"wait, that doesn't look like earth. where's the blue sky? where's the grass?"
earth has become a desolate wasteland where the only creature left is a trash compacting robot. humans float around in a utopic ship with machines that caters to their every need, so much so that no human interaction exists. humans become fat and lazy, and earth becomes a distant memory. it sounds like the description of a dystopian sci-fi film directed by kubrick, where the moral is that the world is a cold dark place with no morals. but that couldn't be further from the truth.
wall e is a story of redemption. a story that no matter what the circumstances, there is always hope, always a way to return to whats right.
i remember watching in the theater and being completely captivated by the way pixar was able to make me fall in love with robots. robots! there's something beautiful about the way a robot whose job it is to clean up our mess of a planet methodically collects and preserves history. he finds objects he finds interesting and keeps them. he watches musicals, love dances, and has genuine human emotion collected from the remains of our collective consciousness.
the film is beautiful and poignant. heart warming and thought provoking. and any movie that has a scene where you ask a computer to "define dancing" is alright with me.
modern post - grace alone / sing team - oh! great is our god / kings kaleidoscope - asaph's arrows / kin - kin / citizens - already not yet
the number one album of the year is a total and complete cheat. here's my flimsy reasoning: they are all EPs from the same church; five different bands, but who cares...
mars hill music released a slew of EPs from various bands that make up the multi-campused church's various worship teams. each band is great in their own right; each has a unique style of worship and songwriting.
some quick thoughts on all the EPs:
modern post - grace alone
dustin kensrue's outfit creates 80s flavored rock worship songs with beats that make it difficult to not break out and dance. kensrue's voice wails throughout most of the tracks and the unabashed upbeat tone of all the songs is quite refreshing. worship is fun, and these guys make it fun.
the sing team - oh! great is our god
the sing team consists of a group of family and friends who claim to draw inspiration from motown to the muppets (which is great because i love both of those things). i thought at first i was listening to a children's album, but the richness and the depth of the lyrics drew me in.
king's kaleidoscope - asaph's arrows
king's kaleidoscope is probably my favorite band out of the lot, or at least the one from which i'm expecting the most innovation. their style is quite undefinable, but their hearts are not. everything points to jesus (although that could probably be said about all the bands). they seem to exude the most current, the most cutting edge, the most modern sound out of all the groups. the sky is the limit here.
(they also released a pretty great christmas EP in 2012)
kin - kin
kin is the band i know the least about, but might be the one i've listened to the most. their short three song EP is constantly on rotation. maybe it's the singability or the catchiness of their riffs, but none-the-less, kin is a band that incites great worship.
citizens - already not yet
citizens brings some of the most compelling riffs to the table. their songs will get your feet stomping. they're also the first mars hill band to release a full length album (which might be showing up on next year's "year-end list"…). everything about them is just fun.
--
one thing i've noticed with modern worship is that usually a band falls into one of two camps:
1. modern sounds | empty words
these are bands that try desperately to connect to young audiences through the sound of the music, but usually sacrifice the quality of their lyrics in the process. what you're left with are catchy songs that don't really take you anywhere.
2. old fogey music | rich lyrics
these are bands that put their emphasis on the theology of their music. they craft beautiful turns of phrase that help you to meditate and know jesus; but usually the songs are horribly boring and you don't want to listen to them anyway. listenability is ignored while lyrics are pushed to the forefront.
but in comes the mars hill bands-- you get the best of both worlds. the music is extremely exciting, and the lyrics are as solid as they come. you can't go wrong with that! buy all five EPs today.
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
