Bethel Music: Be Lifted High

First off, I normally post these on Monday's but this Monday/Tuesday I was gone to the CAKE concert that I had mentioned earlier. SUPER amazing. They are incredible live and their trumpet/keys/auxiliary percussion player is incredible! Okay, enough about that... now on to this week's featured artist...... Bethel Music!

A little background: Bethel is a church here in Redding, CA pastored by the one and only Bill Johnson. I first went there in high school for a youth group with my friend Ashley. I had never felt the presence of God until that night. I had a major encounter that night which ended with me crying my eyes out. It was amazing however, throughout high school I struggled with my faith and eventually ended up not even going to church at all.

In college I met my friend Megan (one of the most amazing people you will EVER encounter) who went to Bethel. The way she talked about church and God was like nothing I had heard before. She roped me into going to a Friday Night Revival Service with her and from that moment on, God captured my heart.

I started going to Bethel after that night and LOVED their worship. There was never an agenda and they had the most inspiring/spirit filled worship EVER. I then attended a Jesus Culture event (an amazing movement based around revival and seeking God's presence) that is based out of Bethel Church.

The first worship CD I bought was Jesus Culture's "Your Love Never Fails." After that I just HAD to get the rest. They've put out many albums as well as some individuals work which you can check out here.

After getting these I found Brian and Jenn Johnson's worship albums and then Bethel started putting out these "Bethel Live" albums.
They are recorded at Bethel's services. The last one was entitled "Here is Love" and featured Brian and Jenn, Kim Walker-Smith, Kristene Mueller, Leah Valenzuela, and Chris Quilala. It is amazing.
As my friend Emily said, "I always think I've found the most anointed CD until they come out with a new one." Which is SO true.

The newest one (just released THIS Tuesday) is entitled "Be Lifted High." THIS one features Brian and Jenn, William Matthews, Steffany Frizzell, and Jeremy Riddle. Almost all of the songs were written by these guys. They are so amazing.
This CD is genuine and will lead you into a time of worship in which time has no meaning. All you'll want to do is praise Jesus.

So do yourself a favor and go buy it!
And buy the deluxe edition! It has interviews with the artists and with Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton about worship and how they each define it.
To buy:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/be-lifted-high-feat-brian/id417051544?i=417051557&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Dustin Kensrue

Ohhhhh Dustin.
To put it simply... I love him.
Chelsey Davis was who told me about him (but she originally found him because of Betsy Slate so we'll give them both credit.)
Dustin Kensrue is in a Southern California rock band called Thrice but has also released some solo work.  After listening to some of Thrice's songs I couldn't BELIEVE that he was the same singer that I had fallen in love with. It just goes to show how great of an artist he is when he can sing for a rock band and then put out a bluesy/folk sounding solo project.
When I first looked him up I only had the song "Pistol" but after having it on repeat for a few weeks I decided to get the rest of the album. ("Please Come Home")
He has this raspy bluesy voice that's paired with Johnny Cash sounding melodies AND (as if that wasn't enough) he plays the harmonica.
Not only is he an incredible artist, but he stands up for what he believes in. He has bible verses tattooed on himself and many of his songs on his solo album are biblically based. His song "Please Come Home" is based on the story of the Prodigal Son (shout out to Andrea for figuring that one out for me.. hehe).
On top of ALL of this, he supports To Write Love On Her Arms. (A  nonprofit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for those struggling with clinical depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.) 5% of the proceeds from his album "Please Come Home" go towards this cause. 
So, check him out and hopefully you will all fall in love with him like I have. 


"Pistol" Music Video

The Civil Wars

I am SO excited about this week's post. The only reason I waited to post this one is because their new album comes out TOMORROW so I only felt it fitting to blog about them today!

As some of you know, I am an AVID fan of Taylor Swift. I follow her and one of her back up singers on Twitter (Elizabeth Huett). Elizabeth tweeted The Civil Wars music video "Poison & Wine" months ago so I checked it out and fell in love. 

