(Back when I thought this blog was gonna really take off, I instituted a feature called Entertainment Junkie, where I would talk about my favorite movies, books, tv shows, and music. I only wrote one so far, but now I'm trying to amend for my past lack of deeds. Aaaaaand...we're back in)
The band Brand New, like several of my most favoritest things, took a while for me to even like, let alone love. Let me set the stage here for the rocky first steps of my relationship with the band.
The year was 2003. I was on the prowl for some kickin' tunes (what we called music way back in Aught Three) to put on my third annual set of compilation CDs. Entitled Libby's Christmas Album, it was my genius way to get out of buying my closest friends real Christmas presents, but that's a topic for another blog. Anyway, I asked my friend Josh Stifter if he had any music to recommend to me. The band he brought up as his "favorite" at the time was Brand New. Now, if there's anything young Josh knew, it was music, so I figured it was a pretty solid choice. I headed to Best Buy and picked up their sophomore album, Deja Entendu. I listened to it once, INSTANTLY hated it, and put it on the "losers" side of the shelf with my Loudermilk album and my Weird Al CDs.
Why did I hate it? It was slow! It was depressing! It was weird! Most of all, it had no, that's ZERO, catchy songs I could easily put on my Christmas Album. (Ironically enough, three years later I put not one but TWO songs from that album on the 2006 Christmas Albums.) According to the Libby who was used to his Offsprings, his Sum 41s, his Goldfingers and Riddlin' Kidses....Brand New SUCKED!
Anyway, there it sat, next to such genius tracks as "EstrogenOxygenAchesInTheTeethAgain" for at least six months, without as much as a second listen.
Flash Forward to the spring of '04. Whichever girl I was chasing at the time had just rejected me, which is pretty much standard procedure in LibbyLand. I needed to sit down in my over-large office chair, pop in a classic feel-bad album, and do some quick wallowing before I purged the crappiness from my system. My usual feel-bad albums (Sister Hazel's "Fortress?" GREAT feel-bad album) were getting old. I needed something new. I remembered that I had some slow, depressing, weird music somewhere, and that seemed like just the ticket. So I pushed aside the Loudermilk album, turned Weird Al's judgmental eyes away, and blew the dust off of Deja Entendu. I gave it a listen.
It was like a dirty tarp had been lifted from my eyes. Everything I had hated about it turned
into my favorite things about it. Before it was too slow, now it was haunting. Before it was depressing, now it was heartfelt. Before it was weird, now it was inventive and original. Everything about the album, from the master craftsmanship of the lyrics, to the sheer talent of the guitar parts, made me just love the experience. Especially the lyrics, as well as the urgency of the vocals, struck a huge chord with me. I was a fan for life.
And this is all before the release of "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me," the album I consider to be the most well-crafted musical undertaking in the last ten years. That album is so phenomenal, I can't even begin to describe it. You need to listen to it if you have not already.
In their three albums, Brand New has evolved their sound to the point of near-perfection. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. And that's all I have to say about that.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Of Things Spiritual
A conversation I had with my roommate yesterday has been dwelling on my mind, and I figured I'd blog it out. This one's probably not going to be that funny, but just bear with me.
We started talking about how "unspiritual" I am, how unenthusiastic I can be about the affairs of my church. The fact of the matter is, although I have a decent singing voice I choose not to be a part of the adult choir. Although I am an adult of sound mind and body, I am not a church voter. Although I am a young man, I am not in the church youth group. And on top of all that, I am forced by my work schedule to miss church a great deal of the time, averaging once or twice a month. Basically, I am a below average member of my church.
Why is that? Why do I choose not to take part in affairs of the church? I've got the Holy Spirit, same as the rest of the Holy Christian Church on earth. My faith has a firm foundation built upon the work Christ did on the cross to save me from damnation. That faith cannot be taken from me. I enjoy a rich prayer life, taking advantage multiple times daily of the gift of communication with my Lord. Why, then, do I not share my talents with church functions?
The fact of the matter is, I don't know. I do have a good idea, involving my laziness, but there's gotta be something else to it. I don't feel like I'm pulling my weight, doing all that I can on earth out of the love God put in my heart. But there's something keeping me from changing that. My sinful inner man feels that love for God isn't enough to take time away from my selfish lifestyle, and it's making the rest of me deeply ashamed. I pray that in time God grants me the strength to aid in the stewardship of His church.
As if this blog isn't rambling enough, it opens up other spiritual issues I have. My aimlessness in life, the total ignorance I have of God's divine Plan for me. My loneliness in life, the desire to be loved by a Christian woman NOT related to me. My impatience with others, the paradox that although I have a burning love for Christ I can't stand most of His people. I've been dwelling for a long time on my gross shortcomings as a child of God. How wonderful it is that a truly terrible, filthy being such as myself would be loved by God so much that He made His Son die to make me clean in His eyes. Praise the Lord!
We started talking about how "unspiritual" I am, how unenthusiastic I can be about the affairs of my church. The fact of the matter is, although I have a decent singing voice I choose not to be a part of the adult choir. Although I am an adult of sound mind and body, I am not a church voter. Although I am a young man, I am not in the church youth group. And on top of all that, I am forced by my work schedule to miss church a great deal of the time, averaging once or twice a month. Basically, I am a below average member of my church.
Why is that? Why do I choose not to take part in affairs of the church? I've got the Holy Spirit, same as the rest of the Holy Christian Church on earth. My faith has a firm foundation built upon the work Christ did on the cross to save me from damnation. That faith cannot be taken from me. I enjoy a rich prayer life, taking advantage multiple times daily of the gift of communication with my Lord. Why, then, do I not share my talents with church functions?
The fact of the matter is, I don't know. I do have a good idea, involving my laziness, but there's gotta be something else to it. I don't feel like I'm pulling my weight, doing all that I can on earth out of the love God put in my heart. But there's something keeping me from changing that. My sinful inner man feels that love for God isn't enough to take time away from my selfish lifestyle, and it's making the rest of me deeply ashamed. I pray that in time God grants me the strength to aid in the stewardship of His church.
As if this blog isn't rambling enough, it opens up other spiritual issues I have. My aimlessness in life, the total ignorance I have of God's divine Plan for me. My loneliness in life, the desire to be loved by a Christian woman NOT related to me. My impatience with others, the paradox that although I have a burning love for Christ I can't stand most of His people. I've been dwelling for a long time on my gross shortcomings as a child of God. How wonderful it is that a truly terrible, filthy being such as myself would be loved by God so much that He made His Son die to make me clean in His eyes. Praise the Lord!
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