Mixtapemotions

  • “Rings & Roses” by Dabin ft. Connor Byrne, Monday, March 21, 2022

    Dabin is a melodic EDM music producer from Toronto who currently lives in Colorado and Conor Bryne is an Irish singer-songwriter known for his YouTube covers. I first heard this song last week when Apple Music played it as “music you may like based on the artists you just played.” It’s probably the most surefire way for me to discover music these days.  Based on the nursery rhyme, “Ring Around the Rosie,” “Rings & Roses” explores the career path of someone, a friend or a lover, who is pursuing fame. That person has become too popular for the singer, who warns that in the end “they all fall down.” Simple enough. 

    WAITIN’ ON THE DREAM YOU BEEN SOLD. Pursuing a dream takes work and sacrifice. There’s something in our youth that makes us believe that anything is possible. But somewhere along the way, the novelist in us, the future basketball player, or the rockstar gives way to the backup plan. Of course, thanks to the Internet and Garage Band, anybody can become a musician. It’s good if you have some musical talent or ability. Dabin Lee, known by his first name Dabin,  had that musical background, beginning with playing piano and guitar from a young age. But in 2011, Dabin started producing electronic music. His 2019 album Wild Youth features ten tracks with a different vocal feature on each. These are not big name artists, but the lack of star quality on the album doesn’t take anything away from the tracks. If anything, it opens up a new world of indie singers. The tracks are vibey EDM, bright and nostalgic, though some of the tracks on Wild Youth (The Remixes) are a bit more distorted and dirty, presenting more of a barrier to those who don’t particularly like club music. And unlike artists like Alan Walker or Marshmello, Dabin incorporates real instruments into his live DJ sets. So, although you won’t see Connor Byrne singing with Dabin in concert, you’ll see Dabin playing the electric guitar live.

    I MISS YOU. I MISS YOU. WHERE ARE YOU NOW?  One of the questions this song asks is how much should you give up for a dream? At what point does what you’ve given up for that dream nullify it? And what level of selfishness in pursuing dreams or goals is unacceptable? A lot of people I knew when I was growing up were held back by an obligation either to family or place. It’s a prevalent theme in Southern literature, but I’ve seen this loyalty to place on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. It’s the question that Tracy Chapman grapples with in “Fast Car“: to “leave tonight or live and die this way.” The family values that I was raised with were to make sure you can pay the bills. That means working long hours in whatever will give you a steady income. That means moving to wherever you can get the best job and sacrificing so that you and your family can eat. It was for this reason my parents decided to move away from their families. This upbringing got me college education and gave me a commitment to pay my bills. But I still dream of what I could have done if I just aimed a little higher. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked out. Maybe I’d be a starving artist. But maybe I’d be living closer to the family that I miss. Not too close, though.

    Lyric video:

    Live performance at Red Rocks:



  • “Hymn for the Weekend” by Coldplay ft. Beyoncé, Sunday, March 20, 2022

    It’s pretty easy to think of only the frontman or front woman when thinking about bands like Coldplay. Chris Martin is featured prominently in the band’s music videos. He is certainly the most charismatic during the band’s live performances. He’s kept himself in good shape and is arguably the best looking band dude in Coldplay. However, this didn’t give the band’s fearless leader complete creative reign for their seventh studio album, A Head Full of Dreams. When Martin presented the idea for a late-night club hit “Drinks on Me,” influenced by Flo Rida, the rest of the band shot Martin down.
    LIFE IS A DRINK AND LOVE’S A DRUG. Every February or March, the first full-moon day of spring according to the Hindu lunar calendar, cities and towns in India shutdown for a very colorful celebration that lasts two days. This festival is called Holi, or The Festival of Colors and this year it was celebrated on March 18 and 19. During this festival, everyone, old or young and of every caste, wears old clothes and meets in the city streets. They throw colorful powders in the air and at each other. When Coldplay was shooting their video for “Hymn for the Weekend,” they decided to feature scenes of Indian culture from several cities and feature Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor. The highlight, though, is when Chris Martian runs through the streets as he is pelted with the colored powders of a Holi celebration. Later the band is performing in this colorful explosion. While nothing compares to the a real-life Holi celebration, Coldplay’s live shows during their seventh album cycle were inspired by this bright multi-colored event. And while you might call it generic pop, it certainly was uplifting. 

