NEW! TRAA NEWS

Returning to Sight each week is the latest music news, brought to you by The Rock Across Australia...

23rd May, 2013

MJ

This week we focus on the 35th anniversary ASCAP Christian Music Awards held in the US.

     More than 30 years ago, American singer, songwriter and guitarist Phil Keaggy recorded what many regard as his “magnum opus”.

     The album - The Master And The Musician - has become his best selling project.

     Earlier this month, the Christian music legend received the prestigious Golden Note Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers at its annual Christian Music Awards ceremony held in Franklin Tennessee.

     The Golden Note is an award reserved for those who have achieved "extraordinary career milestones".

     Previous recipients include Michael W Smith, Lindsey Buckingham, Garth Brooks, Don Williams, Alan Jackson, and Reba McEntire.

     For more of this week's news...  | more... |

Musical Notes is a new series of short pieces written by WES JAY, director of Woodlands Media. He has interviewed each of the artists for the nationally syndicated radio program Behind The Music, and at some time or another over the past 12 years has worked with many of the artists, their record companies or their distributors...

8th March, 2013
Gravity - Lecrae

American hip-hop/rap artist Lecrae is one of a handful of Christian musicians generating mainstream success. What’s unusual is that Lecrae is doing this with overt Christian lyrics. He’s not holding back just for popularity. On Walk With Me he raps: "Ah, I'm on a mission, they probably think I'm missing some screws, but it's these three nails that keep me driven. If God ain't with me I know that I'm gonna fail..." While hip-hop may not be to everyone’s taste, Lecrae is a remarkable artist with an equally remarkable story that’s impacting this generation for God. Gravity recently won Best Gospel Album at the Grammy Awards.

28th February, 2013

God's Not Dead - newsboys

Friedrich Nietzsche once proclaimed that “God is dead.” But, as the newsboys’ friend and pastor Rice Broocks likes to say: “A funny thing happened on the way to the funeral!” Throughout the band’s award-winning, envelope-pushing history, expressions of praise and worship have been evident in many of their albums. Sometimes, they’ve dominated an entire project - like on Adoration nearly a decade ago, and now God’s Not Dead. But what’s different about newsboys’ praise and worship projects is that the band works on each song and re-crafts each songs to embrace their trademark pop approach. They make each song their own – especially on this project. And in many cases, I think they create the definitive expression of the song. For example, the title track, You Love Never Fails, and Revelation Song. God’s not dead, and neither are newsboys!

FOR MORE MUSICAL NOTES...  | more... |

4th June, 2012

DAVID ADAMS

Album: Indie Hymnal

Artist:  Greg Atwells

Year: 2012
Label: Grandview Records

In A Word: Mellow

A new take on old favorites, Greg Attwells’ Indie Hymnal – following on from last year’s At Your Feet, his first solo album - is the sort of album you can sink back to on a cold Sunday afternoon or easily have playing away in the background while entertaining friends.

Everyone’s bound to have a favorite here – from Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus through to When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and Amazing Grace – but be warned that Attwells' take on them is stripped down and acoustic rather than 'anthemic'.

In that sense, this is not a grand retelling of songs we know well but a much more intimate, personal sound.  There’s been comparisons to Johnny Cash (no doubt for the gravelly voice) but I can hear some similarities, at times, to Keith Green as well.

On his website, the Sydney-based Attwells, a former church worship leader, talks about sitting at the feet of Jesus as Mary did and indeed one can imagine these songs being sung as a small group gathers together to share their lives.  

A great album to listen to and enjoy while simply passing the time or for those more contemplative moments

.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE REVIEWS...

Your Say

Discuss this article. Name: Message: Enter your name and message to make a comment. Due to recent spam problems, all messages are moderated and may take 24 hours to appear.

PAST MUSIC REVIEWS:

FESTIVAL: RETURN TO BLACK STUMP

On a wet and rainy weekend, what else would you rather be doing than camping out, listening to bands, hearing great teaching, eating 'Baptist' doughnuts and hanging out with three thousand of your closest friends?

     For those lucky enough to go, that’s exactly what was done earlier this month at Appin, an hour south of Sydney, at the Black Stump Festival.

     After the relocation and then cancellation of the festival last year, some were tentative to return but the faithful, “hardcore” stumpers returned with vengeance to revive this great event.

     Stump is always presents a multicultural, inter-denominational and varied event with many bands we know of today getting their first gig at past festivals which spring-boarded their careers in the music industry.

     JILL CAVENAGH returns to Black Stump...  | more... |

SEASONS MAKE A STRONG DEBUT WITH A MOMENT OF CLARITY

It’s a far catch cry from television singing competitions but one of Sydney’s latest Christian music offerings is anything but out of tune, clichéd and cringe worthy.

     Formed in Sydney in 2010 via the marvels of social media, this band has sprung onto the Christian Music scene in a large way appearing with Switchfoot, Evermore and Stan Walker in addition to television and radio appearances. From Dust, the fifth track on their debut EP A Moment of Clarity was also picked up on a promotional trailer for Law & Order.

     The quality of sound produced by Seasons stands out from others in both the recording and live contexts having played at both smaller venues and the larger festival scene.

     JILL CAVENAGH listens to new Sydney band Seasons debut EP... | more... |

HERE IS LOVE FROM A "VERY PASSIONATE COLLECTIVE"

Bethel music seems to have something rare in the American praise and worship scene; it’s the raw kind of music you’d expect out of Aussie or Kiwi churches.  It has a sense of urgency to it, the vocals are all quite intense, the bands are just that bit sonically thinner than most and live really does seem, well, live!

     With leaders out the front like Chris Quilala, Kim Walker Smith and Kristene Mueller, you’ll hear less than predictable pop voices.  There’s no wall of sound vocal approach here - the band even seems too small for the modern palate - but perhaps that’s why it works for so many listeners.

     There’s a distinct lack of pretence here which honestly makes their music much easier to like or dislike. It actually sits outside the Christian contemporary music radio world nicely and therefore allows itself to fit into a genre that’s much smaller than the radio praise and worship. It’s probably indie-rock really, but really, it’s just something, well, different. Different is good. Right? 

     JUSTIN MICHAEL listens to the Bethel Live's Here Is Love... | more... |

NEWSBOYS BORN AGAIN AMID THE MEMORIES OF 1997

I think I’ve been to this gig before - it was 1997, there was a band called newsboys and a band called DC Talk. One was bouncing about with alien ears asking "Take me to your leader", the other was introducing the idea that being a Jesus Freak could be a good thing. And suddenly 2010 brings it all flooding back. 

     We’ve seen the tour, heard the sound, understood the melodies are bigger than the members and the ministry continues. The back cover of the Australian release disc features a pic of the newly appointed lead vocalist, DC Talk’s Michael Tait, out front of the newsboys in Toowoomba, Australia, rockin' the Easterfest crowd.  Basically, for these boys it’s business as usual. No more Peter Furler out the front, a newly refurbished vocal harmony set, some curious rock dissonances reminiscent of something Supernatural and the show goes on.

     JUSTIN MICHAEL finds the newsboys' latest reminiscent of the concerts past... | more... |

FOR MORE PAST MUSIC REVIEWS... | more... |

It's a new feature to add another dimension to your Sight experience. Sight Soundbites are small audio files that you can download to hear interview excerpts and our contributors talk on a range of subjects.

      Click the link to hear JUSTIN MICHAEL talking about his top five albums for 2006... | more... |