Sheep & Goats: Kari Jobe, the Fresh Beat Band, Neil Young, and More!

Why, it’s nice to be back, thank you! The boy’s in school, the girl naps twice a day, and the house keeps itself perpetually clean somehow, so with any luck this column will return to being a regular affair. To make up for lost time, here’s nine good ones you might have missed, plus a couple Goats....

August 30th, 2012 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: David Crowder, Springsteen, Chevelle, and More!

Sheep & Goats returns from an unexpected paternity leave! (The paternity was expected, but the need for leave was not.) If anyone has any wise words about why I should like the new Craig Finn album, or anything else, have at it in the comments! A brief reminder of the grading scale: A “Sheep”...

February 3rd, 2012 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: Thi’sl, Owl City, Drive-By Truckers, and More!

In Chicago radio news that sort of affects you, my Sunday morning drive-to-church jam, “Street Sermonz With Keno”, has been cancelled. Week after week, Keno Greer has been playing a mix of gospel, Christian R&B, and holy hip-hop that’s musically equal to any other three-hour block...

September 6th, 2011 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: Burlap to Cashmere, Paul Simon, a Burnside Contributor, and More!

I’m shamefully late to Dan Bejar’s latest album, but since it’s recently been overrated on a bunch of mid-year best-of lists, and since I like how it looks next to the equally listless Moby album — Destroyer and Destroyed together again! — I stuck it in. You can point out what I’m...

July 28th, 2011 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: the Dirtbombs, David Bazan, the Rules for Praise Song MadLibs, and More!

Not many Christian Sheep this month, give or take a couple “singles”, a faint-praise pop album, and some 30-year-old songs sung in Yoruba. Great music continues to appear in all genres, though, and you’ve no doubt heard things I haven’t. So use the comments to recommend away!...

May 31st, 2011 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: Kirk Franklin, R.E.M., the Greatest Worship Leader EVER, and More!

In the spirit of the world’s greatest salsa label, let’s get right to it! SHEEP OF THE MONTH: Various Artists Fania Records 1964-1980: The Original Sound of Latin New York (Strut) What do cities sound like? Horns and clatter, mostly. So when music geeks call Fania Records “the Motown...

April 28th, 2011 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: Chris Tomlin, Danielson, A New Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall-of-Famer, and More!

New albums by Gregg Allman, Cake, the Strokes, and Radiohead sound pretty much how you’d expect: no alarms, no surprises, as my droopy-eyed sainted auntie once put it. But that doesn’t mean they’re not good! On the contrary, they’re all the work of people who know what they’re doing, doing...

March 31st, 2011 | Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: Iron & Wine, R. Kelly, Mary Mary, & More!

Much to my regret, the recent outpouring of NPR-approved Americana cabaret music leaves me cold, with the exception of the deliciously loony Sam Beam (see below). So while I admire the craft and just-plain-niceness that went into the Low Anthem’s Smart Flesh, the Civil Wars’ Barton Hollow,...

February 24th, 2011 | Arts, Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: David Banner, Taylor Swift, the Decemberists, and More!

For fans of new music, January is the crankiest month. Coming down from the high-profile autumn releases and end-of-year listmaking exercises can be difficult, but we soldier on, often by listening to stuff from last year that we missed. (See below.) All of this is my apology for digging up only...

January 27th, 2011 | Arts, Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

Sheep & Goats: Disciple, Jars of Clay, That Stupid Kanye Album, and More!

The most annoying aspect of Kanye West’s recently anointed Greatest Album of All Time is that you need to mount a legal defense just to dislike the thing. Or so it seems. Said defense is attempted below; in the meantime, those seeking good rap albums should turn to Slum Village’s Villa...

December 23rd, 2010 | Arts, Featured, Music, Sheep & Goats | Read More

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