    I’M FEELING DRUNK AND HIGH. While Martin’s party anthem was shut down, “Hymn for the Weekend” certainly is good weekend vibes. Known better in the US by its “Seeb Remix,” however you choose to enjoy the song, it’s perfect for feeling great. Rather than being a song about alcoholic hedonism, the second single from AHFoD says that life itself is a drink and that love is a drug. The speaker then feels “drunk” on life and “high” on love. Rather than partying and saying “Drinks on me,” Beyoncé sings “Drink from me,” offering restoration after the “divorce record” that was Ghost Stories. “Hymn for the Weekend” may be the only song that just casually features Beyoncè. She even appears in the music video, yet the song and the music video aren’t even billed as “featuring Beyoncé” whereas two albums before the band listed “Princess of China” as “featuring Rihanna” and on track six on AHFoD the song “Fun” features Tove Lo.  Coldplay is often criticized for their “trying too hard” popstar antics, their features being one of them. BTS, Selena Gomez, The Chain Smokers–the band of dads trying to stay relevant. While those pop collaborations might be artistically suspect, I truly think that Beyoncé in “Hymn for the Weekend” was the best choice. Furthermore, Beyoncé doesn’t outshine Coldplay with her power vocals, which could have easily happened. Instead, “Hymn for the Weekend” is an excellent, balanced composition. And that’s something to feel pretty good about. 
    Music video:
    Seeb Remix:

  • “Should You Return” by Copeland, Saturday, March 19, 2022 [Repost]

    On the first season of the Labeled Podcast, Aaron Marsh talked about his writing process for Copeland‘s debut album, Beneath Medicine Tree. In early 2019, he returned to the podcast to talk about the band’s latest album, Blushing. If most listeners casually picked up the two records, forgivably, they’d assume they were listening to different bands. Beneath is a guitar-driven product of late ’90s/early ’00 emo rock. The album has mostly an optimistic tone. Blushing is a dark electronic-influenced album with darker lyrics. Marsh told Labeled host Matt Carter that rather than writing lyrics that are easily pinned to real people, like his ex-girlfriend Paula (in the song “When Paula Sparks“) he doesn’t “want to write songs about [his] private life.” He says, instead, “I want to write poetic songs about my private life.” The band’s fourth album, You Are My Sunshine, does just that. Listeners don’t know the deep sense of loss– if there is one–that inspired this album. Instead, we are invited to think about how we are left to interpret the band’s lyrics, which is what I wrote about in January when I talked about the album. Today, we will take a second look at Copeland’s masterpiece, discussing the neediness in the opening track, “Should You Return.”


    THERE’S NOTHING LEFT TO DO BUT WASTE MY TIME. A Copeland song isn’t merely recorded. It’s a composed piece of music that has layers of production. Production is overseen by the frontman, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, Aaron Marsh. Copeland’s fourth album, You Are My Sunshine, seems to be the biggest shift in the band’s sound. Bryan Laurenson‘s lead guitars are a layer to the band’s keyboard/ synthesizer sound. Listeners won’t find the 1940 Jimmie Davis/Charlie Mitchell song on the album. The song does appear on their Grey Man EP, however. The theme of the lyrics of “You Are My Sunshine,” though–“you make me happy when skies are grey” and “please don’t take my sunshine away”–can be felt at times throughout Copeland’s fourth album, as if the short old-time country song is a ghost haunting the album. “Should You Return,” like every track on the album, has a hypnotizing effect, pulling the listener into their own thoughts rather than thinking about the music itself. I had to focus very hard to read the lyrics of “Should You Return” because my mind wandered, and I couldn’t help but hum the song. But, the experience of reading only the lyrics (after a few attempts of being lulled by the melody of the song), left me sad. The question posed by the song is left unanswered.

    BUT IF YOU’RE UNHAPPY STILL, I WILL BE WAITING ON A LINE. Copeland released official music videos for most of the songs on You Are My Sunshine. Most of them are as banal as the mood you have to be in to enjoy this album. The video for “Should You Return” focuses on guitarist Bryan Laurenson. In the video, he has lost his girlfriend, and the story is told using stop-motion animation with photographs as well as actual video. At the end of the video, Laurenson falls off a cliff only to wake up to discover that the ex-girlfriend is actually looking at an old photo album. She sees Laurenson reaching for her, but she promptly shuts the cover and walks away. The lyrics depict loss. The singer is complete but for one piece he’s missing, the one he loves. Yet, the one he loves is toxic for him: “a love to make it hurt.” The song finds the singer at a point of loss in which he wishes for something new to have and then to lose as if to feel the pain even deeper. Yet, the song ends “hanging on a line, should [the listener] return.” The music makes us believe that maybe there will be a Hollywood ending. Maybe, like Scarlet from Gone with the Wind, we can say, “After all, tomorrow is another day.” The music of Copeland often deals with the bleak. But, other than Blushing and parts of Eat, Sleep, Repeat, the band can make us leave the record feeling rejuvenated. Ultimately, we have to heal from our losses. We can’t hang on the line forever. But “Should You Return” is a song to wallow in the pain for a bit.

