Singers with Amazing Voices

As you've probably noticed from reading my blog, I really like listening to music. The other day, I was thinking and I was trying to figure out who my favorite vocalists are, and so I compiled a list. Not all of them are sing lead, but all of them have amazing voices, and their music is really worth checking out!

(On an extremely coincidental note, I'm watching The Five on TV and they're doing a segment on their favorite singers. Weird, right?)

Jen Ledger
Band(s): Skillet
Notable Songs: "Salvation," "Fire and Fury," "Hero," and "Yours to Hold [Live]"
While Jen isn't the lead vocalist for Skillet (John Cooper is), she has contributed her beautiful voice to many Skillet's songs. She normally plays the drums, but since she joined the band in 2008, she has sung on more than ten different songs. She is an incredible drummer as well, which is especially noticeable at Skillet's live shows.
She's also British. 

 


Stephen Christian
Band(s): Anberlin, Anchor & Braille
Notable Songs: "Alexithymia," "Self-Starter," "City Electric," and "Readyfuels"
Stephen has been the lead vocalist for Anberlin since it was founded in 2002, and for his acoustic side project Anchor & Braille since 2004. He has an incredible and elegant voice, and it's just really... mesmerizing. He's also written a book, The Orphaned Anything's, and started a non-profit
organization, Faceless International.

5 New Releases I Am Looking Forward To In 2014

I know it's already March, but here are five things that I'm looking forward to this year in no particular order.

The Maze Runner film - September 19
The first trailer for this movie was actually just released recently. The Maze Runner is based on the the novel of the same name, written by James Dashner. I've actually been looking forward to this one for a long time, ever since I finished reading The Maze Runner. The cast looks incredible, and the actors really look like they fit the characters they play. I can tell this is going to be a fantastic movie, and I can't wait to see it!

Valentine's Day Songs for the Single and the Not-Single

(Okay, I didn't know what I was supposed to say there. Honestly, "Not-Single" was the best I could think of)

Ladies and gentleman, it is that time of year again! The time when flower and chocolate sales go up really high, when everything thing turns pink, and when you can't turn around without seeing something heart-shaped. Yes, I'm talking about Valentine's Day, a holiday with the sole purose of celebrating love.

Alright, full disclosure - I've never really cared for Valentine's Day. And before you write me off as a bitter teenage girl, let me explain. Usually, I just kinda saw it as an excuse to get free candy from V-Day card exchanges with my friends (of course, most of it was just bland lollipops and Fun Dip). I'm kind of too old for that now though, so this lovely holiday (pun not intended) has become pretty useless to me.

Also, I can't stand people who write stuff like "Happy Singles Day. #foreveralone"

Anyways, the point of this post was not to talk about Valentine's Day and what I think about it. The point is, I've compiled a list of songs for you to listen to this Valentine's Day, whether you're single, married, in a relationship, whatever. I'm compiled this list from my own resources (like the CD rack next to my computer).

And, as a fair warning, there are duplicate artists (for example, Flyleaf shows up once on both lists).

Click the jump to see the list!

WinterJam 2014

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Last week was crazy. I had finals in some of my classes, which took up a lot of time. And then on Thursday night we went to WinterJam, so I never really got the chance to write! Anyways, about WinterJam...

If you've been following my blog, you know that I've gone to WinterJam the last two years (You can check out what I said about WinterJam 2012 here). If you haven't been following my blog or have no idea what WinterJam is, here's the condensed version. Big Christian music tour in the winter time. $10, ten bands. Pay at the door.

If that doesn't satisfy you, you can read this.

Anyway, this year, instead of paying $10 at the door, I went with my church youth group and got VIP tickets, so we could get in early and not have to wait in line. It was great because, well, it was freezing. And man, that line was long.

This year, the headliner was the Newsboys, arguably one of the most well-known names in Christian music. The other nine bands were Derek Minor, Love & The Outcome, Everfound, Colton Dixon, Newsong (they're always on the tour, since they're the band that hosts it), Plumb, Thousand Foot Krutch (my favorite!), Tenth Avenue North, and Lecrae.

Click the jump for more!

My Ten Favorite Albums of 2013

I'll get to the point. This is a list of my ten favorite albums I listened to during 2013. Please note that this list isn't exclusive to CDs that were released during 2013. It does include a lot of new music, but there are some albums from a few years back. So... enjoy!


