I Have Seen The Future...

...And the future includes a rock star named Jacob.

Last week our church hosted their Vacation Bible School. I was working most of the week so couldn't volunteer, but I got to see the closing program on Friday, when the kids get to sing the songs they learnt for their parents/friends/family.

So there's fifty-some kids piled on the platform at the front of the church, singing and doing actions to a truly annoying and rather insipid song that's still in my head, and in the front row, there's a kid in a yellow shirt with dark hair named Jacob.

Seriously, this kid is Rick Florian all over again.

He's what, six? and he's running along the front of the platform in front of the group of kids, working the crowd. That was the moment I turned to my mother standing beside me and said, "He's going to grow up to be a rock star." I'd seen that move on YouTube from both John Schlitt (Petra) and Rick Florian and this kid pulled it off like a pro.

Then he took up residence in the centre front of the platform (downstage centre for those of you who know what I'm talking about) and did some fast footwork that brought me back to the official video for Independence Day. He joined what the others were doing for all of five seconds, then branched off into his own interpretation of the song again.

The thing was, he was not only completely in time with the music, he also managed (somehow) to make it work with the lyrical interpretation of the song (such as it was).

I have to admit, I was kind of in awe watching him. I work on a piece of choreography for months and it's only half as vibrant and well-done as what this six-year-old is making up off the top of his head in front of 200 people.

What got me the most, though, was his style. I'm telling you, it's Rick Florian. No back handspring (though I wouldn't bat an eye if I saw him do one next year), but that was the trademark Florian style.

So in twenty years when Jacob is headlining a rock tour, just remember you read it here first.

Music Day

I had this guy's music in my head all day at work... I Want To Be A Clone, On The Fritz, Meltdown... so we're making the small leap from the sarcastic Terry Taylor to the sarcastic (and cynical) Steve Taylor. (I may or may not be a sarcastic person...)

It continues to puzzle me that for as much as I like Steve Taylor's solo material, I only own four of his songs and that's been the number for a long, long time. Why only four? I have no clue. I like quite a bit of his stuff (as heard to YouTube) and iTunes does carry I Predict 1990 and a greatest-hits compilation that actually gives you a decent cross-section of his career to date. Plus, I saw both I Want To Be A Clone and Meltdown on vinyl at the record shop the other day (I didn't have enough cash on me, or I totally would have bought them. Along with the Vital Signs LP (White Heart), the Run From The Darkness LP (Daniel Band), and that Barnabas LP I saw that I can't remember the name of right now).

I like the mood of this song. It makes you think, possibly more than the lyrics do. There's a melancholy hollow-ness in the sound, even as it races past. The sonic story of so many 9-to-5 drones -- once-wonderful and amazing people caught up in the song of little dollar signs floating just out of reach, just beyond 'a little more overtime'...

Title: What Is The Measure Of Your Success?
Artist: Steve Taylor
Album: I Predict 1990
Year: 1987
Label: Sparrow
iTunes here; YouTube here.

Brooding sound, heart-piercing story, haunting question. As for the video, I thought it odd at first, but I just watched it again and it feels like genius now. There's all this big set-up and seriousness, and for what? You'll have to watch the video to find out exactly what, but even the absurdity of it makes a point -- 'you think this is ridiculous? What about wasting your entire life in the pursuit of little pieces of paper?'

Well put, Steve. Very well put.


I know better
Still I run...

Bonus Music Day!

Okay, so this is kind of a cheater Music Day post because I can't post any links yet (not even YouTube -- this is so hot off the press YouTube doesn't have it yet). But it's too exciting to not talk about.

Yes, folks -- I have heard the new Daniel Amos album.

Literally two hours after my 'official' Music Day post last week Friday (the 21st), Daniel Amos posted on Facebook that the download link for the Kickstarter supporters was coming soon. I was going to leave it till the next day, but then I saw someone in the comments say that had downloaded it already.

No way... It couldn't be...

I checked my email. Sure enough, there was a download link. Cue the suppressed screaming (it was one in the morning, after all...).

