theme, and are his electro-pop style that he used to do all the time. It's fantastic!

There was a big uproar a few years ago in the Relient K fandom when they changed their style and sound. They have the right to do that. But they have to know that their fans, who became their fans because of their old style, will be upset and that they'll probably lose a lot of those fans, who don't like the new style. If they are fine with that, then great. Make the change.

I was one of the fans who doesn't really like much of what they release now and just sticks to the old stuff. I'm hoping that doesn't happen with Owl City, but if it does, then at least I have a lot of his old music to listen too. 

Happy Listening!



Friday, March 9, 2018

Hawk Nelson Keeps Delivering

If you asked me my favorite artists or bands, Hawk Nelson wouldn't be on the list, simply because I usually judge that based on how many songs I own by a particular artist/band. But that leaves bands like Hawk Nelson off, when they probably should be on my favorites list.

Hawk Nelson has been around forever, or so it seems, and they continue to deliver high-energy music, with great messages. You have your fun or goofy songs in there too, and all around, it's a wonderful mix. 

They have some new singles that have been releasing on Spotify, making me wonder if there is a new album in the making? (Please oh please)! If they are going to be releasing a new album, I am pretty excited about it, based on the singles. (Hmmm, according to Genius Lyrics, they are releasing an album called Miracles sometime this year!)

The first one I heard was "He Still Does (Miracles)". It's so encouraging and uplifting and inspiring. God doesn't usually do miracles like He did in the Bible, and it can be easy to think that He just doesn't work that way anymore. But He does. He still does miracles, but sometimes they are through common, everyday things. He might use a doctor for healing, or open up an opportunity at just the right time. There are still miracles.

Favorite lyrics:
Even if you don't see it now
Without a doubt, He's already moving
There is not a pain that you hold
He doesn't know, and He isn't using



Next up is "Parachute". This is a creative take on the theme of our mistakes and our sins weighing us down, pulling at us. Hawk Nelson does an incredible job in their song writing; penning lyrics that connect with people. Let's be honest, we all pretty much deal with the same things, even if the circumstances are a bit different and we don't feel like anyone else would understand. Hawk Nelson understands how people feel when they are going through stuff and their songs reflect it.

Favorite lyrics: 
The weight of my mistakes
My regrets and all my shame
Like gravity, it's pulling me
The waves keep crashing in
Things I've done and who I've been
The gravity, it's pulling me

 


And finally, the song I just heard today, (and will probably listen to several times :), "Never Let You Down". Again, how do they do this? It's like they know exactly what I'm going through. But then, it's not unique to me. We all struggle with our thoughts. We all wonder sometimes if God is there or if He's hearing us. This song kind of reminds me of the Footprints In The Sand poem.

Favorite lyrics: 
I've been wrestling with my thoughts, I've been searching for daylight
Tryin' to make sense of the mess, tryin' to feel like I'm alright
All these questions without answers
Feelin' restless and abandoned

Will You hear my call?
Will You be there when I fall?


 
Happy Listening!!!

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Reckless Love ~ Cory Asbury

I have discovered a lot of new worship music lately that I am totally sold on! I'm weird about worship music; I know that. There's not really a rhyme or reason to what I like and what I don't. But "Reckless Love" is definitely a like.

Love is a word thrown around so much in our culture. Everyone has their own definitions and we get hurt by love more often than not. With all the turmoil regarding love, it can be so easy to doubt God's love. This song reflects on the fact that God loved us before we were born and will continue to love us no matter what we do or don't do. Even when we are fighting Him, He is still loving us!

Favorite lyrics:
There's no shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
There's no wall You won't kick down
No lie You won't tear down
Coming after me

Happy Listening!

 

Friday, February 9, 2018

Matthew West Releases New Album Featuring "Never Ever Give Up"

I have been waiting for this since I heard the song during the KLOVE Fan Awards movie event. He wrote "Never Ever Give Up" for a little girl named Brooke who was battling cancer. I loved it the first time I heard it and was checking YouTube every couple months to see if he'd released an audio for it yet. I wanted to listen! He finally released it on his newest album, "All In".  

This post has been a long time coming, but album reviews take time to put together, and each time I'd come to post, I wouldn't have time. Better late than never! I'm going to review my favorite songs from the album (which may end up being the majority, we'll see :)

ALL IN
We'll start with the title track. What I like about this song is how it truly is about every single person. West sings, "we're all dying to live, but we're all scared to death". Doesn't that just about sum up everyone? This song, with its message and beat, is a great foot forward for the album.

BROKEN THINGS
You've heard this one on the radio long before the album came out. How does he do it? This song, like Mended, speaks to us when we feel useless to God. "The pages of history, they tell me it's true/ that it's never the perfect, it's always the ones with the scars that you use". The end of the chorus ties this song with the "all in" theme of the album as it says, "then here I am, Lord, I'm all yours". Wonderful, incredible song. 

THE SOUND OF A LIFE CHANGING
This is like a biography of West's life in a song! I love it. He starts off as a broke college student, attending a SCC concert (yes! :) and he hears God say, "that's gonna be you someday". How cool is that? Then it switches to him singing and "you're in the crowd, looking at me/ singing Child of the One True King" and he's thinking that any one person in that crowd could be experiencing what he did years ago. 

I love the way West is so humble about being used by God: "I'm no Billy Graham, but I come as I am, and you know that you can too". Any one moment can be the moment our life changes. 




Oooh! Here's the story of the song!





1 SONG
West has great lyrics, but he also has great music. This beat gets stuck in my head a lot. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah" :) In '1 Song' the idea is that if he could only sing one song, it would be for God, but I also think it is a good reminder that we never know when our last is, so it should all be for God. 



And the finale.... NEVER, EVER GIVE UP
As I said at the beginning of this post, this song was written for Brooke, but I think it's going to encourage a lot of people who are going through incredibly challenging seasons. My favorite aspect is the upbeat music :) I can't help but smile and want to dance a bit when I hear this song. Added to it are the lyrics which are just so encouraging. Here's the song and then the video of Matthew and Elizabeth Hasslebeck surprising Brooke with the song. It's super sweet.





I don't know that I could pick a song off this album to be my favorite. I listen to all of these almost equally. Depends on what's in my head at the time. Usually I'm singing one of them and then I want to listen to the real thing. Hope you enjoyed this!

Friday, February 2, 2018

God Of All My Days ~ Casting Crowns

Casting Crowns has been releasing some incredible songs in the last few years. These songs speak to people who are down, lost, and broken. I'm imagining that a lot of it is born out of Mark Hall's bought with cancer, but whatever the case, they really help me when I'm going through something difficult. 

The latest release to the radio is the song, "God Of All My Days". It reminds me of Psalm 77:10-12, which is the psalmist saying that in hard times, he will remember who God is. That's what this song is about. 

My seasons change, You stay the same
You're the God of all my days

Happy Listening!