Night Beat Rewind: July 2018

"Come on baby, let's do the twist". Hey I'm milking this for all its worth, just like the media and the politicians. Never has so much energy been spent on so little. July is in the bag and its time for our review of the releases. It was definitely "The Big One". We begin with the individual songs released in the month.

The Singles Scene

• Antarctic Wastelands - First Light 4.75 Emeralds
• Before After - Come Thou Fount 4.50 Emeralds
• Dru Bex - Whole Lotta Trouble (ft Alex Faith) 4.50 Emeralds
• Antoine Bradford - Liar 5 Emeralds
• Celldweller - Last Night On Earth (FreqGen Remix) 5 Emeralds
• Clockvice - Disgrace 4.75 Emeralds
• Aaron Cole - Down Like That (ft Koryn Hawthorne) 5 Emeralds
• Lauren Daigle - You Say 5 Emeralds
• MH Eternal - Monsoon Season 4.75 Emeralds
• For King and Country - God Only Knows 4.75 Emeralds
• Austin French - Born Again 5 Emeralds
• The Gray Havens - Storehouse 4.75 Emeralds
• London Gatch - You Never Walk Away 5 Emeralds 
• GAWVI - Fight For Me ft Lecrae 4.75 Emeralds
• Gradience - Frontline 3.50 Emeralds
• John Hanni - Let Go 4.50 Emeralds
• JJ Heller - God Is Still Here 4.75 Emeralds
• Humanware - Love U (With U) 3.75 Emeralds
• Imagine - Too Kind 5 Emeralds
• Hillary Jane - Replay 4.50 Emeralds
• Shelly E. Johnson - Home 5 Emeralds
• Lecrae and Andy Mineo - Didn't I 4.50 Emeralds
• Leeyou and Danceey - Love So Amazing 5 Emeralds
• Branan Murphy - My Life 4.75 Emeralds
• Newsong - Can't Keep a Good Man Down 4.75 Emeralds
• Neon Feather - Between You and Me (ft Chris Chron) 4.75 Emeralds
• PoetiCS, Xay Hill and Eli PLM - Rumble 3.75 Emeralds
• Sarah Reeves - Just Want You 5 Emeralds
• Scandroid - Red Planet (Instrumental) 4.75 Emeralds
• Allan Scott - Run To You 2.0 5 Emeralds
• Southville - All The Praise 5 Emeralds
• Stars Go Dim - Never Enough 5 Emeralds
• Stars Go Dim - You Know Me Better 5 Emeralds
• Tedashii - Dum Dum (BRN Remix) 5 Emeralds
• Toby Mac - Everything 5 Emeralds
• Jhonny Vergel - Hopeful 5 Emeralds
• Veridia - Numb 4.75 Emeralds
• Jeremy James Whitaker - Portion 4.75 Emeralds
• Phil Wickham - How Great Is Your Love 4.75 Emeralds
• Xtravert - Lies (MSHO Remix) 4.75 Emeralds
• The Young Escape - Love Me Like You ft Nobigdyl 4.50 Emeralds

Missing The Mark

• Brian Campbell - Born Again 3.75 Emeralds
• K- Drama - Whetherman 3.75 Emeralds

Pure Platinum Perfection

• Koryn Hawthorne - Unstoppable 5 Emeralds
• Lexi - Just Listen: The Remixes EP 5 Emeralds
• The Protest - Legacy 5 Emeralds
• Martin Smith - Love Song For A City (Live) 5 Emeralds
• Upperroom - Moments II 5 Emeralds

Semi-Precious Metals

• Jor'dan Armstrong - BLSD EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Jor'dan Armstrong - 2BLSD 4.75 Emeralds
• Pat Barrett - Pat Barrett 4.50 Emeralds
• Benjah - PainTings EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Brvndnon P - Better Late Than Never 4.50 Emeralds
• Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar Remix Contest Compilation 4.75 Emeralds
• Eisley - I'm Only Dreaming of Days Long Past 4.75 Emeralds
• Highlands Worship - You're Here EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Hillsong Worship - There Is More: Studio Sessions EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Laity - Still EP 4.75 Emeralds
• William McMillan - My Story 4.75 Emeralds
• Needtobreathe - Forever On Your Side (Niles City Sound Sessions) EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Planetshakers - Heaven On Earth, Part 2 EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Skrip - Field Trip 4.75 Emeralds
• Chris Sligh - A Modern Liturgy 4.75 Emeralds
• Aaron Strumpel - Mighty Refuge 4.50 Emeralds