Before I begin, it's worth noting that (for those who missed it), I'm a DA fan as of February of this year. I've had to cram their entire thirty-plus year career into the last five months. Therefore, I don't know everything there is to know about them and their songs (yet). I'm fairly well-acquainted with their eighties stuff, but once we get into the nineties my knowledge drops to almost nothing. I haven't heard Mr Buechner's Dream (their previous album) in its entirety, but I've taken a cursory listening of... probably about half of the songs on it.

I'm dithering. Can you tell I'm dithering? Reviewing something so fantastic is psyching me out because there's no way I'll ever be able to do it justice (to read reviews by better-versed music fans, see the links at the bottom of this post).

*deep breath*

Overall -- this thing is amazing and I love it. It sounds like nothing else I've ever heard. Ever. Timeless stuff -- the best there is.

Also, keyboards! Pretty keyboards! Oh man, some of the keyboard work is gorgeous... I'll get into that more when I talk about the specific songs (I'm definitely going to run out of adjectives). In fact, every instrument is spectacular here. One could probably take lessons from these guys just by listening to this album on repeat.

Lyrically, the album talks about death and dying quite a bit, but one of the first impressions I got of the overall album was how hope-filled it is. There just seems to be an air of hope, of quiet rest in God and His plan. (Also, current CCM 'artists' (and I use the term very loosely) -- note that not once does Terry use the words 'don't you know He loves you?' or 'just lean on Him' as if the listener is a complete idiot (though said listener apparently somehow knows the magnitude of God's love, as it's never explained in those songs).)

Forward In Reverse -- The album starts out with a gentle acoustic guitar and then a pretty flutish sound, and then that familiar voice begins singing... a wonderfully poetic list of clichés, flipped backwards and twisted slightly. In the second verse, a horn of some kind comes in, adding a bit of whimsy. As I listen to it again, it inexplicably makes me think of Dr Seuss (don't even try to understand why -- I don't). And I totally love the whooshing sound effect after the second chorus -- a great sonic interpretation of the title.

Jesus Wept -- Oh man... the keyboard melody in the 'let me out... no not yet' bit. The guitar is wonderfully fuzzy (and not overpowering) and I like the drumming. Gorgeous, gorgeous poetic imagery here: I pound against the walls of my aging skin... Who'll untie the ropes that restrain my wings... They mounted up like eagles; now they're dropping like flies... It's kind of odd, hearing melancholy lyrics in such an upbeat song, but it's not without hope: Before He danced, Jesus wept. Speaking as a young adult whose life is in total upheaval right now, I'm very thankful for that reminder.

Dig Here Said The Angel -- Best. Intro. Ever. I think it's backmasking. Whatever it is, it's awesome. And then the bass (I think) comes growling in over the backmasking (I think it's a guitar going backwards -- or perhaps forward in reverse?*). And then they start humming. I'm a sucker for the humming thing, I don't know why. Maybe because it's so rare. I love that he doesn't start singing until the minute and a half mark -- just lets the intro do its thing first. The guitar here is so so cool... the distortion. And in the chorus, the keyboard -- almost sci-fi like, piping, flutish. You know, all that 'sonic' futuristic stuff everybody did in the mid-eighties and early nineties? It's kind of like that. And the harmony in the last chorus -- so pretty. And then they hum it out with some nice deep rolling drum hits before falling back into the backmasking to end the song. Epic song. I could fly on this song.

Our New Testament Best -- Man, the groove... between the bass and Terry's low vocals, your foot will be tapping. And the keyboards after the second chorus... It's the sound of falling rain. Seriously. My heart stops every time. I wish it would last longer, but the fact that it's so fleeting makes it more beautiful when you get to hear it. And then the guitar comes in over the rain sound and then the song kicks up a bit into the chorus repeats.

