Okay...I have decided that it would be fun to share some of my own music as well. I am blessed with an MacBook Pro and some good friends, so I have been able to record some of my music. However, as I have been listening through the songs again, I am almost ashamed to post them. There are two songs that I am confident to post (because they are meant to be fun and silly). The others will wait until I can decide to record them again or just post them anyway.
The two tracks I am posting today were done with a good friend of mine that goes by the artist name DJ Trancepire. He was one of my high school students while I was serving at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX years ago (he has since graduated from University and is a working man now...this makes me feel a little old).
The first track was something we made for fun one day about 7 years ago. It is titled "WIA" (which stands for Where It's At, a name we made up for a series of summer events we had for our youth group then). I thought you all may enjoy it, but keep in mind that it was made in 4 hours just for fun.
This second track was the Streu Family 3rd Annual Christmas Video. It was our first rap video called "The Christmas Wrap." I had begun to think of a fun rap video and some words, and thought to ask DJ Trancepire to produce the instrumentation. This is the product.
So, we start a new category of Streusic blogs...the Oldies. Now, these won't be determined the same as music known as the oldies, which consist of music from the decades prior to the 60s (usually). Today's artist, although, does fall into both the Streusic Oldies and the oldies genre.
I have recently been reminiscent of my hometown, so I thought it was fitting to begin with a music legend...Buddy Holly. My grandmother, Reba (whom my daughter is named after), is actually buried next to Buddy Holly in Lubbock, TX. I want to share some very interesting facts that many people do not know.
Charles Hardin Holley was born on September 7, 1936. He was known as "Buddy" by his mother. Then, his name was misspelled "Holly" on his first recording contract and he decided to keep it as his professional name. His music career was actually about 18 months due to his death in a plane crash, which became known as "The Day the Music Died" (Ritchie "La Bamba" Valens and the Big Bopper also died in this crash).
Even in that short 18 months, Buddy Holly left an indelible mark in rock 'n roll. Buddy Holly and the Crickets started the rock band format of two guitars, a bass, and drums. The Beatles were believed to name their band as a homage to the Crickets. A cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" was The Rolling Stones first top 10 single. His image influenced the likes of John Lennon, Elton John, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Costello. John Lennon once wrote, "He made it O.K. to wear glasses. I was Buddy Holly." His music influenced the likes of Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and many more. He was also one of the firsts to use studio techniques such as double tracking. Even Don McLean and Weezer wrote songs about him.
Buddy Holly was only 22 years old on "the day the music died." Who knows what could have been for music? Lubbockites and many others will always remember Buddy Holly.
What do you get when you combine a Belgian-born Australian who plays multiple instruments with voice reminiscent of Sting and Peter Gabriel? A great and unique musician that goes by the moniker, Gotye.
One day, I caught a status update of a friend asking, "Gotye: one hit wonder or the real deal?" I could have asked the same question the first day that I caught "Somebody That I Used to Know" on the radio. It was being played again and again like your Billboard radio hits, but it was so different than your typical Billboard hit. I found myself waiting to hear it again so I could catch the deejay saying the name of the song or the artist so I could check out more. Once I discovered the name Gotye, check out more I did.
Gotye (or Wouter "Wally" De Backer) is so much more than "Somebody That I Used to Know," and he has been around longer than most people know. He has been making a name for himself in Australia since 2001. Before his past two solo albums, he has been the co-singer and drummer for The Basics.
The Basics make great music. Check out more of their stuff. Now, I want to share several songs with you that really highlight Gotye and his style. Sometimes he gets very jazzy. Sometimes his chord progressions and structure are very meaty and a little dark. His music at times feels like a throwback to the 80s, and then at other times feel like its very own indie blend. Then, he has a song like "Learnalilgivinalovin" that feels like a 60s R&B number (yet, somehow has that Gotye aura to it). He definitely has his own style, that is for sure. Plus, his videos are creative and fun to watch. Enjoy this sample of Gotye.
So, I need to thank The Civil Wars for posting the link for this on Facebook. Bonnaroo Festival has always been a fantabulous music shmorgishborg (I did look up the spelling for that word...I'm pretty sure it is right). Youtube has partnered with Bonnaroo to make a webcast of the festival. Of course, it is not as good as actually being there, but it is the next best thing. Plus, I can actually catch some of the action at a reasonable hour here in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Here is a link to the Bonnaroo Youtube channel...
