Articles

This article is about a touchy (and somewhat trendy) subject right now.  A lot of people are talking about the state of Christian festivals and I can perhaps shed some light on this subject. Christian festivals (and mainstream festivals as well, I assume) have been experiencing declining ticket sales for years.  Like every other part of the music industry, sales of units are caught in a nearly decade-long nosedive.  Bands feel the effects of this nosedive as their album sales decrease even thought they’re trying as hard as ever to make good music.  … Continued →

Monday is a magical (or muddled) day, so it’s fitting that Monday (today) is when Becoming The Archetype starts tracking drums for a new record.  Now, this isn’t a self-praising article meant to make you look at me.  But it is a celebration of new music being made, Mondays being awesome for once, and the joy of fresh sounds. New music isn’t easy.  Humans are creatures of habit and we get used to what we’ve already heard.  Every time you do something new, you’ve got to step out on a limb and risk ruining your reputation, your relationship with your fans (who are your fans because they like your previous material) and your perception of yourself.  … Continued →

There was a time when rap-rock ruled the world.  Although I don’t want those days to come back, there were some pretty sweet albums made during those years that I still enjoy.  I think the best of that genre/era was “The Fundamental Elements of Southtown” by P.O.D.  Since P.O.D. is still around, I assume we’re all familiar with who they are and what they do.  But when TFEOS came out in 1999, it shook up the Christian music scene in a huge way. The Christian underground was coming out with lots of great heavy bands at this time.  … Continued →

Next in our series of “Classic Christian Albums” is an MxPx masterpiece.  “Life in General” was the crowning achievement for Christian punk, in my humble (but very correct) opinion.  MxPx owns the title as kings of Christian punk and this album is their zenith. My earliest memories of anything related to MxPx were browsing through my local Christian Bookstore when I was only 13.  I had a pretty rad Christian Bookstore that would let you sample CDs in little listening booths with CD players.  They also had an aisle of the craziest assortment of uber-underground metal, hardcore, punk and ska CDs.  … Continued →

Ok, it’s time for another series, don’t you think?  This article is the first in a series of what I would call “Classic Christian Albums with an Incredible Message.” First up in this series is an album that for a long time I considered to be the best Christian metal album of all time.  Heck, I kinda still feel that way.  And that album is “Undeceived” by Extol.  I would assume that most IVM readers are at least somewhat familiar with Extol, but just for the fun of it, I’ll do a short recap on the band before I get into the beauty of the album.… Continued →

I live in the remote mountains of extreme north Georgia.  I grew up in Gainesville, GA which is about an hour north of Atlanta.  But now that I’ve got a family of my own, we’ve settled ourselves in a more rustic setting.  Our home is a cabin nestled between mountain peaks and beautiful valleys.  The peaks are the beginnings of the Appalachian Mountains and in fact, the Appalachian Trail starts just a few miles from our house.  It takes us 20 minutes to get to the grocery store and any sort of civilization.  … Continued →

This is the third and probably final installment of the current series:  Unsexy Biblical Principles.  This week we’ll look at a principle the Bible speaks clearly on, but that often goes unpracticed and untaught in Christian circles.  Listen to what Matthew 5:43-44 (NIV) says: ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you“ Those are the words of Jesus and they are not merely an encouragement:  they are a command.  … Continued →

Last week was the first article in a series of what I like to call the “Unsexy Biblical Principles.”  That article looked at the biblical principle of stewardship.  This week, we’ll look at a different biblical concept that may not be so popular currently in our churches:  Gluttony. Webster’s defines gluttony as “excessive eating and drinking,” which will be one aspect we’ll examine about gluttony.  But since this is a music site and since we’re all absolutely stoked on music, we’ll look at gluttony as it pertains to what we ingest artistically and more specifically, musically.… Continued →

One aspect of biblical Christianity that doesn’t get very much attention is the discipline of stewardship.  So today begins a series of MM articles on what I like to call “Unsexy Biblical Principles.” Stewardship is defined as “the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.”  With this definition, we can apply the concept of stewardship to almost all areas of life.  For instance, if you have skills at soccer, those skills were given to you originally by God and you are the steward of those skills.  … Continued →

