What I'm listening to now...

I've had the good fortune of stumbling on to some really great music recently. I've added that to my standard playlist and this is what I'm listening to now:

This is an album by Sufjan Stevens. I wish I could very succinctly describe his music, but I'm afraid that that is a daunting task! The two friends who recommended it to me did what they could to describe it, but until I finally heard it, I wasn't able to really wrap my brain around it. And to be perfectly honest, I still can't really wrap my brain around it! I'll try to describe his music in a way that (hopefully) won't conjure too many preconceived notions.

First off, Sufjan plays nearly every instrument on the album and while that's not unheard of, the scope of instruments on the album probably is: guitars, drums, keyboards of every sort, even trumpet and oboe. Of course, he is a very good singer also. Secondly, many of the songs rely on complex time signatures, which should automatically tell you that these songs have a more sophisticated make-up than your standard FM pop music. Thirdly, lyrically, the subject matter goes from light-hearted songs about (essentially) nothing, to some pretty deep and moving ones.

Finally, Sufjan has set out on a mission to write an album for all 50 states (except for Rhode Island which will be an EP -- seems fitting...). The first album in this effort, Greetings from Michigan, is brilliant. Both albums are, but both are also very different and equally likeable. I think that, right there, just shows how much writing talent and creativity Sufjan has. Go to www.ashmatickitty.com to look around and purchase a Sufjan album. (It appears that the best prices for his CD's are on that website too. I've looked other places, but the prices are all higher.)


Next is David Crowder Band's Illuminate. Yep, I know I'm a little behind the times here and that DCB has released like 27 albums since Illuminate, but I just got into this one again for two reasons: One, it's stinking great and Two, I've been learning how to use the music program Reason.

For those of you who don't know what Reason is, I'll try to feebly sum it up as best as I can. Reason is a program that allows you to record any type of instrument, while generating a drum loop to go with it, while creating a drum machine of assorted sounds, then add as many effects to it (reverb, digital delay, phaser, etc...) as you'd like.

Our church bought the program to use during our contemporary worship service. Basically, I programmed a track for each song in our set to give a fuller sound to the band and to keep us honest and on a click track (like playing with a metronome). While you can get VERY complicated in Reason, we were only scratching the surface by using a few drum loops with some shaker and whatnot, to add to the worship service, but not to call too much attention to itself.

Illuminate uses Reason extensively in the creation of most of the electronic sounding elements on the album. It also has a demo version of the program that you can download and it also comes with two of the albums' Reason files so you can see specifically what DCB was doing with it. Very educational!

I'm also listening to quite a bit of talk radio these days. As a matter of fact, my daily line up is as follows: Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Bill O'Reilly and Dave Ramsey. Depending on what time of day it is and when I have a free moment (or am in the car), this is who I'll be listening to.

Because I spend so much time working with music (either writing and arranging or, during the school year, teaching music), I won't necessarily listen to a lot of music unless I'm trying to just clear out my brain.

Have a great day!