It’s not her fault and it’s not necessarily a bad thing but Alli Rogers, on her third album You and the Evening Sky, is going to be compared to Sara Groves quite a bit. After all, both play folky-rock with insightful, spiritual and often poetic lyrics and have been blessed with great voices. Comparisons in music reviews are both helpful and limiting. They give us an immediate context but they can also hinder our objectivity if we don’t care for the artist to whom the comparison points.

Though Rogers is perhaps orbiting in the same circles as Groves, she is her own artist. Produced by Don Chaffer, You and the Evening Sky continues Rogers’ path of identifying what sets her apart. Chaffer’s production is thoughtful, creative and never overbearing. He adds warmth, texture and cohesion while never losing sight of the fact that Rogers is a singer/songwriter so the vocals and lyrics are always upfront. Fans of Waterdeep will hear hints of Chaffer’s own musical personality but this is not a Waterdeep record.

Lyrically, Rogers draws the thread of faith through everyday life (”there’s the old cherry treas and the neighbor who knows every grandchild’s name even sewed them some clothes for Christmas. You remember that Christmas” from “The Things We Can and Cannot Keep”), examining many of life’s turns through the lens of faith without beating you over the head with an agenda.

Musically, the album falls somewhere between Waterdeep’s more straight-ahead moments and Sara Groves’ more musical ones. There’s nothing showy but then again, there doesn’t need to be. Rogers has a strong but accessible voice and uses it wisely. She understands that her voice is the focal point but not the spotlight (if that makes sense). This is a solid effort that has grown on me with each repeated listen.

• Visit Alli Rogers’ official website

Transcendent. It’s a word that’s often applied to music, especially “worship” music. There is something about a soaring melody and bursting chorus that helps to draw our affections upwards. And yet, that descriptor, transcendent, how often, if ever does it ever really apply? There’s only so many times we can hear “worship” lyrics laid on top of a recycled Coldplay riff before we begin to think we just might have heard this before. All the while, we seem to be in the midst of a flood of homogenized Anglo-Saxon-ized that’s only differentiated by the choice of distortion pedal.

Aradhna has been swimming against this tide for approximately eight years. As the fusion band Olio came to a close in 1999, long-time friends Chris Hale and Pete Hicks began to play “South Asian devotional songs called bhajans,” for the British Asian community in London. According to the group’s press-kit:

Chris had been living in South Asia from childhood, and could speak Nepali and Hindi fluently, he often felt torn between his eastern and western spiritual identity. He longed for an Indian expression of devotion to Yeshu Khrist, the North Indian name for Jesus Christ. In the course of this search, he had found Yeshu bhaktas (devotees) in different parts of the world who expressed their adoration through bhajans and the Indian way of bhakti (devotion).

In 2000, Chris and Pete recorded their first project as Aradhna, which means “adoration” in Hindi. Travis McAfee was added on bass and since then, Chris, Pete and Travis have all married and continued to mature their sound, resulting in their fourth album, Amrit Vani (”Immortal Word“).

The band combines western-style acoustic guitar and bass with sitar, Hindustani violin, tabla (and other percussion elements) with lyrics, both in Hindi and sometimes in English. The album opens with “Jaya Dev,” (”Victory to God”), drifting in with gentle acoustic guitar, soon joined by percussion elements, it doesn’t take long to realize that this is something new as the lyrics, sung in Hindi, float to the surface. The song gradually builds as a choir joins in for the soaring chorus and as the violin drifts in, we’re reminded that music can indeed, be transcendent. The song’s soaring chorus roughly translates as “Victory to God, Victory to God, the man-God” and this is a representative example of the straight-forward devotion offered throughout.

The album maintains a mid-tempo focus, with many of the songs utilizing a building, tension/release formula, highlighting the interplay between the acoustic guitar, violin, Eastern percussion and sitar, keeping the lyrics at the forefront, often incorporating choir-style vocals for moving effect. Most of the words are in Hindi, but English translations are available in the CD booklet. The songs are very straight-forward expressions of adoration for Christ, but the fact that they’re sung in Hindi reminds us of the many colored tapestry that is the Body of Christ. The title track, along with “Bhajo Re,” will have you singing along, praising in a tongue probably not your own, regardless of your view on glossololia.

