Harmoniq

Insane. Mind-blowing. Awe-inspiring. I can never get enough of...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:19:20 -0700

Insane. Mind-blowing. Awe-inspiring. I can never get enough of this song.

I promise you’ve never heard Amazing Grace like this....

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:59:48 -0700

I promise you’ve never heard Amazing Grace like this. Stoked to be playing with these guys on Sunday.

Alright, so, cool. One of my old band-mates has gone and showed...

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:49:10 -0700

Alright, so, cool. One of my old band-mates has gone and showed me up musically in pretty much every way possible with this ridiculously amazing piece of amazing. Not fair.

In case you missed it, I made an updated version of the intro...

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:53:22 -0700

In case you missed it, I made an updated version of the intro song from Flickers (my next video game). Getting stoooked

This song is so impossibly huge I can’t help but love it....

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:54:20 -0700

This song is so impossibly huge I can’t help but love it. Don’t know why it’s stuck in my head right now but hey why not…

The first bit of music from our game Flickers. Epic plans for...

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 09:54:12 -0700

The first bit of music from our game Flickers. Epic plans for this one.

Fun fact: whenever I listen to a song on this playlist I’m...

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:27:00 -0700

Fun fact: whenever I listen to a song on this playlist I’m imagining a scene from some movie or video game idea running in my head. Maybe someday these day dreams will become reality.

AHHHH THAT ORGAN SOLO THAT ORGAN SOLO THAAAT ORGAAAAN SOLOOOO

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:19:54 -0700

AHHHH THAT ORGAN SOLO THAT ORGAN SOLO THAAAT ORGAAAAN SOLOOOO

It is totally insane to me how they keep the energy up all the...

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:18:07 -0700

It is totally insane to me how they keep the energy up all the way to minute 5, and jump straight into another high energy song. This is the best live band in the world.

Check out my video game soundtrack playlist! NO WAIT come back!!...

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:24:14 -0700

Check out my video game soundtrack playlist! NO WAIT come back!! Let me explain. This is the Indie Game Mixtape, a playlist I made of music from various indie games through the years. You won’t find any Final Fantasy or Halo or Zelda here. (Nothing against those soundtracks of course. Well maybe Final Fantasy a bit.) Regardless of their quality, I get a bit tired of the rehashed orchestral scores that adorn nearly every game ever made. Might work for some people, but I crave variety.

And variety is what you’ll get here: something more like sigur ros in their quirkier days (Botanicula), the lovechild of a bluegrass band and a drum machine (Bastion), clarinet-featured electronica (Machinarium, Samorost2), and retro, 8-bit sounds weaved into a gorgeous dreamscape (Fez). I picked the best of the best of these albums and patched them together into one, contiguous playlist from beginning to end. Give it a listen, I hope you dig it!

On Gungor and Christian Music

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 21:37:00 -0700

There’s this blog that’s been making the rounds lately, one I’ve seen make the rounds before. It’s a statement by Michael Gungor about how zombie-like Christian music is nowadays, and a wake-up call to see change in the industry. And while I don’t doubt his heart and I think he says some very truthful things, the article as a whole strikes a wrong chord in me. And even with the truth found in it, I worry that people will extrapolate the wrong message. Before you eagerly spread the virtues of this blog post I’d like you to consider a few things.

For one thing, Christian musicians have been saying this for years. Decades. A friend of mine once lent me a book called Addicted to Mediocrity, about how Christians are too content to keep the status quo of artistry, not willing to push the boundaries. The date on this book? 1981. You can argue that this simply means the problem has been around for a while (and it has), but here’s the ironic part: many of the musicians who have taken stances against the grain of Christian music are now looked back on as part of the mediocre system. Steven Curtis Chapman. Keith Green. Rich Mullins. Matt Redman. Heck, many people forget that even Chris Tomlin was bringing something fresh and new to the table when he came around. Now? It’s the epitome of worship music cliche.

I was especially taken aback once when I read an interview with Bill Gaither, of the Gaither Vocal Band. I mean if you want to pick out the most vanilla, safe, mundane and mediocre Christian music available, look no further. They were asking him what he thought of the new “cutting edge” Christian groups like POD (ha). His response? He recounted how Christians pushed back against him when he started writing, because it pushed the boundaries of Christian music too much. Whoa.

So to be completely honest, it’s hard for me to listen to someone who speaks on this subject, simply because they’re not saying anything that’s new. And here’s the bitter, cynical truth: Gungor (and John Mark McMillan who he also mentions) will likely one day be lumped in with the rest of “mediocre Christian music”. That’s saying nothing disparaging about their music at all - it’s just inevitable. Musicians, Christian or not, don’t stay cutting edge and original forever (unless you’re Radiohead I guess). Maybe I’ll be proven wrong on this, but history has shown otherwise. Young Christians for years to come will be saying many of the same things.

So okay. That explains why it rubs me the wrong way, but what about the actual points he makes? Do I think he’s ultimately wrong? Well…not necessarily. I think there are a lot of over-arching problems, musically and theologically, that we can and should learn from in Christian music. I think discussion about what makes good or bad music is necessary, and I think all Christians should be pushing to do greater and greater things for his glory. But, I think focusing for too long on the troubles of Christian music is not beneficial in the long run. For a couple reasons.

