Nneka Concrete Jungle (Decon) It’s strange–whenever I think I don’t like Nneka’s new Concrete Jungle very much, I go back and listen again, and something changes my mind. I guess it’s a good sign that I keep going back. For instance, the song “Kangpe” boasts...

Patty Griffin Downtown Church (Credential Recordings) I’ll start by damning this album with not-so-faint praise. Patty Griffin’s new one, Downtown Church, makes for uniformly pleasant listening. It’s made up mostly of gospel covers, with a couple originals and Big Mama Thornton’s...

From the beginning, Vampire Weekend have seemed to live a charmed existence. They were shot for the cover of Spin magazine before their debut album even came out (the only time in Spin’s history this has happened); they appeared on Saturday Night Live just six weeks after the eponymous record was released;...

Yesterday was one of those “take one for the team” days.  I was up at 4:30 AM, at the church office by  6 AM, and on my way home by 1:30 PM. My wife sings in a local acoustic trio and was up for two awards (Female Vocalist and Acoustic Band) in the Rock Erie Music Awards, a local awards...

“The World as Best as I Remember It, Volume One” – 1991 “The World as Best as I Remember It, Volume Two” – 1992 “A Liturgy, A Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band” – 1993 In the summer of 2001, I drove between Nebraska and the west coast three times. I listened...

The last few days I’ve been listening to the newly remastered versions of my favorite Beatles records, “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul.” I imported the music into my iTunes, but instead of converting the files into MP3 or AAC, I am listening to the album in WAV format. The...

10 years ago, the mere mention of a new U2 album would’ve sent me into a flurry of ecstatic, Bono-esque gyrations. And if you’re reading this site, there’s a 97% chance you responded in kind. For 20 and 30-something Christians, U2 are the most important artists in the history of the...

In 2000, I began writing my end of the year top 10 albums lists, which I’d send out to my friends. Only three or four actually cared, but they asked every year. Since Burnside decided to go in a different direction this year, I figured I’d post my list here on the blog, minus all the wordy...

Hey friends. I don’t have much to say, outside of ‘feel free to go to  the GravenRecords website and download the new Graven  album for free!’ This was an acoustic EP done mostly on my wife’s old G4  iBook. The EP is all about a trip I took last spring (to Seattle,  B.C.,...

Anti-drug campaigns rail against marijuana because of its acclaimed as a “gateway drug,” the harbinger of greater evils to come. But what about “gateway music” – that band, that sound, the one that opens up a young, naive music fan’s ears to deeper, more complex music? In some circles,...