Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

The Beatbox Nativity

Saturday, December 24th, 2011

Contemporary yet scriptural, dear reader, I give you TyTe and The Beatbox Nativity.

and, for those who like their greatest story ever told live and unplugged, the Nativity Rap live and on location.

TyTe (aka The Reverend Tyte) is a vicar at Uplyme Church in England and was a professional beatboxer before being ordained seven years ago.

 

 

Baptism

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Friday 3rd December 2010 in Waimauku, New Zealand

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’

Matthew 4:10

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.

Colossians 1:9-10

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Psalms 119:105

Omnipresence
after “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5

I walked the other day along a river
And watched the ducks and heard
some hawkings’ cries;
Then suddenly the nearness of my Saviour
Brought tears of joy and wonder to my eyes.
Oh, praise the Lord!
“This earth is crammed with heaven!”
Oh, praise the Lord!
And, Christian, look around!
For every bush you pass with fire is flaming.
And every spot you treat is holy ground.
I stopped the other day to watch a fountain
And marvelled at the magic of its grace;
Then suddenly my heart was on a mountain
And worshiping Jehovah face to face!
I wept the other day – oh, Christian, hear it!
I wept the other day without control,
But suddenly the blessed Holy Spirit
Spoke peace again and calmed my needy soul.
Oh, praise the Lord!
“This earth is crammed with heaven!”
Oh, praise the Lord!
And, Christian, look around!
For every bush you pass with fire is flaming.
And every spot you tread is holy ground.
by Anne Ortlund

Stars – Switchfoot

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

After a week of highs and lows, tonight is definitely a ‘Stars‘ night.

…Stars lookin at our planet watching entropy and pain
And maybe start to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane
I’ve been thinking bout the meaning of resistance, of a hope beyond my own
And suddenly the infinite and penitent begin to look like home…

YWAM New Zealand Ship Tour

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

I had the great pleasure to meet KB and the team from Create Emerge and YWAM Wollongong last night, when they gave a presentation on the YWAM New Zealand Ship Tour.

“The Ship From October to December, 2009, the ‘Pacific Link’ ship will be a hub, traveling to 8 different port towns/cities in New Zealand. It will spend about a week in each port, with a variety of events planned around it… school group tours, on-board presentations, and city-wide youth events. In the three to four weeks before the ship docks, there will be teams serving in the community, and presenting a missions call in Christian high schools, churches, youth groups, and young adults groups”

KB kindly handed me a copy of Engage, a missions mobilisation resource package by the Create Emerge and Create International teams.  It contains two DVDs packed with video, slide shows and PDFs that profile the work of those on outreach or in the mission field.  To get a taste of the quality and depth of the contents, check out Voices From The Frontlines.

If you can make it, I can thoroughly recommend hooking up with these folk or the ship on what is it’s valedictory tour before taking on a new role.

That's my King!

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Twenty-five years after the original sermon was delivered, this is one of many videos out there based on S. M. Lockridge‘s six and a half minute description of Jesus Christ.  First saw this a few weeks back and was reminded of it again this evening by my daughter.

Imogen Heap : First Train Home : first listen

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

imogen-heap-ellipse-album-art

Imogen Heap is an artist who has embraced and used the internet to the fullest extent possible in the production and promotion of her music.

Earlier this week, she and some of her Twitter feed fans used the same technologies to chase down some of those responsible for the online auctioning of a pre-release CD of her forthcoming album, Ellipse.  Having bid the auction up to £10M for the watermarked CD, she had the satisfaction of seeing the auction closed down and reading the staunch denials of the journo the CD was sent to and his editor.

The fun over, she headed off to the States where she’s currently doing promotional interviews across the US.  The Heap faithful there were able to attend a number of small ‘happenings’ and hear live previews of a number of songs from Ellipse.  For those of us elsewhere in the world keen to hear the long-awaited material, Stereogum provides the chance to hear the first single First Train Home.

Dolby Wired podcast & new albums

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

It has been a busy 36 hours for Thomas Dolby.  In a Wired podcast just uploaded to iTunes, Dolby has just previewed 2.5 new tracks of his first new album in 18 years.  ‘A Map of The Floating City’ will be released as three downloadable EPs followed by the CD.  This is preceded by today’s release of  ‘The Singular Thomas Dolby’, a remastered collection of his CD and DVD singles.  Both are getting rave reviews on the web with ‘Oceanea’ the stand-out for me from those previewed on the podcast.

