King of The Lowborn

"The King is Dead, Long Live The King." It seems appropriate with this post. Tuesday marked the end of an era in Christian Alternative. There are a few bands out there that define the genre they are in. Petra defined Rock for a Generation, and to a certain level still does, and not in name alone (their name in Greek is Rock) but on inheritance. Many of today's Christian Rock bands grew up listening to Petra and their music shaped their sound. That tends to happen in a 30+ year career. Alternative Music hasn't been around that long, but still it has its royalty. The Emperor or Deity of Alternative would have to be The Choir. Reaching the 30 year mark, and still making top class music, they will not easily cede the throne to an upstart.

The band we say goodbye today isn't that old, but 12 years seems like an eternity in Christian Music with bands hanging it up after five years. Crossing a 10 year mark should be a minimum for respect. Especially if that is your only claim to fame. Fortunately for +Anberlin it isn't. +Brandon Ebel and +Tooth & Nail Records didn't merely strike gold this time, they mined platinum. I have their debut album in my possession Blueprints For The Black Market (2003), but no other complete albums in my collection. I intend to change that. I have been a big fan of the band since Dark Is The Way, Light Is A Place (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version) [+video] [+digital booklet] (2010), and the band has been a fixture at the Platinum Vinyl Awards since its inception. Many things can be said of Anberlin, but Pretender to the Throne is not one of them.

Lowborn is a tough album to peg, on first listen I said, "This isn't as good as Devotion or Vital [+digital booklet] ". But then, a funny thing happened on the way to 4.5 Emerald obscurity. I listened a few more times, and started thinking about not how the album sounded, but how it felt. The album feels complete, like they are tying up loose ends. It also is more melancholy and less rocking, which at first made me disappointed, but I was drawn in by the variety of styles. It is also to me the most "Christian" of the recent albums. Bands such as Anberlin, Creed, Evanescence and others have been greatly successful at sharing the Christian Faith in a way that slips seamlessly into the mainstream consciousness. While there is a rock number in We are Destroyer and Dissenter, the rest of the album is slow to medium tempo ballads by Stephen Christian with an ethereal alternative sound. The rockers will be disappointed, but lovers of music will be in Heaven, where "everybody wants to go, but nobody wants to die".

After much listening. I have decided to confer on Lowborn a Perfect 5 Emerald Rating. It is a fitting farewell. Anberlin, the King of The Lowborn. Your subjects will have to be content with Anchor and Braille for now. Like the Arthurian Legend, I have no doubt you will return when the time is right (you bet there will be a reunion). Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Emerald Rating System Revealed

I'm going to let all of you in on a secret. Actually it's not much of a secret if you've been out of school for a while. Otherwise, it may be. It is the methodology behind the patented WENC Night Beat Emerald Rating system.

When I was in elementary and high schools back in the stone age, grading was a simple matter. It was a 100 point scale. It was looked something like this:

• F:       0-59 Points    (0-2.99 Emeralds)
• D- : 60 -64 Points    (3 Emeralds)
• D :   65- 66 Points    (3.25 Emeralds)
• D+: 67 - 69 Points   
• C-  : 70- 73                 (3.50 Emeralds)
• C    : 74-76                 (3.75 Emeralds)
• C+ : 77-79 Points     
• B-  : 80-83 Points   (4.00 Emeralds)
• B    : 84-86 Points    (4.25 Emeralds)
• B+ : 87-89 Points    
• A- :  90-93 Points   (4.50 Emeralds)
• A   :  94-96 Points   ( 4.75 Emeralds)
• A+: 97-100 Points  ( 5.00 Emeralds)

Now most of the releases that Miss the Mark and don't get included in the Platinum Vinyl Pool are in the 3.50-3.75 Emerald Range. That's a C- to C Range. There were a lot of courses that I was thrilled to make that.

A Solid B- (4 Emeralds = 80) gets you into the pool, though in all reality most genres wind up with a minimum bar of 4.50 Emeralds and in some cases 4.75 Emeralds. That's A- to A. That doesn't guarantee an award, just a nomination.