The song “Man Mera,” features, to the surprise of some, the English chorus of “Pour out Your Light and Your Truth, let them guide me,” sung by a voice that could be a dead-ringer for Peter Gabriel over a choir singing in Hindi. The song gradually builds to a controlled frenzy, highlighting everything this band does well.

The closing track, “Narahari,” features a spoken-word segment describing the majesty of Christ over the repeated chorus from the opening track “Jaya Dev.” The chorus repetition works well to center the album as a whole. The chorus builds in volume, accenting the majesty of the Savior who has purchased us. The combination works well, though I’m not a huge fan of spoken-word segments. The combination of theological descriptions of Jesus with heartfelt adoration is something many acts can learn from.

Amrit Vani is a welcome addition to both the “world” and “worship” music circles, seamlessly bridging the two. The floating lines of the sitar and violin, the soaring voices, punctuated by tabla and anchored by western-style acoustic guitar and bass is the perfect mix. This is, by far one of the best albums of 2007 you still need to hear.

• Visit Aradhna’s official website
• Read the history of the group
• Purchase music directly from the band
• Read Robert Blakes review of the album for The Phantom Tollbooth
• Purchase Aradhna’s music from Amazon
• Purchase Aradhna from

Musically in the church, we are in what many are referring to as a “hymns resurgence.” Many modern artists are reworking familiar hymns and also focusing on sometimes rarely-heard hymns with new arrangements to give them a wider audience. Jars of Clay and Ashley Cleveland have done albums of hymns as have the various artists of Passion. The Indelible Grace discs have come to feature some big name artists as well. The result has been a renewed focus on deep theological truth at the center of worship set to accessible music. All the while, Red Mountain Church of Birmingham, AL has been turning out a steady stream of albums as good, if not better than anything you’ll hear from all of these other hymn-remakers. The Red Mountain Music website explains:

Our particular focus is arranging new music for all-but-forgotten hymn texts. We are excited to be a part of a hymn re-write movement that is truly resurrecting hymns for the church nationwide.

Under the direction of Brian T. Murphy, Red Mountain Church has now released four full-length albums and one E.P. Their newest is titled This Breaks My Heart of Stone and is possibly the strongest outing to date from an already stellar catalog. Red Mountain Church (RMC hereafter) has had a healthy obsession on reworking hymns particularly from the William Gadsby and Murphy says of this release:

Our Gadsby Hymnal obsession lives on, and for this record, we worked with 9 more songs from “Gadsby’s Hymns”. We also branched out a little and spent some time working with William William’s texts, which are not found in the Gadsby. We felt like two of his songs fit the collection for this record, and we decided to include them.

Murphy also adds:

It is important to note that every song on this record was written or co-written by our friend, and fabulous Texan, Benj Pocta. We met Benj the same way everyone meets these days - on the internet, and before long we were sending demos back and forth. Benj traveled to Birmingham several times to write, write some more, and ultimately record this record with us.

I don’t know who Benj Pocta is, but I appreciate his influence. RMC releases have always been strong, but Pocta’s presence seems to have added a depth and consistency that makes this album, at least for me, stand out as a significant step forward. Pocta’s banjo adds a layer of warmth, particularly on the opening track “This Breaks My Heart of Stone.” Everything comes together on this track, building on Daniel Lanois-like shimmers of rever with banjo accompaniment and even electronic flourishes while we meditate on the wonder that truly is salvation. God, indeed, breaking our hearts of stone. Each element is restrained and well-placed. This is by far my favorite Red Mountain track and that’s saying a lot.

The album remains consistent yet varied enough to hold one’s attention. Rooted in Americana and what some might call folk-rock, the lyrics (and their theological truths) are always at the forefront. Yet the music is not just an afterthought. The music is rich and warm andoften features subtle layers of reverb and keyboards to add depth.

“Melt My Soul To Love” draws from Southern plantation gospel chants with its claps and stomps while “Jesus’ Gracious Hand” is straight-ahead country. Yet these diversions add depth rather than distract and they help to build a consistent whole rather than seeming as mere experiments. Each is performed consistently and passionately. The theme of the overwhelming goodness of God’s mercy runs throughout, which means that we are confronted, not just with God’s goodness but our desperate need for His grace, themes which seem to be all but forgotten in many modern songs.