Love Grace And Mercy -- This one was an instant favourite, as soon as the vocalising started before the first verse. This sounds more like the Terry I'm used to (in the eighties, with the higher voice). Also, my favourite lyric of the entire album is in here: 'Love grace and mercy; They shake me to the core; Lift me higher than a kite then; Leave me crawling on the floor.' So accurate. The mix of fuzzy guitar and bells in the interlude (and later in the ending) absolutely makes the song.
Bit of a heads-up here: There's this one line -- So to hell with my excuses... I don't know if the word hell in that context is really an issue anymore in the age of Facebook where every other post contains the f-word, but it's something to keep in mind if you happen to have young children living in the house or something.

Now That I've Died -- This one surprised me musically. I wasn't expecting something quite that rock-y. (You'd think I'd know better than to judge a song -- especially one with Terry Scott Taylor's fingerprints on it -- by its title.) It's one of the rockiest songs on the album. At first I thought he was talking about dying to self (the Biblical teaching of turning away from evil desires and instead pursuing the things of God), but on reading the lyrics, it also kind of sounds like he's talking as if he were in Heaven, trying to describe it to someone still on earth. I quite enjoy his delivery of the title line, and the line I'm never cynical (but still a little sarcastic) is perhaps the funniest on the album (especially in the context of Terry's past work, like, say, the ¡Alarma! Chronicles or his solo album The Miracle Faith Telethon). I like the ending, when they get into that I've never been more alive/Now that I've died vocal layering. And I like the keyboards in that part too.

We'll All Know Soon Enough -- I'm still microanalysing this song lyrically. Even knowing TST's lyrical bent for sarcasm (but not cynicism, of course...) in all forms, it was quite a shock to my Baptist-raised reformed-theology-nerd-in-training ears to hear the line 'There may be no heaven, no no no; There may be no hell, no...' I think -- I think -- he may be taking the perspective of a person trying to 'use' God to have a comfortable life (á la Angels Tuck You In and New Car!**) and then being disappointed when God doesn't answer his every prayer with a 'yes.' Yet the verses seem so sincere and well-rooted that it's a bit of a stretch to take the chorus (and the line quoted above) as anything less sincere and Biblically accurate. The bass and drum drive of the verses is cool though, and I quite like the effect of the synthesized vocal in the bridge. Listening to that through headphones is so cool -- the vocal comes only through the right speaker, and the sparse instrumentation comes only through the left. Actually, the first time I heard this I found out later I'd had my earbuds mixed up so I heard the vocal through my left ear. I think I now have to switch my earbuds whenever I hear this song because it sounds wrong with the vocal in my right ear.

Waking Up Under Water -- This song doesn't gently ease you into things. It grabs and doesn't let go. It starts with a blasting guitar, and then a driving beat and such an honest lyric -- about trying to escape real life by daydreaming. Lyrically, this could almost have fit on Doppelgänger. The bass is fantastic, just rocks along.

The Uses Of Adversity -- Am I the only one who hears a Newsboys vibe in that guitar bit between the verses? Actually, the Newsboys feel surfaces several times throughout the song. It's a beautiful lyric, though. Very poetic, and lovely, if painful, in its surrender to the supremacy of God (So don't send me rain if I bloom in drought...).

The Ruthless Hum Of Dread -- I think I may forever be calling this one 'The Ruthless Drum of Ed' after that one YouTube video they posted of Ed McTaggert doing drums for this. Very well-orchestrated... sparse instrumentation, soft vocals. It's delivered like a lullaby, only the protagonist can't shake the fears that run through his head as he tries to sleep (...night fears slip in between hissing sheets and springs; And in the folds of my sibilant bed...). The third verse is gorgeous -- the drumming stops, and only the odd piano chord backs the vocals. Some of the imagery in the last verse reminds me of the lyrical content of Terry's solo albums Knowledge & Innocence (1986) and A Briefing For The Ascent (1987). Melancholy but chock-full of wonderful poetic imagery.

The Sun Shines On Everyone -- A bit of an anthem, feeling almost like a reprise more than a closing track. It's already becoming quite a favourite among the DA fans on Facebook, but it drags a bit for me. To be honest I've yet to properly focus on this song from start to finish because of that. The lyrics are nice though. Perhaps it'll grow on me yet.