One final thing. A Perfect 5 Emeralds doesn't mean, at least with the genre based categories, that it is a flawless album, just flawless for the particular genre that it belongs to. The rules in that are very fluid (a perfect Gospel album would not be the same as a perfect Dance album). Now for Album of The Year, yes, 5 means flawless.

I hope this might clear up any confusion you may have had regarding what my rating system entailed. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your reply.

No Fading Away

Surf Rock is back.  For those not familiar with Surfing, a switchfoot is a surfing move where the surfer switches foot position on the board during surfing. Or something like that.

Familiarity with the band at Night Beat HQ has been almost been from the beginning. I was working for Sparrow Records at the Inside Out Soul Festival in 2001 during the Learning To Breathe tour. (Or New Way to Be Human. Not really sure about Wikipedia's accuracy.) Anyway. amongst the swag I received was a pre-release copy of Learning To Breathe. That was 2001.

Fast Forward 12 years and 6 albums later. Fading West, the bands latest release, is, in my opinion, their best yet. Vice Verses was good, but this is better. (Don't get me going about Vice Re Verses. Remixes don't automatically improve things.) Love is worth the fight kicks off this short but sweet release (Amazon says it's 43 minutes. I think they have corporate dyslexia and it should be 34. It goes by really quick.) More alternative rock than rock, the album thrives with mostly soft ballads. Love is worth the fight, The World You Want and Slipping Away are among my favorites.

The album is a cross between an album and a Film Soundtrack, as the band released a tour film documentary of the same name, only released digitally at the moment. I have not yet seen the movie, but if it has these songs as its soundtrack, who cares about the film.

I don't really like handing out 5's like candy, and I'm opening the store for this one. 5 Emeralds for Fading West. having had this on auto repeat I have no doubt it will be among the final 7 Alternative Albums in the 5th Platinum Vinyl Awards. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Nothing But The Blood

Who knew you could go from Genesis to Revelation in 45 minutes? I surely didn't. I mean, even John MacArthur's "Jet Tour Through The Book of Revelation" took an hour.

The miracle of speed preaching has been accomplished, not by a pastor or evangelist, but by a Folk Singer by the name of +Caroline Cobb Smith . It's an ambitious undertaking. Born from a self imposed goal to write a song from each book of the Bible by her 30th Birthday, which was 11/11/11. With the help of +Kickstarter she took the best of the songs and created a masterpiece entitled The Blood + the Breath: Songs That Tell the Story of Redemption.

The album is a little bit of everything, style-wise, but because of its simple sound overall, I am going with Folk for the genre. Songs like Dry bones could be a Jazz/Torch Song sound, and All The Stars is pure pop. From Him To Him and Glory Power Honor Forever are in a Modern Worship theme. You get the idea. Whatever you like short of Rock and Roll you are sure to find it on this album. Plus, rather then sounding disjointed, the theme holds everything together.

I give this album a Perfect 5 Emerald Rating. Now that only guarantees it a spot in the Folk Music Final voting, but it still has to beat The Civil Wars and other entrants. The Civil Wars self titled sophomore release, by the way, is also a perfect 5. A battle royal in Folk Music. You always thought they were so peaceful. Enjoy the album below. Enter The Giveaway to Win The Civil Wars or Three other five emerald albums. And, as I say as I close each post, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Confessions of the Candyman

"Who can take a sunrise...." Well, that's how I feel right now, anyway. When I first started this blog three years ago I set about to set right the rampant favoritism in the major award shows. Now I think I may have fallen prey to the same malady. The Perfect 5 Emerald rating was designed for a release which "blew me away", so to speak. That seems to be happening a lot this year. At the time I vowed that there would never be a case where 5's were able to fill an entire genre. I may have to eat those words this year.

Through three quarters of eligible releases, I have handed out a whopping 27 perfect 5's (Ouch!). Here is the breakdown by genre.