  • "Ringa Linga" by Taeyang, Friday, March 18, 2022 + Friday Vibes playlist

    It’s Friday night and I’m enjoying a little bit of time at home after a crazy first full week of school. I decided to make a playlist based on songs to welcome the weekend after listening to Taeyang‘s “Ringa Linga.” This playlist is mostly made up of sugary synth-pop ballads that will make most people want to go out and hit the club. But I’m getting old, so I’d much rather put the playlist on and remember the good ol’ days before 2020. I hope that this playlist serves you well, however you spend your weekend. Oh, and that’s right, there are 52 songs in this list for 52 awesome weekends this year! I might bring this back for an updated Apple Music edition or YouTube edition later.



  • “You’re All I Have” by Snow Patrol, Thursday, March 17, 2022 + Shamrocks St. Patrick's Day Playlist

    Today is St. Patrick’s Day. The holiday is celebrated around the world. Although the holiday holds religious significance and had been a religious holiday in Ireland for more than 1,000 years, the celebrations today have more to due as a celebration for Irish heritage. About 70 million people have some Irish blood, and the Irish diaspora due to the potato famine in the mid-19th century brought a large number of Irish immigrants to many countries including the United States. Because of the large Irish-American population, holidays like Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day became popular in America and spread around the world.
    TRAIN THIS CHAOS; TURN IT INTO LIGHT. The following playlist was made to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, not in its original form–celebrating the slave who became a priest only to return to the land he was enslaved (Ireland) to convert the natives to Christianity–supposedly driving all the snakes out of Ireland along the way. Instead, we’re taking this list as a way to celebrate Irish heritage through music. The artists on this list are somehow connected to the Emerald Isle, whether their music is Celtic and lively or just good old fashioned pop-rock. I hope you enjoy this playlist and drink your Guinness responsibly. 

  • “Hard Times” by Paramore, Wednesday, March 16, 2022 + Women's History Playlist

    Paramore‘s 2017 album After Laughter not only took the band in a new direction musically, the lyrics of the band’s latest album started a conversation about mental health. Lead singer Haley Williams transcends the emo genre in this mature discussion about the depression that followed her divorce, band mate controversies, and media scrutiny. The album’s opening track and first single, “Hard Times,” sets the tone for the album along with calling on the motif of weather, all the while disguising itself as an upbeat, positive track musically. It’s not, though. 


    YOU HIT ME WITH LIGHTNING. I just realized the other day that March is Women’s History month, so today, I decided to make a playlist titled Women Rock: A Playlist Celebrating Women in Music Pt. I. This is a compilation of songs from my blog featuring female artists who have made a difference in the genre that they play. Enjoy!


    Tracklist:

    1. “Hard Times” by Paramore. The song of the day.
    2. “Run Away with Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen
    3. “Breathless” by The Corrs
    4. “All Too Well” (Taylor’s 10 Minute Version) by Taylor Swift
    5. “Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry. Katy Perry’s chart performance in the early ’10s put her on par with Michael Jackson as a pop star. 
    6. “Touch” by Shura. This British singer-songwriter encapsulates the DIY spirit in music by learning how to producer her own music and direct her own music video.

    7. “I Know a Place” by MUNA
    8. “Meaning of You” by IU ft. Kim Chang-Wan
    9. “Then He Kissed Me” by The Crystals. Though I wrote about the Leagues cover, The Crystals had a very interesting role in pop music history. Unfortunately, producer and songwriter Phil Spector took much of the credit and the royalties from his performers.

    10. “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman is a song about making your own destiny. 
    11. “Say So” by Doja Cat. Starting as a DIY artist, Doja Cat’s pop stardom keeps rising.
    12. “Hello” by Adele

    13. “Hallucinations” by Pvris
    14. “I Already See It” by Kye Kye. This atmospheric opener to the band’s second record, Fantasize reminds us that “Love is accepted.”