Now, there are only two channels on the Youtube page, so I want to give you my picks of bands to catch.
Channel 1 Picks:
The Avett Brothers
Foster the People
The Temper Trap Pnnch Brothers
Bon Iver
Young the Giant
Channel 2 Picks:
Two Door Cinema Club
NEEDTOBREATHE
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sam Bush Band
Dispatch
Umphrey's McGee
Grouplove
City and Colour
Ben Folds Five
The Shins
fun.
The Civil Wars
This is the first edition of the Freebie blogs. In the Freebie blogs, I will share with quality, golden music waiting for you "under the Christmas tree." That's right, it is free for the taking.
Now, we all know that there is a risk in taking something that is free...no one was willing to buy it. Don't worry. I will only share Freebies that has received the Listen to the Streusic stamp of approval. So, allow me to introduce you to Portlandian Josh Garrels...
Unfortunately, only one of his albums is free. All of his albums are worth buying, though. Below are three songs from his album "Love & War & the Sea in Between." Very deep and very chill. Here is the link to get this wonderful Freebie...http://joshgarrels.com/.
Also, when you get a chance, check out his song "All Creatures" on iTunes. It is his own rendition of the hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King."
Some would say this guy is falling off the deep end, but I just can't get enough.
Derek Webb, in some Christian circles, will always be remembered as one of the voices of Caedmon's Call. Well, Derek has come a long way from his early Caedmon's Call days (although he has teamed up with them once again). Let me give you a brief history...
Derek spent around 10 great years with Caedmon's Call, contributing a wealth of quality music...
In 2003, Derek left Caedmon's to pursue his solo career. He began with the album "She Must and Shall Go Free." This was a very candid album written to the Church (yes, capital "C" as in the WHOLE church, the Body of Christ). He started stepping on toes early with songs like "Wedding Dress" and "Saint and Sinner" (in which words were changed before the final cut was made). "She Must and Shall Go Free" has an Americana feel to it that didn't fall to far off the Caedmon's tree. I caught a Derek show on his House Show Tour when I was a student at Texas Tech. It was a solid show in which he would preach in between songs. I will never forget his statement, "The best thing that could happen to the Church is for everyone's sins to be revealed on the 5 'o clock news." He followed that statement with a song called, "I Repent," in which he confesses his sin in song (and can actually be found on his second solo studio album). I'm going to share a video giving a glimpse of "She Must and Shall Go Free"...
...now, I will hold off on videos until we get to his most recent stuff. I will leave it up to you to listen to his musical journey. But, I will continue you on with words.
His next album, "I See Things Upside Down," showed us that Derek was willing to try new things besides just ruffling feathers in the Church. This album showed us a new production style and musical style. Definitely not the same Derek Webb from Caedmon's Call.
His third solo studio album, "Mocking Bird," shows Derek becoming more political. It has possibly my favorite song of his, "A King and a Kingdom." A really cool thing happened with this album, in which Derek began to offer it as a free download. He discovered that more people ended up coming to his shows and he ended up selling more albums after that gimmick. I believe this led to his co-collaboration in creating Noisetrade.com. This has become one of my new favorite websites to discover new musicians, and get their music for free. Noisetrade also releases the best music samplers (in my opinion).
His fourth studio album...I honestly can't tell you much about it. I got it, but I lost interest a little bit.
Then, we have "Stockholm Syndrome." In brief, Derek Webb joined up with Caedmon's Call buddy Josh Moore, and they went all "Lost" on us. I remember the day when I got a cryptic email from Derek (I'm on his mailing list...he has no clue who I am) stating that he had to go offline while he settled things with his record company over his new album. Thus came the crazy release of "Stockholm Syndrome" which came through a very intentional, thought-out, elaborate puzzle. Let's just say that there were sound bites, cryptic pictures, memory sticks to be found all over the country, and Derek and Josh at an undisclosed location. If that intrigues you, run a google search on it and you will find websites.
"Stockholm Syndrome" ruffles feathers in the Church once again. In a nutshell, I believe that it addresses the worth of the battles the Church has chosen to fight in this generation (such as the use of words and homosexuality). Here is the song that caused much of the controversy around the album...
Derek continued to show his creativity through two cover albums, Democracy Vol. 1 &2, in which people buy the album before anything is recorded and they get to vote for what songs he covers. He followed that project up with an electronic instrumental album inspired by the Lord's Prayer, called Feedback.