Honestly, I don't think there's a throwaway lyric on the entire album, and there is nothing, musically, that doesn't feel perfect throughout (though I found the studio applause at the end of the last song cheesy, but that's neither music nor lyric.)

I would have loved to have gone more in-depth with this (I could probably write a thesis on this album), but I will have to click the 'Publish' button in spite of the perfectionist in my mind screaming for me to revise some more, or else this will never get posted. Perhaps at a later date, once I've had more time to listen and memorise and find nuances and simply enjoy it, I'll revisit the album on this blog. But for now, this is what you get, plus a recommendation from yours truly to buy it when it releases later this summer (they gave a tentative date for August). Or at the very least, buy the title track and Love, Grace, And Mercy. After that, the next two you should buy are Jesus Wept and Waking Up Under Water. And after that, you need to just give up and buy the CD.


* I can't even take credit for this pun -- I saw it on the DA Facebook page, though using it to describe backmasking was my idea.

** Both songs from Doppelgänger, 1983.

Other album reviews (as posted by the Daniel Amos Facebook page -- I have no idea what else is on these sites):
More Of Dave
The Phantom Tollbooth
Popdose (includes an interview with Terry Taylor)
Into The Son
Examiner.com
Another from Examiner.com
Down The Line Magazine

Music Day

People, you need this band in your life.

I finally tracked down a copy of their album Incandescent and proceeded to listen to it four times in three days (with great restraint). Their take on the old stalwart church-organ hymn Sweet By And By is nothing short of brilliant. Let's see Matt Redman pull that off.

Unfortunately, Incandescent is not on iTunes and apparently a re-release depends on if they can track down the masters. So today I'm going to feature something from their second album, Escape From The Fallen Planet.

Title: Solo Flight
Artist: Crumbächer
Album: Escape From The Fallen Planet
Year: 1986
Label: Frontline
iTunes here; YouTube here.

It's not quite as intense as the stuff on Incandescent, but it'll have to do. I like the atmospheric feel of it though -- it sounds like something John Lawry (former Petra keyboardist) might have done around that same time.

Things that make this band awesome (or at least the album Incandescent):

- Two -- count 'em, two -- keyboards.

- Eighties music. Do I really have to go on?

- You cannot resist dancing to this music. Seriously. I dare you. Even the most hardened Baptist will find themselves tapping their toes to this stuff (and I should know, I was raised hardcore Baptist).

- They play at a breakneck pace and they do not relent for a minute. There are no ballads on these albums -- no namby-pamby fake sappy 'Christian love songs' to mess up a good record.

- Every song actually sounds different from the one before it -- a practice which apparently is sacrilegious today (heaven forbid we actually use more than two chords!).

- The harmonizing on a lot of their songs -- maybe it's just the male-female vocal mix, but it just adds a fresh, sparkling quality to the band's sound.

- This is such a 'tight' band. You just don't get such skill and chemistry together anymore -- nowadays it's always some 'worship pastor' and a bunch of studio players. These guys were amazing at what they did. Sometimes you listen to some of the songs and you wonder if they all shared a brain or something. Even on their first album, one wrong note would have completely messed up the entire song. But there are no wrong notes, even at such a breakneck speed. It's just fun to listen to them and try to pick out all the instrument tracks (I still don't think I've caught them all).

(You can listen to most (if not all) of the tracks from Incandescent on YouTube if you search the artist and album name. In fact, if you clicked the link to Sweet By And By above, you'll probably find most of them in the YouTube sidebar.)

Music Day

Monday night.

I'm on the Old Christian Music blog, downloading the otherwise-unavailable Vector album Please Stand By (I got Mannequin Virtue a couple weeks ago and was absolutely blown away by it). In scrolling through the sidebar, looking for other artists I like, I saw an entry labeled Painted Orange. I thought that was a cool name, so I clicked the post.

The album artwork was cool too, and an album from 1991 is probably not-irredeemable. I looked them up on YouTube (because I won't even download stuff for free unless I know I'll like it).

