Month: December 2020
December 14, 2020
How many of y’all remember a hackey sack (the little ball you kicked with your foot & held it on the side of your shoe & sent it up on your head or flipped it to another player in style). Man, in my high school days that was the in-thing! Well, Australia’s Beanbag is named for that little entertainment ball. Saw this 4 piece at Carowinds in South Carolina back in the day. Pretty sure Hangnail, Denison Marrs & Thousand Foot Krutch were there that day also.… Continued →
December 13, 2020
New Releases: December 11, 2020
Rock & Metal
- Anberlin – Tear Us Apart
- Ben S Dixon – Psalm 46 Lord of Hosts
- The Chariot – Long Live (10 Year Anniversary)
- Heliocentric – Antithesis
- Living Scars – Hallelujah
- Signum Regis – Flag of Hope (EP)
- Adam Lamb – For Me
- Altared – Awakened
- Amng Wlvs – Voice of Hope
- Anae – You Can Find Me
- Cody Johns – Relentless (EP)
- Connor Flanagan – Fire of My Father
- Doobie Powell – Heartbeat
- Edgar Sandoval Jr – last few months
- Haiva Ru – Wildflowers
- Judah & the Lion – Pep Talks Live
- Jon Webster – Selah
- NEEDTOBREATHE – Who Am I (Acoustic)
- Tauren Wells – Famous For (I Believe) – Collection
- UNSECRET – No Sanctuary
- Charlie Peacock – Skin and Wind is a Mind Bend
- Future Divine – Nightmare Into Day
- Jon Foreman – Fear (EP)
- Thomas Toole – Time and Space
- Whale Bones – The Doors Are Locked, the Blinds Are Closed, I Am Not Home
- Angie Rose – Not A Monster
- Jesse Francis – Frontier
- JSteph – Phase II: The Remixes (EP)
- King Chai – Godmix 2
- LZ7 – Gettin Wild
- Tru-Serva – Blessings on the Way (Remix)
- Tobe Nwigwe – CINCORIGINALS
- Ashton Barber – Inheritance
- Ben&blake – Faith Alone
- Calvary Worship Live – Never Gonna Let Me Down
- Celtic Worship, Praise Gathering – It Is Well
- Chris Beland – Morning and Evening Hymns
- Curt Vernon – One I Thought You Couldn’t Change
- Emmanuel Worship – Songs of Quarantine
- Fount + Flame – Pull Me In
- Grace City – Holy Ghost (We Say Yes)
- Harvest City Church – Greatest Miracle (Live)
- Hillsong UNITED – (in the meantime) [Vol.
December 12, 2020
My Top 10 Christmas Albums of 2020
I should probably be working my Best of 2020 list right now, but as I set out to make my annual Christmas playlist I kept stumbling across great new albums and EPs. So while my top albums of 2020 list sits on the backburner for a few more weeks, enjoy this list of my top 10 new Christmas albums and EPs that were released this year. Oh, and stick around for that aforementioned playlist at the bottom of the page.… Continued →
25 Best Christian Rock Albums of 1995
These are my 25 Best Christian Rock Albums of 1995. This was a monumental year for Christian Music and really the beginning of what was to come over the course of the next 2 decades. Check out my list below along with a playlist featuring some of the songs.… Continued →
December 11, 2020
Commenting on IVM Works Again
We (actually Fusse) have fixed the commenting feature on Indie Vision Music website and it works once again. It has been down for over a week with tons of comments going nowhere. Please return today and leave your comments below the posts that interest you. More content coming in the days ahead including a special look back at “The Top 25 Christian Rock Albums of 1995” that I’ve been slowing working on for a few months now. Thanks everyone!… Continued →
Song of the Day: Living Sacrifice - Not Beneath
There are so many different types of Living Sacrifice fans. People who started listening from the beginning, and those who joined somewhere along the way. Fans who praise their experimental phase, those who prefer the -core era, and those who swear by the traditional metal era. Heck, I even know one guy who claims they only released one album (he’s a thrash fan), and all the others were recorded by imposters!