The gospel can be seen as a great mystery, which man has difficulty comprehending.  Speaking of it in plain terms sometimes confuses a person more than telling the gospel by using symbols and allegory.  It seems strange to some of us, but if we are to see the gospel fleshed out in our daily lives, we must understand this and not give up on understanding more difficult or veiled truths. This is one reason, I believe, that Christ’s teachings were peppered with parables and His instructions veiled with the heavy use of symbolism.  … Continued →

So the O.C. Supertones are back together.  And Five Iron Frenzy just wowed the world by showing that they have more supportive fans than anyone else.  And I think somewhere, the Insyderz are doing something ska-related. What the heck? I considered ska my favorite music in early high school (1999-2002) and for most of that time, the Supertones were my favorite band.  Anyone who missed out on the pure magic of looking at the booklet for Supertones Strike Back has missed something fundamental to ska music.  … Continued →

I feel I should pull this post out every few years so people can get to know me and my vision for IVM. I wrote this in February of 2009 but much of it is still true and relevant to my life today.

Since the aim of this column is to explore that area where music and faith intersect, I figure it’s important to look at Scripture and see what Scripture says about music, both descriptively and prescriptively.  The Bible is replete with mentions of music, both in the Old Testament and New Testament.  A couple weeks ago we discussed King David’s rad harp playing (so brutal it exorcised a demon from Saul!) and some of the hymns of the early church in Acts.  Let’s go a little further, shall we?… Continued →

Music is a reflection of the character of God.  It shows us the various emotions that God has and the various attributes of God’s character.  When you listen to a Chopin etude, you can be amazed at the complexity of the human mind, which was fashioned in the image of God’s mind.  When you listen to the aggressive sounds of Demon Hunter, you can be reminded of God’s vengeance against sin or His jealousy for our praise.  When you listen to the soothing sounds of a Starflyer 59 song (perhaps No New Kinda Story), you can be reminded of God’s eternal peace and that nothing takes Him by surprise.… Continued →

Everyone reading this article that’s older than 8 years old will remember the zenith of cinema history that was Space Jam.  Regardless of your interest in sports, Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny and Bill Murray shook your very soul with this impeccable piece of movie-making.  One of the best aspects of the movie was the ultra-90s soundtrack, featuring Seal (covering Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” in awesome fashion), R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” (which I still hear on the radio), Coolio and tons of other awesome 90s music stars with a decidedly different skin color than me.… Continued →

Last week, we looked at music on the mission field.  Now let’s look at the use of music in worship services everywhere. Music is used in every church service everywhere on earth.  I actually can’t recall a single church service I’ve been to (which numbers in the thousands) where songs weren’t utilized and meant to be sung together.  Isn’t that amazing?  In fact, music and the singing of songs seems like a fundamental necessity to corporate worship.  Why can’t churches worship our Father another way?  Why haven’t churches formed another way of communicating praise to their Creator?… Continued →

I’ve felt the call to be a missionary since I was a little kid.  Some might say that as a member of Becoming The Archetype, I am a type of missionary.  Those people wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, but that’s not the sort of missionary I’ve been called to ultimately be.  A great blessing has been that God has also called my wife and brother to the mission field, so we’ve begun discussing possibilities for all going together.  Right now I’m in sort of a waiting game as my brother just started getting his Master’s of Divinity and my wife is getting her medical degree. … Continued →

“Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays” If you haven’t heard that phrase before, stop reading this and go watch Office Space.  If you have heard it, I hope your day so far isn’t nearly as dreadful as any of the characters’ in the movie.  So here’s your Metaphysical Monday to cheer you up! As we discussed and seemed to all agree last week, music has a profound spiritual significance.  That significance can be difficult to explain, but it’s not difficult to experience.  Why does music weigh so heavily on our souls? … Continued →

Hi, I'm Seth Hecox and I'm a new writer here at IVM. Some of you are familiar with me from Becoming The Archetype as well as Anchors.

No, myspace.com has not disappeared (yet) but I have in fact decided to close our Indie Vision Music page on the social network. It was a spam mess and I hardly ever visited the site. A lot of people use Facebook, Twitter, and visit us here at our official .com site so I figured it was pointless to keep the myspace page. Shed a tear for the IVM Myspace page and let it finally R.I.P. You can still find us on Facebook, Twitter, LastFM, or on the web here.… Continued →