That does it for July. At least it isn't September yet. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

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Night Beat Rewind: February 2017

The Groundhog was wrong. Things are heating up here at Night Beat HQ, and it's not all due to the Spring weather. We begin our monthly roundup with the Songs released during the month, or as we call it here

The Singles Scene

• Cody Carnes - The Cross Has The Final Word 4.50 Emeralds
• Hands - New Heaven 4.75 Emeralds
• Hands - New Earth 5 Emeralds 
• Carmen Justice - Flaming Arrows (David Thulin Remix) 5 Emeralds
• Holly Starr - Run The Race 4.75 Emeralds

Now onto the albums. We begin with those releases which will not make the cut into the #PlatVnyl8 Pool. A small nitpick. I come up from the Vinyl era. Back in the day we had these things called 45s, which contained 2 songs, one on each side. They were the singles. That is what Hands has released, a single and a B-Side. You need at least 3 songs to make an EP, which is how they market it.

Missing The Mark

• Cristabelle Braden - Hope Springs 3.75 Emeralds
• East Hill Worship - Yesterday, Today, Forever 3.75 Emeralds
• Dan Ferrari - Unrepeatable 3.75 Emeralds
• Taelor Gray - In The Way Of Me 3.75 Emeralds
• Kat & Jared - Kat & Jared EP 3.75 Emeralds
• KRUM - Blue Eyed Devil 3.50 Emeralds
• Nobigdyl. - Canopy 3.50 Emeralds
• Royal Ruckus - The Summer of The Cicadias 3.75 Emeralds

KRUM is the artist formerly known as Playdough, but even a name change doesn't change my opinion of the music. And Kat & Jared? Must be a Flyleaf curse, but the only success from the former band seems to be Lacey. Maybe that's the way it is supposed to be. Now on to the albums from which nothing bad can be found.

Pure Platinum Perfection

• Acceptance - Colliding By Design 5 Emeralds
• Eisley - I'm Only Dreaming 5 Emeralds
• Anthony Evans - Back To Life 5 Emeralds
• Fearless BND - We Are Fearless 5 Emeralds
• For King and Country - Priceless: The Movie 5 Emeralds
• Hollyn - One Way Conversations 5 Emeralds

6 Perfect 5's, and each one from 5 different genres (Alternative, Gospel, Modern Worship, and Hip Hop, and Instrumental). It's good to spread it around.

Semi-Precious Metal

• Archroyal - Anchor EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Bethany (Dillon) Barnard - A Better Word 4.50 Emeralds
• Death Therapy - The Storm Before The Calm 4.75 Emeralds
• Tim Drisdelle - Depths EP 4.75 Emeralds
• David Dunn - Yellow Balloons 4.75 Emeralds
• Hearts Like Lions - If I Never Speak Again 4.50 Emeralds
• Hillsong Young And Free - Youth Revival Acoustic 4.50 Emeralds
• Hope Chapel - Hear My Cry 4.50 Emeralds
• Kari Jobe - The Garden 4.75 Emeralds
• Steven Malcolm - Steven Malcolm 4.75 Emeralds
• Passion - Worthy of Your Name (Live) 4.75 Emeralds
• Jetty Rae - Can't Curse The Free 4.75 Emeralds 
• Relient K - Truly, Madly, Deeply EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Vineyard Worship - Through It All (Kaleo Worship) 4.50 Emeralds
• CeCe Winans - Let Them Fall In Love 4.50 Emeralds
• Ayiesha Woods - The Runway Project EP 4.75 Emeralds

That does it for February. Death Therapy threw me for a while. It was the weirdest metal band I ever heard until it finally dawned on me "It's not metal, it is industrial".   Once the adjustment was made the album was near perfect. Genres are important. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.    

Spring Songs: The 2013 Third Quarter - Alternative

Ten releases made the Alternative Pool this Quarter, making it one of the big winners, so to speak. The genre shared second place honors with Hip Hop and Adult Contemporary. The Big Winner of Course this quarter was Modern Worship by one.

