Articles

I’ve been listening to a lot of the Beach Boys lately. Like, a lot. They’ve been my favourite band since childhood. What is it about the comforting sounds of childhood that helps us make sense of turmoil? With covid19, racism, and political division, something about that longing for innocence, for simpler times has got me digging deep into those smooth sounds. In the late 90s, KMG Records put out a compilation of surf rock and surf-inspired tunes called Surfonic: Water Revival, which was spearheaded and produced by Terry Taylor of Daniel Amos.… Continued →

In an effort to raise some funds for IVM and celebrate the 20th anniversary at the same time, I am hosting a special 50% off sale in the storenvy webstore. Sale is good on all items. *Preorders like the 20th Shirt will ship when shirts are available and it will hold your entire order up until item is available. Please order CDs,Tapes, Vinyl separately from the shirt if you want quicker delivery. Sale is only good till July 6th. Many items are limited so sale good while supplies last.… Continued →

"Succubus of an insecure safety, I will never bow to your will... To die is gain, our life is our sacrifice, you will not take my pride. Your freedom means more than our safety. Christ is not a filthy word!" RIYL: Sleeping Giant, Madball, Stick to your Guns, and Hatebreed

For my Song of the Day this time round, we’re going back. Like way back. To the beginning of Jesus rock. It’s widely accepted that Larry Norman is the “godfather of Christian rock” and you can make a reasonable case for that. But he wasn’t the first. Several other bands and artists were contemporary with him, including Liverpool’s own The Crossbeats, Agape, and the All Saved Freak Band. Arguably the first rocker, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, was also a Christian and a gospel artist, plugging in her electric guitar long before Bill Haley and the Comets set on the scene.… Continued →

My song for the day is from a newer indie-pop artist by the name of Teddy At Night. Teddy (Boldt) played drums for bands like Wavorly, Family Force 5, and more recently For King & Country, as well as many others. On his first solo endeavor as singer/songwriter, his songs take on more of a pop sheen, sprinkled with a heavy dose of 80’s like synth driven new wave. These are songs for the broken-hearted, the lovers, and the seekers. These beautifully composed pop inspired takes are interwoven with a certain level of professionalism mixed with Teddy’s unforgettable vocal delivery.… Continued →

Besides having the two most awesome two names put together at one time, this band rocked. The two man band was Walter Paul Robinette & Rick Eugene May! At a time when alternative music had taken a major foothold in Christian music (starting with Undercover), this group was seen on Christian music television channels with their rockiest song: Crawl. If you haven’t noticed my posts, I tend to look for music that is hard to find to bring back the sounds & lyrics that made me come to enjoy “Christian rock” music.… Continued →

Fluffy was a garage grunge band heralding from Mike Knott’s Blonde Vinyl Record label. Guitarist Chris Colbert has remastered both of their full lengths recently and are available on many digital platforms. The record label Lost In Ohio is running these repressings & have a few cool ones including The Julies & Black & White World. I bought their first Go, Fluffy, Go Cd back in the 90s & had no idea what I was in store for. I was treated to lots of feedback fuzz & gritty vocals that reminded me at the time of a cross between Smashing Pumpkins & Nirvana.… Continued →

En Mi Lugar (In My Place in English) is a Spirit Filled Melodic Hardcore band from Bogota, Colombia. FFO: Venia, Advent, Poured Out, and Atrocities.

Today’s Song of the Day post is all about Arthur Alligood and specifically the song, “Shouldn’t Be That Hard”. This was a criminally underrated song that flew mostly under the radar of most music fans out there. Arthur has been making great Americana/Folk Rock for more than a decade now. He has appeared on a few past free IVM Compilations and was featured here many times over the years. The song “Shouldn’t Be That Hard” appeared on his 2012 full length, “One Silver Needle”. The Americana influenced folk-rock track takes a turn toward artists like The Wallflowers, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Lumineers, The Avett Brothers, and Bob Dylan, while keeping his own style and approach.… Continued →