The band has certainly seen a number of different phases, most easily broken down into two main categories (metal and -core) with a few other splinters.… Continued →
December 10, 2020
Song of the Day - Raspberry Jam: Everything We Need
Raspberry Jam is one of the earliest Christian alternative rock bands when alternative was such a genre. Heard their music through an indie rock station out of Springfield, MO while I was visiting fiends back in the early-mid 90s. This same station is where I discovered other greats such as Cloud2Ground, The Violet Burning & The Prayer Chain (the later 2 who evolved from the same southern California scene as Raspberry). The band released and EP & 3 LPs before disbanding.
Released on Metro One Records in 1993 (the same label who brought us Spoken & Precious Death), the 3rd release Chi-Ro was an alternative rock/funk hybrid with 2 vocalists: Phillip Kim & Angel Short.… Continued →
December 9, 2020
Song of the Day: Scales of Motion - Hard Rains
Scales of Motion’s latest release was eerily-prophetic. It’s a song strewn with gnomic phrases like “This whole year has been one long November”. Stylistically, it feels like a classic emo song, reminiscent of Mineral or early Cool Hand Luke. Check it out below.
Hard Rains by Scales of Motion
Lyrics:
Take me down to the edge of the river
To watch the banks be reshaped as it flows.
When I was young, all of life was a blanket.
Now I sleep shivering in the cold.
There will come hard rains,
And they may wash away
The things you thought you’d always know.… Continued →
December 8, 2020
Album Showcase: Reflescent Tide -Self Titled
Reflescent Tide is one of the first Christian rock bands I heard of way back in the mid 90s. There was a college show out of the University of Illinois that had a DJ that would play all kinds of music I had never heard of. The 3 piece band out of Canada had a 2 cd career. Their follow up actually had a music video which is grainy on YouTube They do not look like rock stars akin to most music released at the time.… Continued →
December 7, 2020
BLOOD, SWEAT, and SIN: The History of Christian Rock (A New Docuseries by Michael Bridges)
Michael Bridges, a long time member of our Christian Music and Rock Scene has embarked on a journey to release a special docuseries all about his involvement in the scene, where its gone, and and what is has meant to him. Sure to be shocking, compelling, and altogether interesting. Check out the trailer below and view the special gofundme to help get this project off the ground, right here. This really reminds me of an Anthony Bourdain (RIP) style series in the most honest way and it definitely has my interest.… Continued →
Winona Avenue - December Night (Official Music Video)
Winona Avenue have jumped into the Christmas season with their own original pop-rock song, “December Night”. Check out the really cool music video for the song, below. “December Night” is available now on all digital networks and streaming sites.… Continued →
Song of the Day: The Violet Burning-Rock Is Dead
So this post is my response to one of my fave 90’s bands. TVB is imho a cross between The Smashing Pumpkins, The Prayer Chain & alternative worship music. Michael Pritzl’s voice & lyrics are a stark example of what made worship music exciting & caused at least listeners like me to think of our Savior & want to lift my hands & heart in worship. (Check out my fave song by them The Only One.) TVB is one of a few bands in my collection that I have collected most, if not all, their music.… Continued →
December 6, 2020
New Releases: December 4, 2020
Rock & Metal
- Andrew Stanton – Entrance Music
- Boiling Point – Come All You Weary
- Diamonds to Dust – Decisions (EP)
- Fallstar – King Lazer
- Fight The Fade – In Love. in Hope. in Peace. (Deluxe)
- Neal Morse – Jesus Christ the Exorcist (Live at Morsefest 2018)
- Phil Keaggy – Keaggy, Blazier & Lunn (An American Garage Band)
- They Came Running – Movement 1: Dawn – They Came Running (EP)