Alternative

• Abandon Kansas - A Midwest Summer
• The Almost - Fear inside our bones
• After Edmund - Art and Commerce
• Eisley - Currents
• Ghost Ship - The Good King
• Golden Youth - Quiet Frame: Wild Light
• House of Heroes - The Knock Down Drag Outs
• Over the Ocean - Be Given to the Soil
• Paramore - Paramore
• Sleeping at Last - Atlas 002: Light EP

Eisley has been a regular here at the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Since we've existed they haven't really failed to qualify an entrant into the pool. Both Deep Space and The Valley made the finals, and Ambulance from the won Alternative Song in the Second Awards. Of the list only Paramore is guaranteed a spot, as it was awarded a Perfect 5 Emeralds.

I will be at The Vespers concert at Nichols College in Dudley tonight, so if you are in the area I would be glad to meet you. Don't forget to enter the giveaway while you are here. Stay with me while the 3rd Quarter is announced, and as always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: May 2013

Things are finally getting back to normal. In April's edition of Night Beat Rewind I mentioned that no releases missed the mark. This month seven missed the threshold. On the other hand, four releases were labeled as Pure Platinum, the most in any month since this blog started (Technically there were 5 Perfect Albums in October 2012, but since two of them were Christmas Music, and there wasn't a Platinum Vinyl Award Category for that, they aren't counted). If I don't get a handle on things you are going to think that I hand out Fives like candy. If I didn't hand out an abundance of 4.75's, things would really be out of control.

We like to begin with those albums which we said were

Missing The Mark

• Altars - Something More 3.75 Emeralds
• David Crowder Band - All This For A King: The Essential Collection 3.75 Emeralds
• Tara Jackson - Love Come Down 3.75 Emeralds
• Samuel Lane - The Fire 3.75 Emeralds
• Letter to the Exiles - Still Moving, Still Breathing 3.75 Emeralds
• Robin Mark - Ultimate Collection 3.75 Emeralds
• Vocal Few - Tall Trees EP 3.75 Emeralds

To all my new readers, I like to mention that like the 4.75 rating, the 3.75 rating is sort of a cop out. When I think the album is very good, but not really award worthy, I give it 3.75. I don't start making judgements unless its 3.50 or below. There were, however, releases which really wowed me. These are they which are:

Pure Platinum

• All The Bright Lights - The Wind and The Waves 5 Emeralds
• Percy Bady - Kingdom Inspirations 5 Emeralds
• John Elefante - On My Way To The Sun 5 Emeralds
• Yancy - Roots for the Journey 5 Emeralds

 The perfect list was all over the place. Rock for Elefante, Gospel for Bady, Electronic for ATBL and Yancy did her usual genre switch, this time either Inspirational or Modern Worship. I like to call the albums that fell somewhere in between these two

Semi-Precious Metal

• Allistair - Feed the White Dog Love 4.75 Emeralds 
• Eisley - Currents (Deluxe) 4.75 Emeralds
• David M. Edwards - Heart Full Of Soul - 4.75 Emeralds
• Finding Favour - Finding Favour EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Golden Youth - Quiet Frame; Wild Light 4.75 Emeralds
• Amy Grant - How Mercy Looks From Here (Deluxe Edition) 4.50 Emeralds
• Steve Hare - Heart Like Your Own 4.75 Emeralds
• Javen - Worship In The Now-Live 4.75 Emeralds
• Nathan Jess - Love Stands Forever 4.50 Emeralds
• Hannah Rose - Hannah Rose 4.50 Emeralds
• Shane and Shane - Bring Your Nothing 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - To Dad, With Love - 4.75 Emeralds
• Vineyard UK Worship - Come Now Is The Time (The Platinum Collection) 4.50 Emeralds
• Vineyard UK Worship - Piano Classics 4.50 Emeralds
• Whosoever South - Goin' Home 4.75 Emeralds

That concludes the May edition of Night Beat Rewind. It's only June 3. That makes me very happy. What would make me even happier would be for you to click on the links and buy the music from Amazon. You help support the work of The Night Beat at the same time. Except for Allistair and All the Bright Lights. Allistair is on noisetrade for free. ATBL appears to be delayed, but the link will take you to a pre-order. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Spring Preview

The Temperature is Rising, and so is the pace of the new releases. Winter ended with a bang, not just in the real world, where the biggest snows hit after Punxatawney Phil predicted an early Spring (we know where you live, buddy), but also in the music world. Three perfect albums were released in March. Andy Hunter's Glowing Collision, Audio Adrenaline's Kings and Queens, and JJ Heller's Loved.

