Christian Music Playlist

RayW

RayW

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Since we seem to have experts on just about everything here I figured I'd ask around. I like pretty much all types of music and that includes Christian although I don't really think it's a musical style, more of a flavor to other styles.

Anyway, I don't care all that much for the mainstream, mushy stuff that you hear on CCM radio stations. I love more off-the-wall stuff like Christian ska, reggae, and other out-of-the-ordinary. I like the OC Supertones (ska), Stellar Kart and Run Kid Run (kind of post punkish) and Imisi (reggae) quite a bit. I've tried Five Iron Frenzy and they didn't really do it for me. I also have on order a CD called Swing Praise which sounded pretty cool from the previews I heard. I also dig old hymns redone and juiced up. Randy Travis has some jazzed up country versions of some classics that are very cool.

So....anyone out there have any suggestions along these lines?

Thanks,
Ray
 
One of my favorites is Nicole Nordeman, I don't know if her music will be as edgey as some of your other faves, but she writes wonderful, unconventional lyrics, plays a mean piano and sings like an angel (no pun intended). Might want to sample tunes like "River God" and "Burnin'".... Hope this helps.
 
How about psych/folk/christian? The Trees-The Christ Tree
www.myspace.com/the treecommunity

Just dont buy the questionable release on Radioactive.Made from a vinyl copy and there is some distortion that I hear with headphones and it triggers off a migrane for me. If you like it ...buy the authorized release You can sample their work at the above site.
 
I don't listen to CCM, but I listen to a lot of music by Christians (and not just J.S. Bach).

C.S. Lewis was once praised by an admirer thusly, "The World needs more Christian writers like you, Mr. Lewis!"

To which "Jack" Lewis replied, "Madam, the World does not need more Christian writers. What the World needs, are more writers who are Christians."

Lewis’ statement pretty much sums up my attitude toward Contemporary Christian Music. While I recognize the need for (and I certainly enjoy) Praise Music, I’m one of those who doesn’t really want to spend much time listening to Contemporary Christian Music (the Christian music I listen to on the stereo tends to have been written by dead white men prior to the 18th century).

But what gets me excited is hearing Christian influence in contemporary music, usually (but not always) by a contemporary artist who happens to be a Christian. At their best, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Flannery O’Conner were writers whose Christian themes were nearly invisible to the wonderful stories they told.

In contemporary music, I have long been a fan of Bono and U2, John Fahey, T Bone Burnet, Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan, Maria Muldaur, Michelle Shocked, Gillian Welch, and Johnny Cash for their constant references to the Good News (both subtle and not so) in contemporary music. Their lives as Christians infuse their work, indwell it even, but in a way that can be absorbed by non-believers. That may be the only way many will ever hear the Gospel.

I also find the best Christian news reporting not on FOX News, or CBN, but on what must seem like a very unlikely place: National Public Radio. Again, much of the news reporting on All Things Considered and Morning Edition is the result of news producers whose worldview is profoundly Christian, that can be delivered to a non-Christian audience in a way that they can hear, and perhaps can even be touched through. As I write this, NPR is doing a long story on a revival of roots gospel music. The name of Jesus, and the story of his Grace, is filling the cabins of Volvos across America! It was on NPR that I first heard of Over the Rhine, Moby, Innocence Mission, and Gillian Welch, as well as the powerfully Christian contemporary classical compositions of Arvo Part, and the avant-garde composer Gavin Bryars’s stunning “Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet”.

A contemporary band that I have been listening to a lot lately is one that falls into this category. Clearly Christian thematically, their records were released at first on the alternative IRS label, and now on Virgin Records, where they are securely placed in the Alt Rock bins at record stores. The band is called “Over the Rhine,” named for an old German immigrant area of Cincinnati that is now a typically mid-west inner city neighborhood. Good stuff, check ‘em out.
Click to expand...

But I look forward to seeing how this thread grows.
 
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That quote from Lewis is really awesome. If you want some artists that are Christians, I recommend Pedro the Lion (goes by just David Bazan now). His music is very much reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor's writing style.

If you're looking for christian music, I suggest Sufjan Stevens and the new Don Chaffer stuff. He's the genius behind Waterdeep. All the Waterdeep stuff is great, but his new projects are REALLY great.
 
I liked Over The Rhine until their last release, which beat me over the head with The Message unmercifully.
 
I like a lot of the older stuff, like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, The Soul Stirrers and The Five Blind Boys. In the newer stuff, I like when the message is there, but doesnt smack you in the face.
 
it's a marketing label and nothing more. there are 'christian' roofers, cleaners, plumbers, therapists (don't get me started), bookstores, car detailers, etc and so on. it is pure marketing. if you want a safe, uncontested marketplace, and who wouldn't except for those with some self respect, call your service/product/artistic enterprise/whatever 'christian' and they will come....
 
Drybasement said:
Believe it or not, the band Creed is Christian oriented music. Hard rock stuff mind you. Their first album, My Own Prison, is really good. If you like music on the hard side check them out.
Click to expand...

Or you could check out Tremonti's new band, Alterbridge.

You could also check out:

Audio Adrenaline
Bleach
Burlap to cashmere
Caedmon's Call
The Waiting
Smalltown poets
Jeremy Camp
The David Crowder Band
Phono
Reliant K
Switchfoot
Superchic(k)

For some really off the wall stuff:

Demon Hunter

And for the Greatest Hair-Band Christian Rock ever:

Whitecross
 
Some of my favorite artists who are also Christians,and whose music very often have Christian themes include:

T-Bone Burnett
Bruce Cockburn
Al Green(From The Belle Album onwards)
Aretha Franklin(Amazing Grace,and another newer gospel recording whose name escapes me)

These are just the ones off the top of my head.Usually for me,the most interesting music with Christian themes are the ones that arent branded as Christian Music.
Just my two cents.....
Jimmy
 
shrinkboy said:
it's a marketing label and nothing more. there are 'christian' roofers, cleaners, plumbers, therapists (don't get me started), bookstores, car detailers, etc and so on. it is pure marketing. if you want a safe, uncontested marketplace, and who wouldn't except for those with some self respect, call your service/product/artistic enterprise/whatever 'christian' and they will come....
Click to expand...

I especially like the ads from personal injury attorneys, with a little ichthus on the bottom. :yes: ;)
 
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