This obscure black metal band only issued a handful of releases from 2008-2011, before shunning Christian lyrical themes for their final release in 2014. “Howls of Worship” is taken from their self-titled EP and also appears on the full-length To Known Hell (what is it with extreme metal’s deliberate use of incorrect grammar?), and is a full-on black metal worship anthem: Come let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the Lord our maker Come let us worship and bow down to our maker While it’s awesome to have a full-on worship song in the extreme metal format, that is not the track’s sole accomplishment.… Continued →

Another album celebrating it’s 10 year anniversary is “Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place” by the world renown alternative rock band, Anberlin. This Brendan O’Brien produced full length effort (their 5th album by 2010) was a slight departure from the sunny, bright, more upbeat sounds of their commercial break through record, “New Surrender”. One of the stand out highlights from this album was definitely “Pray Tell”, with it’s thundering drum intro and light guitar strumming mixed with Stephen’s unforgettable vocal contributions.… Continued →

It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years since the release of the first Close Your Eyes album on Victory Records – “We Will Overcome”. This album had a ton of great songs including this one called “The Body”, which is a favorite of mine and perfect for this Song of the Day post. Melodic hardcore and punk combine to make a furious blend of energetic singing and screaming all delivered in one healthy dose. “The Body” has inspiring lyrics and a solid message felt through the music.… Continued →

Finnish rapcore at its finest in the early days of nu-metal. Simply said, this is one of the most high energy bands imho ever (just see the video for their song “Point of No Return”). It seems they did not keep the same label as each release was through a different one. Having formed in 1997, their debut LP (aptly titled) RU Ready was released on Bullroser (the Finnish label responsible for releasing several musical heavyweight artists such as Deuteronomium & HB) in 1999. They released a few singles & EPs before releasing their 2002 monster Superior.… Continued →

Lovers of traditional, old school death metal will know there is a significant lack of it coming from bands with a Christian worldview. The reasons for this are complex, and we won’t get into them here, except to say that it probably has something to do with the lyrical themes that often accompany their secular counterparts: death, gore, and the occult all being regular topics. Minnesota’s Crimson Thorn have often led the way in Christ-centered brutal death metal. Building on work from predecessors like Australia’s Mortification, CT got even heavier and unlike the boys from down under, Crimson Thorn didn’t dabble in other styles.… Continued →

Jefferson, North Carolina's, The Worshiper , have made their 2016 release "Reveal Us" available for Free. FFO: Oh, Sleeper, Phinehas, Fit For A King, August Burns Red, and For Today.

Mad at the World has had a very interesting and diverse career as a band. They started out doing somewhat dark synth-pop on their self-titled debut (in the vein of Depeche Mode, New Order, Clan of Xymox), then added guitars to their new wave sound for Flowers in the Rain. By their third album, they ditched the synths and morphed into a full-fledged alternative rock band with metallic influences. This carried on for three albums (Seasons of Love, Boomerang, and Through the Forest).… Continued →

The Point of No Return were a Spirit Filled Hardcore band from Germany. FFO: No Innocent Victim, Figure Four, The Blamed, 2Minute Minor, and Hanover Saints.

I won’t turn this post into a political post, as I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of that. But in times like these, it’s important to find voices worth listening to. Too often Christian bands have been too closely aligned with playing it safe–if not musically, then at least lyrically. Often even bands in the punk and alternative scenes have been too comfortable with the status quo. Enter The American Culture Experiments, a hardcore punk band from Waco, Texas. Posing questions not many in our scene were bold enough to ask (Crashdog as another notable example), and not offering easy answers either.… Continued →

In celebration of the upcoming 20th Anniversary of Indie Vision Music I have decided to put a couple titles on wax. This isn’t some big budget, massive vinyl release that so many labels and brands are doing these days. Through Kunaki and Vinyl Revolution a few titles have been given the green light for vinyl pressing. I am listing those titles below. Some are available to order now and more will be added soon. Click here to check out on Bandcamp. Please read below for further info.… Continued →

Another rarity from the archives, this early nu metal band released one EP back in 2001 called A Trip To Southern Metal, but must have had another release as Last.fm shows a few other songs not from that album. They had a sound akin to Pantera, but was a bit muddy with downtuned vocals that at times were rapped. They seem to have hailed from Texas and had released music on the old mp3.com and Godcore sites. Hope you like this tune “Bring The Noise” as it reminds me of Metanoia’s Time to Die LP especially “Now Listen Up”!… Continued →

