In.Motion

Really great new music, that is. Seriously, I’ve had a hard time keeping up with the tasty morsels that keep coming my way in the form of great albums. Thought I’d take a moment to tell you about 3 of my favorite new releases.

NeedToBreathe – The Outsiders

I hadn’t heard of these guys before, but I’m so glad I bought this on a whim. They have a really cool thing happening. They are poppy, kinda folkish, with a nice dose of grit thrown in. The title track has some great hooks and a good ole’ boom-chuck goin on. The lyrics are written quite well and with a healthy dose of sincerity. The whole band has got chops, but the singer has got a voice that is the special sauce. Other great tracks include the Alison Krauss-ish Stones Under Rushing Water and Through Smoke, which is driven by a great drum track. From what I hear from guys who know em, these guys are legit and are the real deal. Give them some lovin over at their site.

Imogen Heap – Ellipse

Imogen Heap is brilliant. I’ve always loved her voice and this record is just a continuation of the great work that we’ve all come to expect from her. Her soft melodies play so well against her digital beats and arpeggiated pad sounds. Plus, with the record on iTunes, you get an instrumental version of the album (did someone say Imogen Karaoke?). My fav track is the haunting 2-1, with it’s spacey and erie swells through most of it that moves into a creepy groove, strings, and synths that only she could pull off the way she does. Check her out here.

Phil Wickham – Heaven & Earth

This is quickly become one of my favorite records in the Worship genre. Wickham is one of the best lyricists because he doesn’t think like the rest of the CCM world does. He speaks differently and his poetic voice is so sincere and quite theologically potent. Heaven & Earth is the mature evolution of Wickham as an artist from what he’s done with Cannons and others. Everything is recorded very well, executed beautifully, and seem to be packaged just as he intended. Early favorites are Heaven Song (with strings recorded @ Abbey Road) and a great anthem In Your City. Even the weaker tracks on the record are still quite solid. You can pre-order it on his website, or you can pick it up when it comes out on iTunes Nov. 17th.

Now I wanna know what you guys are listening to.
What’s the best record you’ve gotten in the past month?

One.Love

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I saw this and I couldn’t resist.

You’re welcome

One.Love

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One of the things I want to do this year is to read at least one book a month. I started to think about it, and here are the books I’m hoping to get through this year (in this particular order):

**Revised (2/10/09)**

• Crazy Love – Chan
• Desiring God – Piper
• The Pursuit of God – Tozer
• Vintage Jesus – Driscoll
• The Weight of Glory – Lewis
• The Reason for God – Keller
• Lit – Edwards
• Rumors – Yancey
• Letter to a Christian Nation – Harris
• The End of Reason – Zacharias
• Prayer – Foster
• Bondage of the Will – Luther
• Miracles – Lewis
• The Knowledge of the Holy – Tozer
• The Jesus I Never Knew – Yancey
• Mere Christianity – Lewis

I’d love to hear suggestions if you got some.

One.Love

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