#10 - Dear Diary by FM Static
Notable songs - "Boy Moves Into a New Town With an Optimistic Outlook," "Man Whatcha Doin?" and "Take Me as I Am"
I've talked about Dear Diary on this blog before, but if you're not familliar with it, it is a concept album about a boy who moves to a new town and recounts the events in his diary. It's a very interesting story, and I really encourage you to give it a listen! Even better, buy the CD and read the story that some with!

#9 - The Chase by Manafest
Notable songs - "Avalanche," "Every Time You Run," and "I'm Better 'Cause of You."
I just recently started listening to Manafest, probably in the last year or so. His style is sort of a rap/hip-hop/rock kind of thing. It took a while for me to get used to, but one of my favorite musicians, Trevor McNevan, has collaborated with Manafest on many of his songs, so that got me hooked. The Chase is probably the most rock-sounding album, and I really enjoy it, so check it out!

#8 - Release The Panic by RED
Notable songs - "Release the Panic," "Hold Me Now," "Glass House."
Release The Panic was just released this year, and my brother gave it to me for my birthday. I have the special edition, which includes some remixes and other bonus songs. I really like the theme of this CD, with all the sci-fi-ness. The album art is great, by the way, and the music videos are awesome!

Christmas Music

It's that time of year again. The time when your local radio station plays the same set of Christmas songs over and over and over again until you're ready to punch Rudolph in the nose. Well, I may have the solution for you.

Now, I have nothing against Christmas music. It's just that... Well, it's often overplayed or repetitive. I've made my own Christmas music playlist of songs by some of my favorite bands, whether they're original or covers of other songs.

For starters, if you like bands like Hawk Nelson, Switchfoot, Anberlin, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, or Sanctus Real, then you should check out the album X Christmas. It's part of the X series of compilation albums put out by BEC recordings, and it features all of the artists mentioned above, plus a few more. A lot of the songs are covers, but there are a few originals like "His Favorite Christmas Story." You can listen to the entire album here.

Want more Christmas music? Click the jump!

Dear Diary Outfit

Gasp! It's Tuesday, and I'm blogging already?! Don't worry, the Friday post will come on Friday, just like it always does. I just really wanted to share something really quickly with you guys.

Dear Diary outfit on Polyvore

I was listening to the FM Static album Dear Diary today (on my iPod though, since I lent the CD to a friend), and I decided it would be really cool to make an outfit on Polyvore based on the two characters.

For those who don't know, Dear Diary is a concept album, which means it tells a story. Through the songs and the fictional journal entries in the CD booklet, Dear Diary tells the story of a boy, Aero (I promise, that's his name), who moves to a new town, meets a girl who is known as "E.T." throughout the rest of the story, and other events in his life. I'm honestly not sure how to summarize all of, but there's an interview with Trevor McNevan about Dear Diary that I thought was interesting.

With that out of the way, I suppose I should explain the outfit a little bit. Click the jump for more!

Things Change. Get Used to it.

This might make some people mad at me.
Not that it really matters, because no one really reads this, haha, but still. Anyway, this blog will probably focus on music and other nonsense surrounding it. For starters - GUYS. Rise comes out in FOUR DAYS. Listen to the singles:

Sick of It
American Noise
Rise
Not Gonna Die

...Anyway.

The real reason I decided to blog is this: People complaining about the ways bands sound. I was listening to one of the new Skillet songs for like the hundredth time, so I flipped through some comments on YouTube. People say things like, "I miss the way they used to sound..." or "This is so different from the way they used to be..." And I think, "No DUH." Of course a band is going to sound different album to album. I mean, what do you expect? They get new members, listen to new music, get influenced by different things. Case in point - listen to the following Skillet songs in order. It's the first track off of their last four albums.

Alien Youth (Alien Youth)
Forsaken (Collide)
Rebirthing (Comatose)
Hero (Awake)

To those of you who actually listened to those songs, give yourself a pat on the back. Anyway, do you see my point? The band's sound changed through time. It's perfectly normal for that to happen. There's no use in complaining and saying, "I wish they stayed the same" or "What happened to the old [band]?"

Click to make it bigger!

And yes, I do understand that even if a band stayed the same way, people would still complain. I saw
this graphic (see right) once on Anberlin's Instagram page. Seems about right to me. No matter what you do, people are gonna criticize. Still, I think some fans need to realize that bands will change. That's just the way it goes - nothing can stay the same forever.

Which leads me to my next topic.
Click the jump!