Had I heard this album even just weeks earlier, it surely would have been one of my favorites of 2007. As it stands, it’s already one of my favorite discoveries of 2008.

• Visit the official Red Mountain Music website

Christmas always puts me in a bit of a musical quagmire. I love theologically rich Christmas hymns but I don’t like the idea of “Christmas music.” I don’t like the idea that music becomes associated with a particular season, though every Autumn, I like to listen to The Samples, Joe Sample’s Old Places Old Faces and the Dirty Three. I realize that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but personal taste doesn’t necessarily have to. Into this mixed-up world of seasonal subjectivity has come Friction Bailey.

Friction Bailey is made up of the husband/wife duo Steve and Joy Guiles. You may recognize Steve’s name from his part in Pushstart Wagon. Whereas Pushstart Wagon deftly mines the fields of what some might call “power pop,” Friction Bailey is a rather subdued affair centering on acoustic instruments and vocal harmonies.

The Silent Night features acoustic renderings of several traditional Christmas hymns. Steve recorded the majority of the instruments (including bass, guitars, dulcimer, casio keyboard, piano, harmonicas, and percussion) in his own home studio. The result is a warm tone that holds throughout. Let’s get the obvious (yet true) descriptors out of the way: somber, reflective, sparse, intimate, subtle, understated yet powerful. Friction Bailey’s music has been compared to The Innocence Mission, Mazzy Star and Over the Rhine, but the duo has carved out an identity of their own while standing in these same circles.

The album opens with “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” perhaps the album’s most upbeat track, immediately setting the tone, beginning with male/female harmonies against acoustic backdrops. Though the instrumentation is often quite sparse, the sound is anything but thin. Instead, the couple have learned the valuable lesson that less is often more. Their is a clear focus on the words as meditations on Christ, which sadly, is often lacking in much “Christmas music.”

The two originals (”We Will Sing” and “Christ the Child King” fit well among the traditional numbers, echoing many of the rich theological, worshipful sentiments. “Christ the Child King” asks: “Do we have to know about or understand redemption or the sacramental lamb? Do we have to comprehend the Trinity? How He was God and man and what that means?” The chorus then answers: “It is finished, what He had started at His birth. Christ, the child king, here on Earth.”

The album is mellow, but it is certainly not boring. The sparse accompaniments allude to the traditional melodies we often take for granted, while adding just enough flourish to pull out the theological richness of many of these songs. This is the perfect music for a warm fire on a cold night. This is haunting music bearing the weight of the world’s greatest truths; a perfect pairing.

The Silent Night began as a Christmas E.P. that turned out to be a full-length release. Pressed on beautiful maroon linen with gold print, the packaging is beautiful. Add to that the fact that this is a limited-edition release (only 500 made), and you may have just found the perfect gift for your music lover.

• Purchase Friction Bailey’s The Silent Night at CD Baby
• Read The Blah Blah’s interview with Steven Wesley Guiles
• Visit Friction Bailey’s official website

Steven Delopoulos is perhaps best known for fronting the band Burlap to Cashmere along with his cousin John Philippides. The duo was “discovered” while playing New Jersey coffeehouses. Though Burlap To Cashmere is technically no more, Delopoulos and John Philippides are embarking on a “reunion” tour together, opening for Jars of Clay on several dates. Since the demise of Cashmere, Delopoulos has gone on to a solo career, releasing his first solo album Me Died Blue in 2003 to good reception. He has since released a web-only EP, Work To Be Done and his second full-length album, Straightjacket will be released on the 22 of this month.

Delopoulos plays a a unique brand of folk-rock drawing from the likes of early Tom Waits, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens Jim Croce and others. Paste has called his music: “a boisterous and deeply moving blend of acoustic folk-pop.” Allmusic says: “His songs express simple truths in refracted ways and complex truths are revealed as quandaries that change lives. Delopoulos’ musical terrain is where the song becomes the story itself” and Derek Webb has said: “Steven Delopoulos is a complete mystery to me. His music is full of a transcendent wonder and poetic grit that I don’t hear coming from any other contemporary artists. Straightjacket is a strange journey of language and melody that I never seem to grow tired of revisiting…I’m still completely baffled as to how he does it.”

