August '03 Update
Spirit FM's Crossover concert introduced me to some artists about whom I didn't previously give a second thought. Two of those are here, along with lots more entries. Since beginning this article, Spirit FM's Ultimate Storm Invasion 2003 also came to pass. Rather than to bump the articles again, I've elected to make this rather lengthy and include a short commentary on this wondrous second annual (hopefully) event. First, we shall cover the normal Update material.
- Paul Colman Trio (aka PC3):[4] Descriptive terms come to mind, like: euro-rock, retro-alternative, and simply quite easy to listen to! I saw PC3 at Crossover, and was fairly impressed. The band's definitely on my buy-list.
- Charmaine:[3] Another artist I saw at Crossover, Charmaine was a back-up singer for Rebecca St. James, and was allowed a solo. She's got a really nice tone, but some breathiness and slurs slip in. I'd heard her on the radio, and liked her sound. Overall, her music is a slight bit too girl-bouncy/dance-poppish to rate higher.
- Aurora:[3] I sampled Aurora, knowing I wouldn't like 'em for being too girl-groupish. I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, there's a fair amount of girl-group harmonies, but the slight minor-keyed real-rock instrumentals kept them interesting. I could have given a 4, but something held me back.
- Katinas:[2] The first part of the CD I got began to change my pre-conception of boy-band. The Katinas are great praise and worship leaders, and I caught myself singing along to some of the songs. Later in the CD, they slipped into a more studio mode, which was the sort of stuff I'd heard on the radio. My descriptive words for The Katinas are: boy-band, breathy, slurred, sweetsy-emotional --the sort of stuff I'd picture pre-adolescent girls loving.
- 2 compilation CDs, X 2003 Experience the Alternative [4] and Heavenly Blues [4]: X 2003 is a 2-CD set of real rock to slightly harder. Featured artists are Tobymac, Pillar, O.C.Supertones, MxPx, Slick Shoes, Thousand Foot Krutch, Superchick, The Elms, Five Iron Frenzy, Justifide, Cadet, Sanctus Real, Holland, Switchfoot, Relient K, Audio Adrenaline, Kutless, Newsboys, Further Seems Forever, PAX217, The Cross Movement, Jeremy Camp, The Benjamin Gate, Tree63, Tait, Delirious?, Peace of Mind, Skillet, and Demon Hunter (hey N8, I finally got to hear 'em). Then they threw four bonus tracks into the album. (I don't know why they don't just call them tracks.) Anberlin, Watashi Wa, Lucerin Blue and Starflyer 59 were the bonus artists. I liked some bands better than others, but overall the album is highly recommended for any who want to hear lots of different sounds. Heavenly Blues wasn't technically rock, as the CD's title claims, but, the line between blues and rock is quite hard to draw. The album features 14 tracks by David Payton, Larry Howard, Toni Rossi, Q-Stones, Bryn Haworth, John Amato and Buddy Greene. I'll be pursuing more CDs by David Payton and Larry Howard for starters. Heavenly Blues might have opened up a whole new musical path for me. Imagine if George Thorogood went Christian.
The copyright of the article August '03 Update in Christian Rock is owned by Paul Landkamer. Permission to republish August '03 Update in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic
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