Sorry it's Been a While

I've been busy with... stuff. Like school, my birthday, solving the world's problem, and other nonsense. So, what do I have to say? Well, I've decided on a summer writing project, I saw a play, and there are some singles out for Rise. I'll start with the play.

(L to R) Hillary, Stargirl, and Leo.

I recently went on a school field trip to see a play adaptation of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. If you've never read the book (you totally should though), I'll try not to give anything away. Anyway, the play stayed pretty close to the plot of the book (unlike a certain movie adaptation of a certain book that I won't mention aloud), and I really enjoyed watching it. The Stargirl is a great book that I think anyone would enjoy.

(L to R) Leo and Kevin from Stargirl

writer also left the ending alone, which I was grateful for. I'm afraid to say anything else, but I will say that

The photos of the Stargirl play are from The People's Light and Theatre website.

And now... Oh, right, my project. Click the jump for more!

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Blogging Because I Feel Like I Should

First of all, Happy Easter!
Okay, now that that's out of the way, I just felt like blogging because there's a lot of stuff I want to talk about, and just one of those things isn't enough for a whole post to itself. I'll probably jump from one thing to another without much explanation, so hopefully I won't lose you. I've got some stuff about Rise, Kristen May, and some other stuff that I'll think of as I write. So here goes nothing...

Album art for Rise.

If you read my last post, you heard me fangirl about Skillet's new album, Rise. If you missed that, here's what it said: Rise is Skillet's first concept album, it's being released June 25, and the first single from it, "Sick of It" is being released on iTunes April 9. If you want to know anything else, go read my post. :P Anyways, I have more news for you! The album art for Rise showed up on Facebook and Instagram recently! So there it is, on the right. I think it's pretty cool, and for some reason, I think of the album art for Comatose when I look at it. Does anyone else?
On the subject of Rise, Skillet also posted another teaser for "Sick of It," and personally, I think this one sounds better than the previous teaser. I can't wait to hear the whole thing on the ninth!
Oh, just thought of something else! So, click the jump to read about the new Percy Jackson movie and Kristen May singing "So I Thought."

Rise

Well, my Spring Break just got a lot better! Today on Facebook, Skillet posted the release date for their new album Rise, June 25! I don't think I can wait that long though...
Along with the release date, Skillet also added some other information on their website's blog. According to the post, the first single from Rise, "Sick Of It" will be released on iTunes April 9. Also, if you're one of those cool people who has Instagram, you can post a photo of what you're sick of and it might be in the lyric video for "Sick Of It." Cool, huh?
The other thing I found really awesome was that apparently, Rise is going to be a concept album. Now I don't know about you, but I have a small obsession with concept albums. Pretty much ever since I bought FM Static's Dear Diary, I've thought they were cool. Hey, a story told through a bunch of songs? I'm in. But yeah, I'm really excited to hear Skillet's first concept album.
So that's about all I have to say right now. I'll keep you posted if I find out anything else!

Flyleaf Concert (2/24/13)

Hello again! So, two days after that Thousand Foot Krutch concert, I went to go see Flyleaf at the same place. Right now, they're on tour with Drowning Pool, who I hadn't heard of before. It was pretty interesting, because both bands have just gotten new lead singers (Kristen May, replaced former Flyleaf vocalist Lacey Sturm back in October-ish). Anyway, if you want to read more about the concert, click the jump!

Thousand Foot Krutch Concert (2/22/13)

Hey everyone! Yeah, yeah, I know it's late to be blogging... but it's a Friday night, so it's all good, right? Anyway, I thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you guys about the Thousand Foot Krutch concert I went to a couple weeks ago. If you don't follow TFK, here's the basic, one sentence summary: They're on their War of Change tour with bands Love and Death, The Letter Black, and The Wedding. I was amazed when I saw my town on their list of shows (this is the first concert I have not had to over and hour to), so of course I had to go. My brother, Paul, my friend Patrick (he had gone to Uprise with us), and I went together, and it was a blast! So, if you're interested, click the jump to read more!

CCM Magazines

An article about Flyleaf from the Feb '06 issue

Hey guys! I never posted about my amazing find (well, amazing to me at least), so I thought I would do that now. Anyway, I was looking through some stuff in my youth group's classroom, and I found a stack (ten total) of old CCM magazines! CCM Magazine is a Christian music magazine that used to be published physically, but they stopped doing that in 2008. You can subscribe to the online version of the magazine now, though. So obviously, my copies of the magazine are pretty outdated (the newest one is from July 2007) but it's still a lot of fun to read through them. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much about Skillet, but there is one article from the February 2006 issue that talks about Flyleaf when they were first getting started. I scanned it, so there it is on the right (you can click the image to make it bigger so you can read it). 