Delopoulos grew up in a distinctively Greek home and the cadence of the Greek language permeates much of his delivery, washed in waves of Mediterranean influence. But this is not quite “world” music. It is folk rock with world influences but it is even more than just folk rock. It is more ambitious than that. The music here combines elements of Orthodox liturgy (the opening of “Ruin of the Beast”), gospel choirs (”May I Always Keep My Feet Upon The Ground”), theatrical percussion pieces akin to STOMP (”Halt”), and instrumental interludes (”Interlude”) but never loses the folk foundation. Threads of Delopooulos’ weaving acoustic guitar wind themselves through each song. While his skill as a guitarist is apparent, it never becomes the focus.

Thematically, the album is rich in the hope of the Gospel in the midst of life’s sometimes bitter struggles. In “She Held My Hand,” Delopoulos sings: “I met her at a show. Her hand slipped through her hair. She listened to my story, she said ‘I heard all about you.’ It seemed she was sincere but the conversation fled. He spoke through the prophets, crucified for our salvation, He suffered and was buried and on the third day, He rose, born again. She held my hand.” In the joyous “May I Always Keep My Feet Upon The Ground,” which uses some wonderfully inventive percussion, Delopoulos sings: “March through the desert, pray for the rain, crucified, no more pain. May I always keep my feet upon the ground.” This kind of explicitly Christian imagery is woven throughout the album but in such a way that it is a part of everyday life. In Delopoulos’ world, the Gospel is not just propaganda to be preached, but life to be lived and it affects every area of life.

Musically, the closest touchstone for many will be the world-folk stylings of mid-period Paul Simon (think Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints). But whereas turned to the rhythms of Africa, Delopoulos naturally turns to his Greek influence, without ever wearing it for show. There is a Mediterranean feel to many of the songs that finds its way simply complimenting rather than showing off.

Along with producer Monroe Jones, Delopoulos has subtly kept everything in balance yet challenging. The one halt in the flow of the album is experimental percussion piece “Halt.” It’s done well, with an infectious groove but it just seems a bit out of place. But this is a minor pause in a great step forward. Straightjacket is an album that will quickly wraps itself around your life. It is music that is at once welcome and yet reveals something new with each listen.

Highly recommended.

• Visit Steven Delopouls’ official website
• Download the Work to Be Done EP
• Listen to Burlap to Cashmere for yourself
• Listen to Steven Delopoulos for yourself

You may not know the name, but if you listened to music in the mid to late nineties, you know the sound. Superdrag was one of the most influential bands of the time, combining power pop/pop punk with Beach Boys harmonies. Their music walked the balance between noise and melody in a distinct fashion. The band went on self-imposed hiatus in 2003 in the midst of label troubles and frontman John Davis (no relation to Jonathan Davis of Korn or John Davis of Folk Implosion) conversion to Christianity.

As pressures mounted, Davis had fell into an anger-fueled alcoholism, typified by the title of the band’s last album, Last Call for Vitriol. Things finally turned a corner one night just prior to the release of the Vitriol album. Davis was driving to his parent’s house when he felt that he had hit rock-bottom. He pulled over, prayed to God and began life as a Christian. According to Wikipedia, Davis “was able to get away from alcohol, but felt that Superdrag was a mouth-piece for the life he had left behind, and simply didn’t feel his heart behind it anymore.” The group disbanded in 2003, though they left open the possibility of playing together in the future.

In 2005, Davis released his first solo album. The self-title project drew much more on the melodic side than had Superdrag’s work. The album leaned heavily on The Beach Boys and Beatles-like melodies and the majority of the lyrics were meditations on Davis’ newfound Christianity. In July, 2007, Superdrag announced a string of reunion shows and in October, 2007, Davis released his second solo album, Arigato!

Whereas Davis’ self-titled album prominently featured Davis’ keyboard talents, Arigato! is a straight-ahead guitar album. In many ways, it’s a return to form for Davis and truth be told, the album feels very much like a Superdrag album. Featuring Davis on guitar, bass and vocals and Yogi Watts on drums, the album is a straightforward affair. However, that does not mean it’s a monotonous affair by any means.