April brings promise. The month begins with another reboot, though not as extensive as Audio Adrenaline. Hawk Nelson returns with Made, the first studio release since Crazy Love, and, more importantly, the first release since the departure of Jason Dunn, who was a founding member of the band. Most members of a band are replaceable, but it's always the toughest with the vocalist position. My early opinions of Made are very good.

Two Platinum winners also make their return. Kerrie Roberts says that it's Time for the show, the follow up to her self titled debut, for which she won the inaugural PVA's Best New Artist Award. In between she did an EP called Once Upon A Time for the ABC show of the same name. This should be worth the wait. Silverline was the unofficial winner of Rock Song of the Year that year with "Voices in the Night" (we didn't have a song category until the second year. The song was a great homage to Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The rest of the album gave me mixed feelings, so I will be testing this one. 

April also brings a new "Thread" to The Letter Black. Rebuild comes out the day after my birthday, and it marks the first release of this band without "hanging on" in the title. Previews of songs on youtube are promising.

May brings the return of Texas alternative act Eisley. Their foray into Deep Space wasn't award winning, but it was intriguing enough to make the pool. I expect no less from this release.

Finally, Spring gets closed out and the summer begins on a loud note. Skillet finally returns with Rise. Let's see, Collide, Comatose, Awake, Rise. We seem to be in a day in the life with titles. I guess a rose by any other name.

It will be enough to keep me busy, and the Platinum Vinyl Awards as well. To rip off Kerrie Roberts, Time for the Show. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Run and Don't Stop

It's Monday, and that means that it is time for Music Video Monday, where we at The Night Beat Share the Best Christian and GRAC Music Videos out there. Before we begin today, I wish to give a shout out to all my friends on Triberr for bearing with me as the Platinum Vinyl Awards commenced. You all helped make it a big success. I guess I should also give a shout out to the google blogger team for fixing the scheduled post issue in time. Never mind last years marathon posting, even this could have been a disaster.

We're going to start out with a fresh video. Bryce Avery (aka The Rocket Summer), is coming out with a new album tomorrow entitled Life Will Write The Words. As a matter of full disclosure The WENC Night beat is an Amazon Associate, and if you click the highlighted link above and purchase the CD or downloads, a portion of the sale will come back to help The Night Beat. Thank You for your support. Here is the music video for Run and Don't Stop.

One More fresh video, though shorter. Write This Down releases Lost Weekend tomorrow, and this is the album teaser, just like in the movies.

You can listen to Lost Weekend in its entirety this week on AOL Music

Now onto the regularly scheduled videos. First up is Eisley, which recently released the Deep Space EP, which will be considered for a Platinum Vinyl Award next year. This is a live performance of Deep Space.

For King and Country is next. This is Joel & Luke Smallbone, RS James Brothers. This is the music video of Missing.

Sarah Macintosh came out with Current in March, and Oh what an album. Perfection. These are live studio videos. I would love to share them all, but I will chose Damaged.

And finally, we close it out with Sidewalk Prophets. This is the Video of the Title Cut of their new album, Live Like That.

That concludes this edition of Music Video Monday. Until next Monday, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Frozen Chosen: Alternative

We move from Gospel to Alternative. This always seems to be a well represented genre, though it also happens to have a lot of double category listings, since it is a subgenre of Rock.

Alternative

• Todd Agnew - How to be Loved
• Anberlin - Dancing Between the Fibers of Time
• Matt Brouwer - Til The Sunrise
• Eisley - Deep Space
• For King and Country - Crave
• The Fray - Scars and Stories
• Jeremy Horn - Sound of the Broken
• Kiros - Lay Your Weapons Down
• Sarah Macintosh - Current
• Kevin Max - The Fiefdom of Angels, Side One
• Pioneer - Pioneer
• Ruth - Payola
• Sidewalk Prophets - Live Like That
• Sons - Keep Quiet

There were a lot of good entries this quarter, and Kevin Max was one that snuck by me until the very last minute. Good thing I didn't have this post out yet. I will have to update the rewind posts though.