Five questions with Trevor McNevan.

The other thing I found interesting was a short interview with Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch and FM Static in the December 2004 issue. It's just five questions, but it's pretty fun to read. My favorite is #4, haha.

Anyway, I thought this would be fun to post today. Enjoy the scans, and if I find anything else interesting, I'll let you know!

Note: In order to make the articles big enough to read, you can click them, which will open the picture in a sort of slideshow thing, then right click the picture and press "view image." It should then open up an a way that you can zoom in on the text :)

Sorry about that...

Hey guys, sorry it’s been a while since my last post. So… first of all, happy new year! Haha. Anyway, there hasn’t been very much worth blogging about. I went to a TFK concert and a Flyleaf concert this past weekend, and in January, we went to Winter Jam again. And uh… that’s about it. My life is just so interesting.

But the whole reason I wanted to blog right now was because I decided to start writing book reviews for some books that I’ve read recently. I’ve been going to the library every few weeks and reading a lot of books, so I wanted to start writing reviews. So I’m going to start that soon-ish… probably sometime tomorrow, or late tonight. I’ll write again soon!

"Fans"

(not the trippy kind)

I'm sick, sick, SICK of all the people whining about Flyleaf. So yes, I'm going to rant a bit. Okay guys, this is kind of my opinion: If you are really, truly, a fan of a band (say that three times fast), you'd like them despite lineup changes. Does this seem logical, or am I just crazy? Yeah, it's okay to be upset for a little bit, but seriously, after nearly two months, I think it's time to move on. We're all going to miss Lacey Sturm as Flyleaf's lead singer. But come on, do you really have to insult Kristen and post hateful comments on every Flyleaf video and Facebook post? Especially the ones who say that they're no longer going to listen to the band. They claim to have been huge fans of Flyleaf, but they completely turn their back when Lacey leaves.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to continue loving their music. Okay? I'm not worried about how they're going to sound or what's going to happen. And, honestly, you need to give Kristen some credit. Anyone willing to take the place of a much-loved lead singer and be able to listen to all of that hatred and criticism deserves a chance, if not some respect. I think I like her. And I understand that I might be being a bit harsh to people here, but I think I have the right to voice my opinion. Kristen May is a great singer, and although I had my doubts before, I think she's a good choice for Flyleaf's new vocalist.

Rant. Over.

You may now continue with your normal lives.
Oh yes, and all of the pictures in this post belong to Flyleaf, not me.

Release the Panic

Hey! Did you know RED is releasing a new album? Man, where have I been...
So yeah, I like just found this out. But if you're like me and didn't know, it's called "Release the Panic" and it's going to be realesed on February 5 next year. And there's a lyric video for the song, "Releae the Panic." Score!! Oh, and the tracklist is here too.

"Release the Panic" lyric video
And "Perfect Life" is here!

Woohoo! I'm excited!

More Fire. This Fire Involves Flyleaf

So, Flyleaf posted something about a little secret show they had, and Kristen May (their new singer, in case you missed that) performed with them for the first time. So there's a video of "Fire Fire". Honestly, I don't think it sounds all that bad. Kristen seems like she'd be able to do a lot of their new songs very well. It's a few of the older ones, like "I'm So Sick" and "Cassie" that I'm worried about. But she is much better than I thought she would be. Anyway, here is the video:

For those of you reading this on a mobile device, here's the link.
And also, if you want to listen to the album version of "Fire Fire," click here.

Fire. Fire?! Fire! Well, Pics of One at Least.

As you're reading this, here are some fire songs for you ;)
Fire Fire - Flyleaf
Fire in the Kitchen - Manafest
Fire it Up - Thousand Foot Krutch
The Flame In All Of Us - Thousand Foot Krutch
Watch it Burn - Disciple

So uh... yeah. My friend had a nice big bonfire at her house the other night, and I took a lot of pictures of it because I'm a pyromaniac. It was pretty. So I thought I would share some of them, cause I don't really think they're half bad.









And Now On To Disciple

Tomorrow! Yeah, Disciple's new album, "O God Save Us All" is coming out! I just thought I'd post about his since I saw a stream, like with "New Horizons", that you can listen to. I'll probably write more about it tomorrow if I get lucky and someone takes me to Wal-Mart or something to buy the CD. So, enjoy the music!

"O God Save Us All" stream