First of all, I don’t think it’s healthy to think about how much better you can be than the rest of Christian music. Should you be creative and pour all of your heart and soul into your music for the glory of God? Absolutely! But as soon as your eyes drop from being pointed straight up to God and you begin looking at how you compare to the rest of the world, that’s dangerous territory. I know this from personal experience.

I was a worship leader in high school. I’m also deeply invested in music and wanted so badly to be creating and arranging music that would stand out from the pack. Trust me, my heart was in the right place. I wanted to make great music for the glory of God, not out of conceit. At least…not at first. But the more I became obsessed with this challenge of creating cool music out of what I thought to be mediocre and mundane songs, the more it became about the music and not about God. Pretty soon I found myself burned out and unable to lead any longer. To this day I haven’t led on a consistent basis at any church because I just don’t trust my heart yet. I could so easily fall into that trap again.

I wouldn’t dare judge Michael Gungor’s heart; from everything I’ve read, he’s a very humble and gracious person. I’m only saying that this is a dangerous, potentially prideful, road to go down. I think he’s right in saying that he’s one of the better musicians in the industry today. But to know that objectively while still remaining humble is a difficult balance to handle; I would say impossible apart from God’s strength. One of my favorite quotes came from another Christian musician who has similarly decried Christian music in the past, when his producer told him: “You know, you are very good. And you could be great. But the thing that’s holding you back from being great is that you think you already are.” Brutal truth from the heart of God.

There’s one final thing that always holds me back from agreeing whole-heartedly with these sentiments, and that is witnessing the life of one person, one of the most important people in my whole life: my mother. She is an astonishing woman of God, with incredible depth of kindness and a faith that I wish I had just 1/10th of. And when this “zombified” music comes on, it’s a common sight her to be standing in the kitchen, arms raised, eyes closed, with a huge smile on her face, singing to her Father. She sings not because she feels compelled to, but because her love for God is so strong that she just can’t help it.

Does this automatically give that music a free pass? No of course not. I don’t like it, it doesn’t inspire any emotion in me, and just because God uses it doesn’t make it inherently “good”. As Gungor himself sings, “You make beautiful things out of the dust.” But it’s worth pointing out that many of the qualities he calls out as negative (and I probably would too) are what draws her to it. The over-mixed vocals, the pristine production, the lack of originality; all aspects that keep her from getting distracted. Because in the end she doesn’t care about the music, she cares about the God she’s singing to. And maybe that’s not such a bad perspective to have.

Look, I’ll agree on one thing: the Christian music industry is broken. Totally. I have not heard good things about the way Christian labels are run, with corruption running rampant through it. But even without those stories I know that it’s broken. Why? Because it’s made of people. My church is broken. The church I grew up in is broken. (Seriously, my dad was an elder, I’ve heard whisperings of this brokenness as fact.) And both of these churches I love dearly. God has taken this brokenness and molded something beautiful out of it, and he always will.

You are broken, Michael Gungor. So am I, so are all my Christian musician friends, all of us. And when lives are touched because of your music, just remember that it’s not because of how you measure up against the rest of Christian music. It’s because God has been gracious enough to bless you with the chance to affect people. It’s because of his love, his passion, his creativity. Let’s pour our souls out for the glory of his majesty, and leave the rest up to him.

Okay I couldn’t help myself this time. I had to leave the...

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:40:54 -0700

Okay I couldn’t help myself this time. I had to leave the room.

Sitting in a classroom full of people right now, trying my...

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:49:09 -0700

Sitting in a classroom full of people right now, trying my absolute hardest not to get up and dance.

Getting retro game music stuck in my head all week. Donkey Kong...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:04:18 -0700

Getting retro game music stuck in my head all week. Donkey Kong Country 2 is at the top for me.

SON LUX: SING WITH ME

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:15:05 -0700

SON LUX: SING WITH ME:

sonlux:

If you can sing relatively well and have a decent mic, sing with me on a new Son Lux jam! I’m constructing a group vox blowout, and I need the men and I NEED THE LADIES. You’ll have to turn in your takes by Saturday morning Pacific Standard Time, so cancel your Friday plans.

If you’re interested,…

Video

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:29:04 -0700

Audio

Mon, 28 May 2012 13:21:15 -0700

One of those great Pandora discoveries that came out of nowhere....

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:50:13 -0700

One of those great Pandora discoveries that came out of nowhere. I gotta get back on that train.

Trying Too Hard by John Reuben on Grooveshark Another great John Reuben track. That snare fill that...

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:55:34 -0700

Trying Too Hard by John Reuben on Grooveshark

Another great John Reuben track. That snare fill that leads into the verse is just the best.

Unfortunately there’s not a lot of John Reuben on Spotify and the only YouTube version of this song is a terrible music video so I had to resort to (shudder) Grooveshark. Won’t happen again.

I maybe don’t love John Reuben as much as I used to...

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:01:20 -0700

I maybe don’t love John Reuben as much as I used to (it’s hard to like a white Christian rapper without feeling a little self-conscious), but holy crap this song is still so good. Super groovy beat, banjo, and intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics? Yes I think so. His unique, creative beats and brutal honesty have always been staples of his…you know what? Screw self-consciousness. John Reuben is awesome.