    15. “Yosemite” by Lana Del Rey
    16.  “Glory Days” by Betty Who
    17. “Much Farther to Go” by Rosie Thomas
    18. “Titanium” by David Guetta ft. Sia is an empowering song by a powerful vocalist. No wonder Sia became huge after the public heard her.

    19.  “Into the New World” by Girls’ Generation
    20. “I’m So Sick” by Flyleaf
    21. “The Best” by Tina Turner. Turner was a trailblazer in many ways, making history by bringing rock, blues, R&B, soul, and pop together.
    22. “Merry Go ‘Round” by Kacey Musgraves
    23. “Right Now” by Mary J. Blige. The veteran artist decided to try working with young producers on her 2014 record The London Sessions. 

    24. “Whoz That Girl” by EXID. The breakthrough hit by this K-pop group explores jealousy.

    25. “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo is another song about jealousy but the video is all about revenge.

    26. “Closer” by Tegan and Sara
    27. “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia
    28. ” Blue” by Taeyeon
    29. “Many Funerals” by Eisley
    30. “One Way Love” by Hyolyn. The man in this song sounds pretty awful. Bye.
    31. “Diamonds” by Rihanna. I blogged about the Josef Salvat cover, but the original makes a good addition to this list. 
     

    32. “Dreamworld” by Rilo Kiley
    33. “The Shade” by Metric

    34. “3 Hour Drive” by Alicia Keys ft. Sampha

    35. “Die Young” by Sylvan Esso

    36. “High on Humans” by Oh Wonder
    37. “I Feel You” by Wonder Girls 
    38. “Soothsayer” by Of Monsters and Men
    39. “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul
    40. “Blinding” by Florence + the Machine
    41. “Put Me Back Together” by Ivory Circle. Lead singer Connie Hong’s powerful vocals give us strength despite the song being about being broken. 

    42. “Zombie” by The Cranberries
    43. “In Love Again” by Colbie Caillat
    44. “Love Me Like You Do” by Ellie Goulding. Although I wrote about the Boyce Avenue cover, I think the original is worth including mainly for the debate about whether the song’s legacy with Fifty Shades of Grey. 
    45. “Believer” by Cyn
    Today’s song:

  • "No New Kinda Story" by Starflyer 59, March 15, 2022

    Starflyer 59 produces a lot of music. With sixteen studio albums as of last year and a ton of EPs, the band’s prolific yearly album cycle has gained the band many die-hard fans. A staple of Tooth & Nail Records in the early ’90s, the band started as a shoegazer band but started to diversify their sound in the late ’90s.  The musical shift in Starflyer sparked new interest in the band, particularly on 1998’s The Fashion Focus and 1999’s Everybody Makes Mistakes. The latter mixing a variety of styles and becoming one of the most beloved indie Christian records. Opening with droning “Play the C Chord” and ending on 12-minute piano/saxophone tune “The Party,” Everybody Makes Mistakes certainly is no blip in the band’s discography. 

    YOU KNOW WE HAD A HELL OF A DAD.     Blue Collar Love, A Starflyer 59 fan podcast, said that the style of this album was “New Wave, Beach, [and] Country.” Everybody Makes Mistakes was one of the last records produced by Gene Eugene before he died of a brain aneurysm while sleeping in his studio in 2000. Eugene had been a child actor in ’70s who became a musician and worked in the early Christian scene in ’80s and ’90s. As well as being a member of Starflyer, he had been part of the Christian Rock supergroup Lost Dogs. For Starflyer 59, Mistakes marks the end of the band’s legendary line-up and subsequent records featured mostly involvement by the band’s founder and frontman, Jason Martin. Throughout the band’s career, Martin has remained adamant that Starflyer 59 is a Christian band, despite most lyrics only cryptically alluding to Christianity. “No New Kinda Story” may be the band’s most iconic song. In 2013 when director Jesse Bryan told the story about the early years of Tooth & Nail Records, No New Kinda Story was chosen as the title of the documentary. 
    THIS IS WHAT WE WANT; YOU KNOW WE HAD TO WAIT A GOOD WHILE. The song “No New Kinda Story” is made even more cryptic by its bizarre music video. The song opens with a serene synth/string line and the song is then driven by a marching guitar riff. The synth line keeps the song peaceful until the middle chorus adds spooky Orchestra Hits which makes the rest of the song unnerving even though it never intensifies again. The imagery in the music video seems to pay an homage to the 1957 Swedish film, The Seventh Seal, as the old man in the music video and in the film must play a chess game with Death. While Martin hasn’t explicated the lyrics of this song, it seems to be alluding to Ecclesiastes 1:9, which reminds us that “there is nothing new under the sun.” Martin says, “We had a hell of a dad,” which is a rare use of mild profanity in a Tooth & Nail release, but could be talking about his own father who helped to support his sons’ musical career while working as a truck driver. The song “No New Kinda Story” today makes me think about how unoriginal everything seems, especially the school year I’m in the middle of. It also makes me think about how some of the most original books that I read, movies that I watched, and songs that I listened to back before entering the workforce seemed so original, but as I got older I realized that those things were just derivatives. And finally, I think about Julius Cesar being stabbed by who was supposed to be his best friend on this day some 2000 years ago. Beware the Ides of March today. Nothing is new. Nothing is original. And yet we keep trudging around from cradle until that final chess game.