- Two Dimensional – Superman // Between You & Me
- Winona Avenue – December Night
- Drew Poole – I Love You I Love You
- Emily Brimlow – Nickel
- Freedom Heart – Lost and Broken
- Grace Graber – Heart For Me
- The Gray Havens – See You Again / / Autumn Sessions
- Heart + Soul, Vito Vasquez – Made In Heaven
- I AM THEY – I AM They Song Session
- joan – partly cloudy (EP)
- Joe Bae, Philip Shibata – Unravel
- Joseph – NYE (Violents Remix)
- Kios – Stay With Me (EP)
- More Than Rubies – Forgiveness
- Mountaintops – Wherever I Go (Ambient Version)
- Paul Cardall, Thompson Square – My Heart Beats for You
- Pyramid Park, Andy Lowe – Day and Night (Andy Lowe Remix)
- Timothy Li – Leaving
- Cory Breth – Tangerine Sunsets
- The Dailys – Fill This Cup
- Jon Foreman – Love (EP)
- The Pharaoh Sisters – In Distress
- Praytell – Come Whatever
- Ray Nugent – Take a Drink
- Whale Bones – Sow Your Heart in Me
- Aklesso – My Life is a Beautiful Mess
- Andy Mineo – Happy Thoughts (EP)
- Antoine Bradford – Seasons Change
- Cellus Hamilton, BlessThePen, Trubl3 – The Row Men
- Dillon Chase – Every Piece Matters
- Flame – Oh Yeah (Original Radio Edit)
- Guvna B, Madison Ryann Ward – Watching over Us
- I-Von – Hands to the Plow
- Jon Keith – Rose
- Jude.
No Lost Cause - Hope For The Hopeless (Official Lyric Video)
No Lost Cause just dropped a new version of “Hope For The Hopeless” featuring smooth, warm, and well placed horn parts throughout. This is the best that No Lost Cause has ever sounded. The song will appear on the upcoming album, “Take 2” which will release on Thumper Punk Records next year. You can download this song, just click the description on the YouTube video. For Fans of The O.C. Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy Suburban Legends, The Insyderz, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, etc.… Continued →
December 5, 2020
REVIEW : Make Sure / Ezekiel Songs - Split EP
Splits seem increasingly-rare; indeed, in a single-friendly, me-first musical culture, artists collaborating in mutual benefit is undeniably counter-cultural (as a side, it’s odd something even so simple seems adverse to some). But splits live on, if only solely as a remnant of DIY punk culture. There’s a raw, communal, anti-corporate element here. “We’re in this together,” the unspoken message goes.
And there’s certainly plenty of community at play on this latest collaboration between Make Sure and Ezekiel Songs – the split includes one new song per artist, as well as a cover of the other artist’s tracks.… Continued →
December 4, 2020
Song of the Day: The Swoon - Sweet Ally
Don’t you hate it when an amazing band releases one stellar album and then disappears off the map leaving virtually no trace whatsoever? That’s more or less what happened to Minnesota’s The Swoon. This intelligent, artsy, literate (one of the band’s song titles is a Dante reference) band made up one third of Christian jangle-pop’s ‘holy trinity’ (also including The Throes and The Walk).
Their debut album was released on Narrowpath Records, in conjunction with Refuge (the obscure indie label also released such classics as debuts by Breakfast with Amy and The Crucified), and was made up of two earlier cassette-only demos, ben son, ben son Beatrice and Neverland, the latter of which was produced by Charlie Peacock.… Continued →
December 3, 2020
REVIEW : Wade Walker - The Harrow
Put simply, The Harrow is an album of parables. No, you won’t need a dictionary, nor are any of the sentiments too obtuse. The central narrative instead rests in simplicity; an earthy barrenness meets dirty hands resulting in what can only be described as common man’s praise. Where others would opt for sprawling pedal boards and tireless crescendos, Wade Walker chooses a subtler option: vulnerable, poetic, alt-country worship without all of the glitz.
Walker’s sophomore release is undeniably folkier than its predecessor, but what it lacks in percussion, it makes up for in craftsmanship.… Continued →