The first thirty seconds of the album opener alone sold me on this band. They call it 'electronic,' but it's good electronic. There's melodies and dynamics and, yes, nuances. Plus, the drumming is fantastic -- it just captivated me.

It was so good, I was actually kind of hoping it wouldn't be on the iTunes Store, so I could get the free download with a clear conscience. But it is, so I can't. So now I'm stuck waiting until somebody who loves me very much (there has to be someone...) gets me an iTunes card because all the money in my music budget is now in lockdown on the off-chance White Heart actually comes to Canada in October... but I digress. This album really is one of the best I've heard of the era.

Title: Standing Still
Artist: Painted Orange
Album: Painted Orange
Year: 1991
Label: Star Song
iTunes here; YouTube here.

This particular song is catchy as heck. That quick high-end keyboard motif alone is worth it, and the ethereal vocal layer in the pre-chorus just makes the song. And probably once I own it and have listened to it seven hundred times, I'll have a billion other things I love about it and be disappointed in myself for featuring it now while the beauty of it in my ears was still mostly untapped.

Ah well. We shall learn to love it together, I suppose.

A Most Excellent Evening

Today was a very good day. Actually, mostly just this past hour or so, since I checked my Facebook (though I did have a ballet class this morning. That was pretty great too).

Item One: White Heart media galore! Videos and pictures abound! Apparently they did the photo shoot today. For once, I was actually glad to see pictures in my news feed.
(Some links for you all: White Heart Facebook page. Videos one, two, and three (all YouTube). Note that the videos probably aren't really that interesting unless you're a fan.)

Item Two: The long-awaited cover art to the new Daniel Amos album has been revealed! And as if that wasn't cool enough...

Item Three: My photography is featured in it! It's not the main picture, but the point stands that my photography is featured on the freaking COVER ART of the new Daniel Amos album!

This isn't some hole-in-the-wall local band, people, this is Daniel freaking Amos! And they apparently liked my photo enough to put it on their new album's freaking cover. A cover that will be seen by thousands of people the world over for years and years to come.

(I may be just a tiny bit excited about this... I can't even imagine the excitement of the guy who did the main piece.)

Music Day

I can't add much to this song. This pretty much nails it. It's White Heart's Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Christian from the perspective of the 'heathen' -- some might call it a stroke of genius, but it's really quite a logical standpoint (in fact, it's long overdue if you ask me). While White Heart took on the subject from the perspective of another member of the church (which could easily be taken as hypocritical, especially if Rick hadn't delivered the vocal with such concern), these guys put themselves on the outside looking in. As a result, the song hits closer to home than anything White Heart could have done, and yes, it is much harsher. But with the North American church in such a disgusting state of nearly-comatose apathy, only the harshest realities can possibly wake us now.

Thanks guys. You'll get a lot of flack for this one, but we need to hear this more than we know.

Title: Dear Mr Christian (feat. Dee-1 and Lecrae)
Artist: Derek Minor
Year: 2013
Label: Reach Records
iTunes here; YouTube here. (I don't recommend watching the video on an iDevice or in a moving vehicle -- the visual concept is great and the camera work is as smooth as possible, but even watching it on a stationary computer I got rather dizzy.)

I'll Just Let This Speak For Itself...

(From the Reunion Tour Event page. I didn't make that first post, but I very much appreciate the person who did for alluding to the question... especially because of the response it generated.)


Oh please, oh please, may it be true...

Music Day

I've been listening to this song for a week. In a week where the radical shifts forthcoming in my life are threatening to strangle me, this song has been comforting me in a way not much else is. The other night I fell asleep repeating that word to myself -- Changeless, changeless... It was the only glimmer of anything I could focus on that didn't try to crush me with the pain of knowing I might never dance ballet again. My Father in Heaven, who holds my life in His hand, is changeless.

Title: Changeless
Artist: Terry Scott Taylor
Album: A Briefing For The Ascent
Year: 1987
Label: Frontline Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.