Vagabond 12 was a brief rap rock band which reminds this listener of Broken Yoke and NOT the heavier rapcore music made known by bands such as EDL or Jack Of All Trades. They seem to have only released a two song single before fading into obscurity. But the 2 songs are very radio friendly with rapped vocal hooks laden within acoustic guitars. Crystal Clear (the rockier of the 2) found is way on an indie show out of Florida, but research shows the 4 man band out of Greenville, South Carolina .… Continued →

After releasing last year’s opus Young in My Head, Starflyer 59 are already back. The veteran indie rock band have just released a new single, “This Recliner” and boy oh boy is it good! Fueled by inspiration from the best of his 80s new wave AND shoegaze influences (The Church, Psychedelic Furs, Jesus and Mary Chain, et. al.), the man truly knows how to write a pop song. Sometimes I think his skill lies in brevity. Rather than dragging stuff out, founder Jason Martin always leaves you wanting just a little bit more.… Continued →

Public Unrest was a Christian punk band from Vallejo, CA. FFO: UntilWeDie!, Officer Negative, and Every Man's Hero.

WM was a brief rapcore band reminiscent of American Made. Hailing from my old stomping grounds in South Carolina, I first heard of them on a Christian indie rock show. Their 1999 LP was released on DTS after they released their first demo in 1998 on cassette. DTS comprised an eclectic artist list ranging from Paul Noel Stookey to .hopesfall! Their driving song “Kingdom” from that LP Nobody Loves Me explodes with the line I Wanna Go… To Heaven! Enjoy… Continued →

One might think of the term Jesus Music as the early days of Christian music originating from the Jesus movement. But, Jesus Music the band is one that released 2 albums in the late 90s: Flowers in the Storm & 3D. Their music is upbeat quirky fun music reminiscent (at least to me) of Hokus Pick. Their second album produced a cover of Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”. Both albums even have dance remixes (90s style) if that doesn’t get you stoked. Here is their very first radio single & the first track to the first LP “The Box”.… Continued →

Six Foot Midget was a ska punk band from Denton, TX. FFO: The Insyderz, The O.C. Supertones, and May Weather.

When Extol’s first album came out in 1998, the Christian hard music scene had been dominated by hardcore and the then-developing metalcore sound. This was being spearheaded prominently by labels like Solid State Records (a division of Tooth & Nail), and Facedown Records. Enter Norway’s Extol. No one quite knew what to do with them. Sure, there was still an active underground metal scene, but Solid State had not signed any heavy metal bands yet–only hardcore bands that dabbled in metal. But Burialwas a full-on heavy metal cacophony, bridging subgenres–progressive, black, thrash and death metal–often within one song.… Continued →

As has been the case of late, I am doing a great deal of write ups on little known songs/releases and this one is no exception to that rule. This is one of the better Off The Record songs from their mostly unheard final EP in 2004 titled “Nothing New”. Nothing New was released in 2004 on a west coast punk label called New School Records. The label released albums by 7-10 Split, Off The Record, Twenty2, Not Long After, No Trigger, among many others.… Continued →

While metallic industrial became the dominant form of industrial music in the mid 90s and beyond, it was the dancier stuff that held my attention better. I liked the heavier stuff too (Circle of Dust, Mortal, Generation) because it gave a new spin on metal, but after the while the genre seemed to blend into one. Industrial-dance, or electro as it’s sometimes called (not to be confused with the hip-hop/funk genre from the 1980s) combined harsh vocals and samples with danceable beats into something altogether different.… Continued →

SAE was a fun short-lived ska/pop punk band from Oklahoma circa early to mid-2000s. Their music has even been referred to as “skip hop”! RIYL: Must Build Jacuzzi, Skamikaze, Honeylocust, They released an EP & a full length on the Thin King Entertainment label which also released music from Awaiting Isaac and Radial Angel. Their album Less Talky Talky, More Rocky Rocky is incredibly hard to track down. Every now and then it will be sold on Amazon. Finally got a hold of my copy a few weeks ago!… Continued →