  • "Gimmie Love" by Carly Rae Jepsen, Monday, March 14, 2022

     

    I listened to an episode of The New York Times’ Popcast reviewing the critics’ top singles of the year 2015 when looking for new perspectives on Carly Rae Jepsen‘s masterclass in pop music E-MO-TION this evening. For that particular episode, the critics tried to pick singles that either were released without an album or the song far outshined the album. However, they came up with the “Carly conundrum.” The critics felt that Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 album contained many good songs, but it wasn’t a great album. They compared it to a box of candy, and they said you wouldn’t want to eat the whole box in one sitting.


    ‘CAUSE I WANT WHAT I WANT. DO YOU THINK I WANT TOO MUCH?  I think that there’s certainly more substance to this album than a pixie stick. I’ve talked about this album being a calculated, smart indie pop record. Jepsen moves to more mature themes, assuming adult relationships. She’s not going to win the Rebecca St. James award from PluggedIn.com,  but no lyric is overt or in poor taste. The lone profanity on the album “damn” is less offensive than the strong language on Christian Bieber songs. But as far as “eating the whole box,” though, if you’re comparing E-MO-TION to the new Springsteen record that might be the case, but I don’t think Jepsen’s record is empty calories. True, some days, long work days–Mondays, in particular, it’s nice to come home and enjoy something light and fun. You might eat your vegetables on Tuesday night with some Sufjan Steven and delve into Oregon geography, but Monday night it’s all I can do to get dinner and get to an evening Korean class. Not much extra time to think about music. Let’s delve into our emotions rather than our thoughts. It’s okay to eat the whole box, sometimes.

    WANNA FEEL LIKE THIS FOREVER. Rhetorically, I understand that I kind of proved the point of the snooty New York Times music critics by my intellectual laziness tonight. But in spirit of eating the whole box, today is two sugary holidays. First it’s Pi Day. However, the kids in Korea, unless the math department is on it, don’t think about Pi Day. Instead, they think of White Day. What is White Day? In some Asian countries women give men candy on Valentine’s Day and the men give women chocolate on White Day. Both holidays are on the fourteenth of the month. If you didn’t receive any chocolate or candy, on April 14th, you are supposed to go and eat black-sauced noodles, in Korea, called Jjajang myeon (짜장면). My female students always ask me to give them chocolate, and I say, “Where were you on February 14th? I didn’t receive any candy!” “But we didn’t have school then.” Then I say something about how White Day isn’t part of my culture so I don’t celebrate it. I’m a mean teacher. I won’t give you candy, but I’ll recommend some ear candy. Go and listen to E-MO-TION!


    Live at Pitchfork Festival:

  • "Breathless" by The Corrs, Sunday, March 13, 2022

    The Corrs formed in their hometown of Dundulk, Ireland. Consisting of four siblings, the band started as a duo of the two eldest siblings and became a quartet in 1990. They got their start playing in their aunt’s local pub, but after being discovered by their manager, the band started getting gigs in Dublin. In 1994, the band was asked to play for the World Cup in Boston after the US ambassador to Ireland say their show in a Dublin bar. In 1996, they played the Olympics and then they opened for Céline Dion. The band’s sound was rooted in Celtic folk music, but in their third album In Blue the band started to cross over into a mainstream pop sound.

