Christian Music Artists

New Christian Artists: Holly Starr

psmal9 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:51:10 +0000

Holly Starr is a new Christian music artist, so new that she is not even on Wikipedia. She has just recently come out with her first CD Embraced in 2008. On her website there are samples of four of her songs which can be played. They all seem fairly good, although I couldn’t help notice that “I Love You Anyway” and “Cold” have very similar opening melodies along with chord progression. The difference is that “Cold” is in a minor key, while I Love You Anyway” is in a major key. There is enough variation that it’s not that much of a problem. I Love You Anyways can be found on YouTube. Her site can be found at http://hollystarrmusic.com/index.html

I Love You Anyways

Very beautiful melody and voice
Good use of range of voice
Interesting topic, which is confusing as I thought Holly Starr wrote it because of a bad break up with a boyfriend, but in fact, it’s not.

Note: This is the last time I will post about a new Christian artist for awhile. The next time, it will be about a more familiar artist.

New Christian Artists: Part 3

psmal9 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:32:08 +0000

At the site, http://christianmpfree.com/free-christian-mp3-music-2.html, there are many new artists given. I have already given the artists I liked from the first page, now for the artists of the second page:

Toby Walters: Different Day

Easy to listen too
Nice melody and chorus
Contemporary Christian Artist

Leigh Nash: Along The Wall (Heard in Kyle XY) (Leader of Sixpence None the Richer: You might remember her from songs “Kiss Me” and “There She Goes”.)

Most interesting lyrics on the second page
Beautiful Song

Ross Walters: Sonshine and Set My Mind On It

Both these songs are good. There seems to be some jazz influence to both the songs. I love the orchestration, saxophone and, I believe, a harmonica solo, along with guitars, and brass. While I’m not a fan of the repeating chorus in “Set My Mind On It”, I love the instrumentation and overall a good song. Sonshine is great, even if S-O-N-S-H-I-N-E in the first verse is a little corny…

Notables:

Jeff Wofford: Dont Make Me Dream Of You

Alison Kitchen

Best way to describe her music is by comparing it to hymns. By that I mean, slow, and thoughtful melodies. I really like the use of harmonies and violin in her music. The main problem I have is that, while her lyrics are good, but she often repeats. Also, all the music I listen to is slow, which gets a little boring. Still, I like her music because of my draw to hymns.

New Christian Artists

psmal9 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:26:48 +0000

I can quickly become bored with music, so the new music I listen to needs to hook me fast. Then the music needs to have enough depth in words and music to keep me interested. I listen once, and then come back again and listen again, if it fails to catch me both times, I move past the song. These are some of the artists and their music that stuck out from the first page of the music http://christianmpfree.com/free-christian-mp3-music-1.html:

Lindy Freeland: Change My Way

This is a new artist, so much that you cannot find anything about her on the web. Her website is not yet up, and for now, she is unknown. I listened to this song once, then twice in a row with a song in between. Along with Nathan and Jenna Strong, written about in last post, she is the most unexpectedly refreshing.

This song is very calming to me.
Really like her voice, very nice and soothing.
I like the lyrics, very thought provoking.
The chorus fits with the song perfectly, I love it!.
Her choruses are long in both her songs.
The only potential downside I can see is that she is a pop artist: Will her music all sound the same? I hope not…

Her uncompleted website: http://www.recurrentdream.com/lindyfreeland

Fred Haring

Normally, I do not like country singers, but something I do I like from them is well written lyrics. Even if a country singer has well written lyrics, I cannot stand their music or singing. But, for some reason, I like really Fred Haring’s lyrics, singing (sometimes low and mellow [think Johnny Cash], it’s a really nice change), and even the music(which is actually good in some songs).

I prefer Fred Haring when he is singing low, with his country singing, but he is still good when he goes up into his tenor voice. Strangely, that’s even when he losses his southern twang. All the four free songs given on the site are very good. I really like this guy!

http://fredharing.com/

Most creepy, but interesting!

Azimuth: Jester Dance (only free song from him I liked)

Interesting concept, use of metaphors
The singing was annoying at first, but fits the song well
Kind of creepy song, not sure why, maybe it reminds me of the joker in Batman…

Notables: I liked these, but not my favorite

Brian Bates: “Step Outside the Lines” is my favorite, also wrote “You Danced”, which can be found on YouTube.

Jon Bauer: “Awaken”, Standard worship song you would hear from David Crowder Band or Chris Tomlin (Beginning of singing sounds like “Your Grace is Enough”, even ends first sung phrase with same note, and uses many of the same notes)

The Grace Project

This is not a new band there first CD came out in 1998 called “The Big Love!”. The reason I selected them is because of their interesting music, in style and lyrics. Their music has singing and rap, has styles of gospel music and even has hymns. Their wide variety of music makes this collaboration very interesting.

Free Christian Music Downloads: Including Jars of Clay!

psmal9 — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:16:26 +0000

I found this site that has free Christian music downloads. Just go to the site, then click on the link at the music tab at the bottom. Included is Jars of Clay with the song Closer, a single from 2008. The rest of the music is from independent, and usually less known artists. I have only listened to a few of the artists because there are many. I will give my review on one artists song, which happens to be the first one I listened to.

Fight or Flight (Album:After the Chase) By: Nathan and Jenna Strong Website: http://www.afterthechase.com

Good use of wife husband combo (harmony is perfect)
Acoustics are good
Chorus a plus (other songs repeat a lot, but not so much this one)
High production quality (this is true of all the songs I listened to)

So how is the Jars of Clay song, Closer, you might ask. First off, this song can be found in there new album, The Long Fall Back to Earth, that just came out in April this year. It’s not too bad, it has a nice beat. Even as it’s Jars of Clay, it’s completely different from what I remember back in the day from songs like Worlds Apart and Flood, which made them very different from every of artist. Also in their new album, the song Two Hands is a nice song, and played a lot on the radio. I personally really like this song just because of the message, well not really just because of the message. Lets just say that pop music will always have a special place close to my heart, that is, if it’s Christian pop music.

Enjoy the free music! I will post more about the artists I find that I like, with in the next week.

http://christianmpfree.com/free-christian-mp3-music-1.html

Falling Up

psmal9 — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:27:51 +0000

This band, Falling Up, debuted in 2004, I have just recently become a fan of them. I stumbled upon their music through Pandora(free online radio). There music is considered alternative rock, at times their music can be considered hard rock, while having softer slower music.

The top picks from them are (in no particular order):
Broken Heart

Love the intro to the song
The chorus is good, but the verse is what makes the song
Strong Christian message

Moonlight (This was the song that got me interested in their music)

Strong chorus (only problem is it is repeated to much)
Screaming actually a plus and adds to the problematic chorus repetition
Nice verses, but need more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBvxCts6f1w
Must click on and go to youtube to play.

Ambience

Interesting instrumentals (even a little guitar solo!)
Like the vocals
The chorus is interesting, but like with many of their songs, their verses is what makes their music interesting.

Fearless (From album Exit Lights: This is a remix CD and the Fearless remix is much preferred to the Dawn Escapes rendition)

Slow ballet (different from many of this bands music)
Interesting vocals with a perfect chorus
Interesting instrumentals
Calming