A Farther Edge...

I've been putting off writing this. There's a part of me that's excited, but right now the bigger part of me is the part that wants to pretend time doesn't move.

I'll try to condense the story a little... otherwise, you'll be here reading forever.

In February, I found out Briercrest college in Saskatchewan has a dance team. Several years ago I had considered going to Briercrest, but didn't really pursue it. After all, what was the point of blowing four of the best years of my life in some classroom just for some dumb piece of paper that doesn't even guarantee you a job unless it says 'M.D.' on it?

But when I found out they have a dance team... I don't exactly know what happened. It was like an explosion over my life. It was like God was poking me, telling me to go to Briercrest. At first I was willing enough... probably because I didn't think it was ever going to actually happen. I sent the application, and asked God that if He didn't want me there that the application wouldn't even be accepted in the first place. At this point, I didn't care if I was accepted or not.

Then the email came. I had been accepted.

And reality set in.

Did I seriously just apply to blow two years of my life at college because of a dance team? And a hip hop team to boot? Aside from modern/contemporary, that's the one dance discipline I don't do. Plus there's this little matter of my, um... varied (yeah, let's say that) sleep schedule. I'm actually going to have to carve out time to fix myself more substantial food than nachos and salsa (I can cook more complex stuff than that, I just hate all the time wasted on preparing it). And my family -- I wouldn't see them for months at a time...

And then the gut punch. Ballet class.

A hip hop dance team suddenly becomes little comfort when you realise you may never wear your pointe shoes again. I'm a rare bird who actually enjoys dancing on pointe, and it's not something I want to let slide after so many years of working toward it. It doesn't take long for muscle strength to fade, and if I go without for two years, I'll likely have to start from the bottom up again.

As I write this, it's very early in the morning (very early) on Sunday, the second of June. Later today is what I now know is very likely my final stage performance with my ballet school. My sister is also in it -- last Tuesday was possibly the last time we drove together to the dance school for our classes, one right after the other. My mother will have to take her next year. I don't want to leave this. I thought God had called me to dance -- right?

But then, God also allowed me to be accepted to Briercrest. And He ordained that I get a high enough SAT score to confirm my acceptance to the college. Everything is coming together so quickly, almost too quickly... there's so much evidence that God wants me there, for whatever reason. All that's missing is the money, but if God wants me there so much, apparently it's on its way.

I feel like Jamie -- the slippers or the Bible? Is clinging to dance going to be worth sacrificing whatever God has out in the unknown for me? Whatever He has must be good, because He is good. I just can't see it right now. So do I trust Him enough to actually go see? It must be something better than ballet, because God is good. Maybe not more enjoyable right now, but better in the long run...

I keep coming back to the words PFR wrote in the liner notes to their farewell album, The Late Great PFR, in 1997: "God was good when He called us to the road. God was good when He called us home."

It's still the edge of the dream... the plan God laid out for me. It's with different people, in a different place, in a different style of dance than I expected, but it's still His plan. However, at the moment all I can see are the faces of my dear friends who I may not ever dance with again, at least not on this earth.

But if Christ, and following where He leads, is the treasure in the field... how can I not go and 'sell everything,' even dance, for the greatest treasure? (For those who are puzzled by this: it's the concept laid out in Matthew 13:44 in the Bible -- '...the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.')

As I type this, I can barely see the screen due to brokenhearted sobbing. Ballet, and the people it connected me to, were such a huge, huge part of my life. How can giving this up possibly bring me anything better? I don't know, but whether I like it or not, I have to say God is good. His plan must therefore be good.


Changeless breaks the tide to shore
Changeless are the times and seasons
You are the same forevermore
I will keep these changeless reasons...
No shadow of turning falls
No promise is broken
No, nothing can turn my heart
From the words You have spoken
Changeless Your love
Deep as an ocean
-- Terry Scott Taylor, 1987

And should you come into the promised land
Remember
Remember
From where you came
And if your greatest fears are realised
Remember
Remember
Your sanctuary
-- Daniel Amos, 1984