    THE DAYLIGHT’S FADING SLOWLY.  To bring The Corrs into the new millennium, the band enlisted Robert John “Mutt” Lange to produce their third album. Lange’s mainstream success started when he produced AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. In the ‘80s he was known for his Def Leopard albums, but in the late ‘90s the producer worked with pop acts, including his wife at the time, Shania Twain, crafting her crossover country to pop sound. The sound on the first single and first track on In Blue, “Breathless,” sounds like that early ‘00 sound, the use of auto tune coming into prominence but not quite refined, like watching an old sci-fi flick that seemed so realistic back in the day, only on rewatching it twenty years later you can almost see the green screen. The Corrs weren’t a band I listened to much. I couldn’t name a single song of theirs before I made my Irish artists playlist (coming soon), but somehow I recognized this one. It sent me back to sipping Frappuccinos in Barnes and Nobel Starbucks and not trying to be caught looking at the men’s interest magazines. I remember passing on this group when one of their live videos was really popular on VH1. Teenagers really don’t get adult contemporary.

    TEMPT ME, TEASE ME. Watching the grainy video on YouTube today, I had some thoughts. The first thought I covered—how generically ‘90s the production sounds thanks to the auto tune. The sisters’ harmonies kind of meld into one and the personality is drained from the mix. The second was about how unexpectedly graphic the video teases. Silhouettes evoking naughtiness, trying to seduce some random “hot boy” in wife beater. All the while there’s the only guy in the band. That was the other thing I thought about was how cringy it is to make a “sexy video” as a family band. The focus of The Corrs, in this video at least,  is on the three sisters. Then there’s this older brother. Of course, the family band singing love songs for isn’t new, but singing about seduction is kind of awkward—unless it’s a joke. Anyway, my intention wasn’t to knock this song. It’s still very catchy and it reminds me of my childhood.  And it inspired me to check out The Corrs’ other albums, particularly their tradition-leaning first two albums. Because unlike teenage me, thirty-something me is all about adult contemporary.

     

  • “Reveal Your Love” by Esterlyn, Saturday, March 12, 2022

    Creation Festival is the largest Christian music live event in the United States. Starting in 1979 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the festival’s franchise expanded to include a version for the East Coast and the West Coast, as well as the Sonshine and Icthus Festivals. Creation Festival has featured the biggest names in CCM and Christian Rock. In 2008, the Creation Fest franchise took to the road in a tour headlined by Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Pillar. Several up-and-coming bands opened or were part of the pre-show. A new band from Boise, Idaho, Esterlyn, were party of that show. Their debut album Lamps represented on stage with several vintage lamps situated around the band’s amps and gear. The band played with a young energy you’d expect from a group of band dudes-turned worship leaders-turned national touring musicians on their first tour.

    RESTORING ME, GUIDING ME, CLEANSING ME. I didn’t go to many concerts when I was at Missionary College, partly because Chattanooga didn’t get many national tours and partly because my schedule was quite full as a double major and working 16+ hours a week. I did somehow end up at the Creation Fest tour with my friend, one of the few Christian music enthusiasts in my friend group. Before attending the show, concert goers who bought their tickets online got an MP3 sampler of the bands on the bill. A song by Capital Lights, Worth Dying For, and Esterlyn’s “Reveal Your Love” was part of the mix I didn’t know. The show was ok. It was meaningful to me at the time because I got to see several groups that I either missed or that were now too holy for Cornerstone. It was a small club downtown, loaded with local youth groups. I don’t remember seeing anyone drinking or if they even opened the bar. Kutless was doing their rock thing again, TFK didn’t suck yet, and some of the opening acts were surprisingly good, including Esterlyn and Capital Lights. However, surprisingly Pillar was awful. They had just lost their longtime bass player and the new guy didn’t know the songs. And don’t even get me started on KJ-52.

    I WANT TO GIVE YOU ALL OF THE PAIN I’VE KEPT INSIDE OF ME. I liked “Reveal Your Love” because of the song’s ambiguity. Is it Jesus or a girlfriend? I’ve written about this trope in Christian music and how I was baffled by it. I wondered who could be so perverted to think that young men in their sexual peaks would think about having sex with the maker of the universe? No, it wasn’t that at all. Esterlyn was a band about missions, about adopting children from non-Christian nations and placing them in Christian homes. The infectious guitar hook was probably written for corporate worship and the song would be sung in church by guys with long hair, tight jeans, and fog machines, but to me it wasn’t about worship. Whenever I slid into the back pew of the “rock ‘n’ roll services” around Collegetown on Sabbath morning it was too anti-social of an event for me–everyone with their own friends and their own group, everyone with their stale donuts. I didn’t want to talk to anyone and yet I wanted to be a part of something. “Reveal Your Love”playing in the parking lot as I left the crowded service early, all along my invisible passenger, lover of my soul riding beside me, guiding me.