Finally, he embarks on another mysterious project that certainly overshadows "Stockholm Syndrome." I had heard of the project through Noisetrade.com, but I had no idea how involved it was. It is a group Derek and Josh put together called Sola-Mi. The album is the soundtrack for Solomon Mente's motion picture, "Nexus." Well, Solomon Mente is supposedly a fictional persona created by Derek, but no one is for sure. Check out this website for the details: http://www.jonathanguenther.com/blog/sola-mi/. Here is a song from that album...
I like Derek Webb for so many reasons...his music, his words, his ingenuity, his gall, and how he reminds me of a Christian Glen Phillips.
I think I said this in an earlier post, but one of my favorite questions used to be, "Who are your top 5 favorite bands/musicians?" The number of people who have ever completed a top 5 list for me are few and far between. It is a very difficult question. For me, my favorite bands/musician change all the time. However, it was last month that I discovered a new way to ask the question. "Which bands/musicians can put out a new album and you will buy it before you even listen to the songs?" In other words, you own all their records.
Well, I am about to share with you two that fall into this category for me...Coldplay and U2. Now, these two bands are huge. Why would I bother with a Streusic Sharing Post for two bands that EVERYONE has heard of (except for maybe here in Bosnia-Herzegovina...I have met a few that don't know Coldplay...sad, but true)? Because I want to remind people that they are not complete "sellouts" and still make good music.
A good friend of mine once said to me, "Coldplay has created a genre of their own...I think it should be called 'Inspirato.'" Coldplay has a way of forming and producing songs that make you want to get up and climb a mountain. I think they have made music like this from the beginning of their career to now. Sure, they have become extremely mainstream, but they still make good music. Let's look at a blast from the past.
And now...the present...
Passion, excitement, good musicianship, good production...for this and more, Coldplay albums will always have a place in my collection.
Now, for U2, I will be brief. Again, they have become probably mainstream to the extreme. But, they are a band that have given us good music ever since at least 1980 (they actually formed in 1976). That's 32 years!!! They have released 12 studio albums, 4 of which are in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Joshua Tree is in the top 30 of that list. They have ruffled feathers and made a boatload of money, but no one can deny that they have made a difference in the world. Their sound and style have influenced many bands (including Coldplay). They are certainly timeless, and like Coldplay, will always have a place in my collection.
Bono is one of very few that could make it cool to have a mullet.
For this edition of Favies, I will combine the legendary Harry Connick, Jr with the music scene of New Orleans. In case you do not know, Harry Connick, Jr is from New Orleans. If you ever watch a concert of his, you will notice that he always includes a taste of N'Awlins in his show. Therefore, I thought that I could mix two of my Favies into one in this blog.
First, a bit about Harry Connick, Jr. He is a music virtuoso. He is a singer with an uncanny vocal range, an big band leader, a conductor, an orchestrator and arranger, and a multi-instrumentalist with at least piano, drums, and trombone in his arsenal. His acting isn't so bad, either. I will begin with a song that highlights him as an instrumentalist (most everyone knows his vocal skills).
This next video will give us a segue way into the New Orleans section of this blog.
Leroy Jones has his own band that plays around N'Awlins. He was one of the original members of what is now known as the Rebirth Brass Band. Craig Klein is one of the members of Bonerama. Jess and I got a chance to watch them at the French Quarter Festival before we returned to Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was a great show.
New Orleans music will always be one of a kind. Once you learn the rhythm and the style of the brass instruments, you will forever have it seep into your soul. I think a lot of you have experienced the soul of New Orleans music before. I will use this next video to show you.
You gotta love that syncopated rhythm that flows through so much of the music of New Orleans. Then, the way Zydeco makes the accordion cool. Allow me to give you a taste of some New Orleans funk.
Let me give you a list of what New Orleans has produced: jazz in general, Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, the Marsalis family (Ellis, Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo, and more), the Neville family (Aaron and the rest...they also brought us the Meters), Harry Connick, Jr, Dr. John, Better Than Ezra, Lenny Kravitz, Galactic, Trombone Shorty (who can switch seamlessly between trombone and trumpet), the brass bands (Rebirth, Dirty Dozen, New Orleans, Soul Rebels, Hot 8, etc) and so much more. If you haven't heard of any of these people, check them out.
