Newest FREE Cardiphonia Record Resets Old Ascension Hymns

Those of us that are part of the retuned hymn movement speak in our more internal discussions about the various "waves" of the movement, and Bruce Benedict at Cardiphonia certainly has continued to be one of the leading forces in the second or third wave.  Cardiphonia has now established a pattern of "flash mob" compilation recordings, gathering various artists from various parts of the country with various stylistic bents.  Their latest album, out this week, is Hymns for the Ascension, centering on that important but under-appreciated event of Jesus' departure from earth to His rightful seat of power and advocacy in heaven (check out my post about why the Ascension is really, really important).  In my opinion, the songwriting and production quality of the Cardiphonia compilations continues to get better and better.  

For churches that don't follow the liturgical year, is this album of any value?  Are any of these songs usable?  Certainly.  For folks in those contexts, I'd encourage you to think about how the ascension highlights aspects of the gospel we tend to talk about less.  When we sing the gospel, we most often talk about the cross, atonement, forgiveness, and sacrifice.  But the beauty of the gospel goes deeper.  The ascension highlights these aspects:

• Jesus as our priestly mediator
• Jesus as our advocate, "pleading the merit of His blood" before the Judge
• Jesus as Ruler and King

 The second point is especially gripping to me.  Jesus prays for us!  He goes to bat for us before the Father.  Imagine the kind of ministry that would take place among our people if we sung about that more often!  So, you don't need to be "liturgical" to make use of this album; we don't need an ascension-themed Sunday to get mileage out of singing about the ascension.  

I will also say that the quality, artistry, and even quirks of this album (my song included) shouldn't take away our ability as worship leaders and planners, to do the job of "listening through" the songs to hear their basic melodic and chord structure.  Sometimes, we get so caught up in the production that quite singable songs sound unsingable.  That's the perennial tension of the "recorded product."  Nevertheless, many of these songs are congregationally friendly in a surprisingly diverse amount of worship contexts.  I will hopefully be incorporating at least one of these even in our traditional service (Majorins' beautiful "God Ascended").

Best yet, it's FREE, and any donations go to Jobs for Life.  Check it out!  (I'll post on my song and behind-the-scenes composition choices soon.)

Introducing Edbrooke Collective and Their Debut Album, Rewritten

I began praying several years ago, as I became more and more aware that God was raising up like-minded musicians and worship leaders across the country, that He'd stir up gospel-centered, theologically-minded, historically-aware, tradition-embracing artists in Denver.  Whether it's God's direct answer to those prayers, or whether it's the law of averages (actually my understanding of God's providence doesn't allow for "laws of averages"!), I'm watching our sleepy mountainous city wake up.  And I'm finding many not-so-strange bedfellows crop up, particularly in the Acts 29 network of churches and church plants.

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Old Hymns to New Music…Now in Spanish

I honestly can’t believe that this day is here.  There is something very important about the prospect of the hymns movement going Spanish.  In general, Spanish-speaking Christianity (at least of the Latin American variety) by and large is one of two brands—Catholic or Pentecostal.  The latter, as far as I have observed, doesn't often engage the rich history of hymnody that is a part of our Christian heritage.  And, as I’ve advocated over and over again, hymnody indoctrinates.  There is a robust theological education and a deep spiritual formation (not that the two don’t overlap considerably) when the people of God sing historic hymns.  I have longed to see this hunger develop among the Latino culture in the US and broader west.

With the dawn of Alabanzaré, perhaps these hopes and dreams can harden into some real-world concrete.  Their himnario features forty hymns at the moment.  I noticed a Spanish version of Indelible Grace’s setting of “Jesus, Everlasting King”: “Señor Jesús, eterno Rey.”  There are also original-tuned translations of popular hymns like “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Be Thou My Vision.”

In my opinion, the next step for the outfit at Alabanzaré would be to work hard engaging the popular Latino musical idioms, seeing if hymnody can translate.  It’s an experiment worth pursuing.  Perhaps they could start by analyzing some of the popular contemporary Christian Latino worship artists like Jesus Adrian Romero and others (my knowledge is pretty limited!).  It will be interesting to see what kind of traction the Latino hymns movement gets in the next five to ten years, but, until then, I salute the effort and hope that more will join their ranks!

An Art Project Worth Supporting - Bifrost Arts

When I heard the first Bifrost Arts album, Come, O Spirit, a few years ago, I was excited to hear the wedding of the emerging Seattle-esque, pop-orchestral song style (perhaps made most famous by one of the album's producers, Sufjan Stevens) with historic Christian hymnody and liturgical service music.  It is a truly unique venture.

When I heard Bifrost's commander in chief, Isaac Wardell, share from his mind and heart at the Bifrost Arts conference earlier this year, I came away with an even deeper respect and appreciation for the (quite robust) vision of Bifrost Arts, of which music-making is only a part.  Bifrost's leader thinks theologically and biblically about worship, and God has given him a platform to reach and influence scores of young evangelical worship leaders who need to hear what he has to say.  

When you support Bifrost Arts by contributing to the seed money for their third album, it should be obvious that you're supporting more than a sweet, artsy album.

Please consider supporting this vision by contributing to the Bifrost kickstarter project.  

GO HERE.

If you haven't heard Bifrost's material, here's a free sampler to get you started!

An Interview with the Maker of the Modern Worship Hymns Album, Love Divine

As most of you know, a major focal point of this blog is the intersection of ancient and modern in worship, with a particular eye toward dialogue between mainstream modern worship and historic hymnody.  Several months back, I highlighted a preview of the album, Love Divine, which, as a compilation project of mainstream modern worship leaders singing re-tuned texts of Charles Wesley, is a significant achievement toward the end of the coming together of these two worlds.

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FREE Pre-Release Song from Our New Album - Get it Now!

FREE PRE-RELEASE SONG
FROM WITHOUT OUR AID (9/13/11)

Hello, Readership.  In an effort to drum up support for our new album, Without Our Aid, we're asking you to pass this link along to anyone and everyone you know (tweet it, FB it, email it).  We're giving away one of our best songs on the album, "Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus," absolutely free...we just ask that you tell others about it. 

"Hail" is probably the best all-in-one representation of the musical, philosophical, and theological aim of the Without Our Aid.  It has a live feel, energetic rhythm, great drumming, layered electrics, modern worship-styled vocal melodies, and unbeatable lyrics (I can brag, because I didn't write them). 

GO GET THE SONG HERE (this link will only be available until Tuesday, September 13, so get it while you can!). 

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Ten New Albums Indicative of Positive Shifts in Modern Worship

When I began cataloguing the growth of the hymns movement several years ago, I had no idea that its growth would be this rapid.  Even using just one metric for growth and expansion—the production of albums—the number of artists and churches setting old hymn-texts to new music is much greater than it was five years ago. 

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Review of Fragments of Grace, by City Hymns

In the early days of the hymn resurgence among young (largely evangelical) Christians, only a handful of groups were making records.  Red Mountain Music was one of those entities. 

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