If the posts here seem a little Imogen Heap/Thomas Dolby centric at present, I make no apologies for that; both are fine artists and I’m simply sharing what I enjoy.

Vivid & varied vinyl memories

Friday, May 15th, 2009

My first ever exposure to electronic or synthersiser music was in the unlikely venue of an aunt’s living room somewhere in Middle England.  Undoubtedly bored with the family conversation, I snuck off, donned headphones and listened to records on the ‘music centre’.  One of the records was a ‘stereo sampler’, a 12″ vinyl record designed to show off the then-new technology of stereophonic sound recording.  Among the tracks was the senimal Kraftwerk track, Autobahn.  I can still recall the sensation of the ‘cars’ on the track ‘driving’ from one ear to the other and back again.

During a recent exchange about music in general and electronic music in particular, Dave of funkypancake mentioned a few online on demand music sites that I might like to try.  As Spotify has yet to find Aotearoa on the map, I have been trying out We7 (wee-seven) instead and very good it is too.  While the range of available music doesn’t always match what I’m after, there’s plenty to keep me happy.

When we emigrated, I carefully packed up the best part of thirty year’s vinyl and given I currently have no turntable on which to play my collection.  With the help of We7, I’m enjoying listening to on demand versions of all those LP albums, 7″ B-sides and 12″ single remixes I have tucked away – readers under 30 might like to ask their parents what these are.

One interesting discovery in all this audiophiliology is how my long-held perceptions about certain tracks are not always in sync with reality.  For instance, listening through Replicas by Tubeway Army once again, I am struck by the fact that they were really more of a post-punk New Wave guitar, bass and drum combo with a Mini-Moog than the full-blown synthesizer band of my memories.

Elsewhere on the site, I’ve found the ‘The Sole Inhabitant’ live concert versions of Thomas Dolby‘s ‘The Golden Age of Wireless’ tracks.  So familiar from years of listening, they now sound new, different and more rounded in these later versions.  This and the deft touches he brings to his songs, like weaving the Martin Luther King speech snippet into ‘The Flat Earth’, will surely mean that Dolby will never be the nostalgia act so many of his contemporaries have become.

Imogen Heap

Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap

During our belated summer holiday, my second eldest introduced me to the music of Imogen Heap.

I had unknowingly heard her as vocal artist on Urban Species’ Blanket but quite how I have failed to find her work before is beyond me.  Comparisons to Dido and Alanis Morisette simply do not get anywhere close to doing justice to Imogen Heap’s voice; Kate Bush, another frequent comparator, is closer but not by much.  Likwise, her wonderfully layered music seems to reference widely; I hear musical hat-tips to Kraftwerk, Thomas Dolby and Moloko to name but three.  Her lyrics have, depending on the track, the inventiveness that you get with Elvis Costello, the cheekiness of XTC, the sense of place of Ian Dury or the haunting quality of Joni Mitchell.

For an idea of just how talented a musician Imogen Heap is, pop over to You Tube and watch the ‘Live at Studio 11 103.1FM’ video of her voice-and-sampler only performance of Just For Now.

Thomas Dolby & Michael Brecker

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

I have always enjoyed Thomas Dolby’s music and periodically delve into his blog to have a look at what he is up to. Tomorrow sees the release of a bonus last episode of his ‘extra material’ video podcasts which were culled from his recent Sole Inhabitant tour footage. Although I don’t have a video iPod, viewing the videos on the iBook gave a nice peak into Dolby’s live shows, offering updated versions of earlier hits and the back story behind the lyrics.

In one of those quirks that occur when blogging, checking the link to Dolby’s blog took me to his latest post, in which he mourns the passing of Michael Brecker. Along with his brother, Randy, Brecker made up one of the best brass sections of the last fifty years, a fact borne out by his 713 entry discography. While never a big fan, I first heard Brecker on Joni Mitchell’s 1980 Shadows and Light live album and have always enjoyed hearing him play.

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