I'm a sucker for anything folk/acoustic sounding and that's exactly what The Civil Wars are. 

The Civil Wars consists of Joy Williams and John Paul White. Both had musical careers before they joined to create The Civil Wars. Their individual songs are great but now that they have joined forces, they seem to be unstoppable. 

Their voices fit together perfectly and their lyrics are astonishing. They draw you into the story their trying to tell, but leave room for every individual to interpret it how they wish. 

Their EP "Poison & Wine" was released in November 2009. Every song is amazing and left everyone waiting in anticipation for their full length album. 

The long-awaited album is titled "Barton Hollow." They released the title track from this album on January 10th giving their audience a sneak peak of what to expect on their new record and it did NOT disappoint!  

Do yourself a favor and GET this new album when it debuts tomorrow! 

"Barton Hollow" music video 


Listen to the ENTIRE album for free before it's released tomorrow! 

Jessie J (A Sneak Peak)

Jessie J is the newest thing to come out of London's music scene.
I happened upon her a couple weeks ago while watching a music video on youtube. Her new single "Do It Like a Dude" popped up as a "suggested video" and so I watched it.
It was interesting and her voice was pretty auto-tuned so I had NO idea of her potential until I watched her "vlogs" on youtube which show her singing these AMAZING songs (acoustically) that she has written.
After google-ing her I found out that not only does she have this incredible, soulful voice, but she writes all her own stuff AND has written for many other artists like Miley Cyrus, Rhianna, and Chris Brown.
She can rap with the likes of Missy Elliot but she can also ACTUALLY sing, which as sad as it sounds, is hard to find these days.
After watching some interviews with her I've come to the conclusion that she is definitely a new favorite. She has worked SO hard to get where she is and she isn't taking her success lightly. She is extremely thankful for everything and she is level headed. She isn't into the drug scene and has a real message that she wants to get across: Be true to yourself!
Her debut album is entitled "Who You Are" and with tracks like, "Nobody's Perfect" and "Stand Up" her message is clear.
Her album will drop on April 12, 2011 and I, for one, cannot wait!

I'll link her acoustic tracks on youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnw0mn_eYLM  (Price Tag)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB6_PqBXUmg&playnext=1&list=PL47C621902121FE92&index=1 (Nobody's Perfect *she talks a LOT in the beginning so if you don't want to listen fast forward to 1:00 in)

And I'll put her single (Do It Like a Dude) on the mp3 player in the left hand corner of the blog.
Enjoy!

CAKE

Choosing which artist I was going to feature first was really hard.
However, after some deliberation I decided it would only make sense to feature the band CAKE since I shall be attending their concert in just a few weeks!
I first discovered CAKE because of my dear friend, Ariel.
She had gone out and bought one of their older albums, "Comfort Eagle" and started playing it every time we were in her car.
Shortly after that we had every single song memorized and would belt it out with the windows down.
I already loved them, but then to find out that they were from Sacramento, California was just amazing! (I lovvvvvvvve local artists).


CAKE is classified in the "Rock" genre however I would lean more towards alternative. Their lyrics are quite comical with almost always a hidden message about society. With song titles like, "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" (featured as the theme song for NBC's show, "Chuck") and "Commissioning a Symphony in C" they'll have you laughing, yet completely intrigued.


They just released their sixth album entitled "Showroom of Compassion" and it was to NO disappointment. It introduced fans to new catchy tunes, while maintaining their infamous "sound".

Some faves from the new album:
Federal Funding
Long Time
Sick of You

I'm adding the video to "Sick of You" at the bottom.
Check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi9MLL8QOY0&ob=av2em

Let's Get Started!

First off, a big thanks to Sarah Schepens for encouraging me to do this.
I've always made mix cd's for friends and I always include lists of the artist and song title in hopes that they will LOVE a certain artist and go find more of their music.
I'm really excited to start this up!
So tell your friends, tell your family, or anyone that you feel would enjoy reading my ramblings about different artists!