Album opener “Chant Down Babylon” finds Davis singing “I can feel it in my knees, the weather’s going to change on me. But I will not be disarranged by someone with nothing to say” over achugging, distorted guitar line. This sets the theme of much of the album. These are the meditations of someone “settling” in to a faith that calls them to stand strong and continue on, even in the face of life’s difficulties. Davis openly shares the fight against indwelling sin; a fight we will only make progress in by the same grace that saved us. In the same song, Davis sings “The easiest thing in the world is to feel like you’re alone but we’re not made for being alone. The love in your heart is a pearl, you’ve got to keep it from turning to stone. I can’t keep up this fascaud, I consecrate myself to God.” Through all the struggles, God’s faithfulness is what upholds our faith and commands our obedience.

The album wrestles with the difficulties of daily living out the faith of perseverance in a spirit of gratitude. Though Davis openly wrestles with his continued sin, as in “I’m At War With Myself,” gratitude for God’s grace is never far away. After all, the album is called Arigato! Arigato, is a Japanese word meaning “thank you.” In “I Need Someone,” Davis sings “You know how I need you here, to call me and draw me near” and in “Lamentations vs. Laughter,” he sings: “Every step farther along feels alright for a time. But it comes out wrong. We still trespass. We still transgress. We are whited sephulcres or something less.” This tension plays itself out well throughout the album, playing off of the distorted guitars and heavy bass lines. Yet through it all, Davis reminds us that we are upheld by grace, and that’s the beauty of it all. He also sings in “Lamentations”: “Without You, all of this means nothing.”

Though there are some overdubbed vocals and guitars, that’s about as fancy as this outing gets for Davis. Distorted guitars drive the melodies, upheld by steady and solid rhythm work from the drums and bass. The guitar playing is sharp and powerful throughout and the distortion plays perfectly against the themes of tension in the Christian life. It’s a rock record and it’s a great record at that. We don’t get enough of those lately. Davis reminds us that the wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented just well-oiled. In “History,” Davis sings, “There’s nothing I can’t overcome through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.” Arigato indeed!

Highly recommended.

• Purchase Arigato!
• Listen to Superdrag for yourself
• Visit the official Superdrag website
• Visit Davis’ Myspace page

I don’t remember what initially led me to download A Collision from iTunes, perhaps just raw curiosity, but over a few months of listening on and off, it started to make sense to me. I connected with what he was trying to do: an odd convergence of electronica, arena rock, and evangelical exuberance. I’m a “singer/songwriter guy” by nature–––not the sort of person to lose myself in a sea-wave of modern worship anthems. But A Collision started to take down some of that reticence, at least for one hour. As I listened to Crowder’s music, there was a beautiful undulation of overjoyed peaks and sorrow-filled troughs that truthfully captured my personal Christian experience.

Now to this week’s new release: Remedy. I’d wager that this might be the first time an album covering Charles Wesley’s “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” has made it to number 5. The record is a concise collection of ten fine-tuned but accessible songs. While I miss the long track title/short interstitial track quirks of A Collision, there’s certainly nothing missing in either the production or songwriting here. Crowder’s crew, along with mixer Shane D. Wilson have masterfully crafted a flawless sonic landscape. It feels just right. This is the sort of record you need your headphones to enjoy.

The songs–––sometimes restrained, sometimes epic–––all carry an alarming earnestness that draws in the listener. I will say that my initial hearing of the record left me feeling that the song sequence doesn’t ring as true as the last album–––not quite the sweeping emotional arc of A Collision. But this is still a very, very good record; polished and well thought-through. It even embraces the sort of revival-tinged fervor that’s likely to make the skeptic squirm in his stadium seat, or at least the introvert while still pleasing the extroverts.

I’d ask that anyone who’s perhaps avoided Crowder because of the excesses of much of today’s “worship music” to give this guy a chance. Give Remedy an extended listen, in fact. With something that’s this popular, I find myself tempted to call this sort of music a “guilty pleasure,” but that would be a proud and unfair way to put it. I’m just going to say its great.

• Purchase Remedy for yourself
• Visit the official David Crowder Band website

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Brannon McAllister (www.brannonmcallister.com) spends his day as Creative Director at Portland Studios (www.portlandstudios.com), a design, illustration, and animation firm based in Greenville, SC.