• Children: 1
• Folk/Folk Rock: 4
• Dance/Synthpop: 6 (5 Remixes)
• Electronic/Industrial: 2 (1 Remix)
• Gospel: 2
• Alternative: 5
• Modern Worship: 1
• Rap: 3
• Hard Rock/Metal: 1
• Rock: 2

AC/Inspirational and Pop have zero fives through three quarters, so they and Children, Electronic, Gospel, Modern Worship, Hard Rock, Rock and Rap should be fine, but Folk, Dance and and Alternative are just about filled with 5's alone. Remember the final nominees for any genre are supposed to be seven, and there are still two months to go. 5's are a lock, remember.

Since I'm obviously in the habit of giving things away, don't forget to enter the Great 3rd Birthday Giveaway at my Facebook Page.

They say confession is good for the soul. We shall see. All I know is that it should be an interesting award season next year. And here I am complaining about the Dove's. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Pure Platinum Perfection

So I like alliteration. Anyway, since the entries for the 3rd Annual Platinum Vinyl Awards are now over, I can safely put out the first of my best of lists.

The Gold Standard at The Night Beat (Or perhaps it is the Platinum Standard) is the Perfect 5 Emerald Rating. Getting those guarantees the entrant into the final round of the Platinum Vinyl Award Voting. It will be among the entrants which will get an award.

For those new to the WENC Night Beat, the eligibility year is October 1 - September 30. This year there were fifteen Pure Platinum releases. During that time fifteen albums that passed my ears got me to say "wow". Now, since I try to evaluate each genre independently, I have a different bar for each. These fifteen never knew there was a bar, they were so far above it.

One other thing to bring my new readers up to speed before I get to the list. While The WENC Night Beat is committed to bringing you the best in Christian Music, the definition of Christian here is quite loose. If they ever were embraced by the Christian Community, unless they renounced everything and walked away, no one is a KOOK here (that's my acronym for Kicked Out Of (the) Kingdom). Right now the only one who is "Not Christian" who once was is Katy Perry. Now on to the list.

Pure Platinum Perfection

2011 Entries

• Chevelle - Hats Off To The Bull
• Evanescence - Evanescence
• William McDowell - Arise
• Thousand Foot Krutch - Welcome To The Masquerade (Fan Edition)
• Wolves at the Gate - We are the Ones

Chevelle has probably slipped off the Christian Radar and Amy Lee and Company (Evanescence) are one of those K.O.O.K. bands. However, I have it on good authority that Evanescence is solid for performing for the first billion years in heaven (on the other hand SG music is slated for the last 22 seconds of eternity).

2012 Entries

• Abel - Make it Right
• Blessed by a Broken Heart - Feel the Power
• David Crowder Band - Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C) [The Happiest of all Keys]
• Demon Hunter - True Defiance
• Israel & New Breed - Decade
• Lara Landon - Overcome
• Sarah Macintosh - Current
• Petra - Best of the 80's
• Poema - Remembering You
• Project 86 - Wait for the Siren

There you have it, the perfect albums for the 3rd Platinum Vinyl Awards eligibility year. The albums were scattered around the CCM world, with 5 from Rock, 4 from Metal, 2 from Gospel, 2 from Alternative, and one each from Pop and Adult Contemporary. I want to get this out, so I'll update this with my Amazon affiliate link later. Let me know what you think. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat: This Time Around

Extra, Extra, stop the presses. The Night Beat is entering the world of giveaways. Our inaugural giveaway is a copy of Heather Williams This Time Around. I gave the album a five Emerald Rating. It is a perfect album, though sadly, it did not win an Elpy. I have one copy to give away, and I am going make it a Rafflecopter giveaway . I would put Heather on My Chicks Who Rock List. No delicate vocals here, this girl can belt out a song. Right now I am only going to put out one additional restriction and that will be U.S. and Canada only. This is the first one, and I won't break the bank on shipping. The Sweepstakes will begin on Midnight Wednesday. That Means Tues/Wed EST. It will continue until the 4th of August. I don't know, I just thought it was fitting to time it to end with Soulfest.

Thanks for staying with The Night Beat and let the giveaways begin. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply (and your entries).