Next tin the Frozen Chosen is Pop, another very well represented genre. Until Next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: A Smarter Choice

Welcome to another edition of Music Video Monday. We have been moving through the genres in order from last year, though this year the order has been rearranged.


Inspirational, like Gospel, was a bust. We move on to Pop, and, just like the Song and Album, Video is pretty well represented as well.

PVA Nominee for Female Vocalist of The Year Dara Maclean kicks things off with a Live performance of her hit single "suitcases". With a voice like hers the only "Baggage" she should have to deal with accompany a heavy touring schedule.

Crossover artist Blessid Union of Souls from the City of Brotherly Love are next with The Only Song that you will ever love.

Angie Turner (aka Miss Angie), a recent comeback to CCM with Time and Space, collaborates here with Rappers The Identity Crisis for the Title Track.

And finally, Texas Alternative-Pop Rockers Eisley are the "Smarter Choice" with Smarter, off of The Valley.

That concludes this edition of Music Video Monday. It is just about time to roll-out the nominees for the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Stay with me. As always, until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Deep Space Exploration

Eisley is back from The Valley and scaling the heights of the alternative scene. Not content to stay here on Terra Firma, they have taken their act to Deep Space. That's the name of their latest release folks. Don't worry though, they still exclusively touring here on planet earth.

The EP begins quite abruptly with "Away With Me, Away With You" the opening call of Lights out. Actually the jarring opening is my only gripe with the EP. I guess I like some sort of intro. It just seemed strange.

Deep space is more alternative than The Valley, which seemed to skew more pop, though Laugh it off is a fun pop song. Lead Singer Stacy DuPree comes off sounding a lot like Leigh Nash (Sixpence None The Richer) on this EP, especially on songs like 192 Days. I don't know if it was intentional, but it works.

Not surprisingly, the orchestration of the album gives an atmospheric "Spacey" feel to it, which to me harks back to Miss Angie's space-pop. It also harks back to the true meaning of Alternative music, meaning a break from the usual. My favorite song has to be the last song, simply entitled "One Last Song". The Instrumentation at the end is awesome.

At only nineteen minutes long, it leaves you wanting more, but it is a great follow up to The Valley. By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, I wish to tell you that The Valley is up for multiple Platinum Vinyl Awards, though that in no way affects the rating for this album. As evidence I give you the Newsboys. While Born Again made the First Platinum Vinyl Awards and Born Again Miracles Edition made them Double Dip this year, God's Not Dead will not come in for a Trifecta. It failed to impress during the first quarter judging. As they always say, Past Results are no guarantee of future success.

My final rating for Deep Space is very stratospheric. A near perfect 4.75 Emeralds. Considering that the Valley got only 4.5, then I guess shorter is better.

It's time to come back to earth for the time being. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: March 2011

The Latest Quick Hits Ratings Post is ready. Because of the sheer number of releases per month, it is not possible to do a full review of them all. March had four reviews for twenty-seven releases. I will provide a link to the review when it is available. The listing in all cases is alphabetical. Ratings above 4 Emeralds may be included in the Platinum Vinyl Awards for 2011, Ratings under 4 Will Not make the cut. Depending upon the number of contenders, that number may be revised upward.

The March 2011 Releases:

• Abandon Kansas - Ad Astra Per Aspera - 4.25 Emeralds
• Ambassador - New Roots - 3 Emeralds
• Becoming The Archetype - Celestial Completion - 4.75 Emeralds
• Francesca Battistelli - Hundred More Years - 4 Emeralds
• Blessid Union of Souls - The Mission Field - 4.5 Emeralds
• Brenton Brown - Our God Is Near - 4.5 Emeralds
• Caedmon's Call - Raising Up The Dead - 4.25 Emeralds
• Michael Card - An Invitation to Awe - 4.5 Emeralds
• Consuming Worship - Ashes to Fire - 3 Emeralds
• Echoing Angels - Echoing Angels - 4 Emeralds
• Eisley - The Valley - 4.5 Emeralds
• Emery - We Do What We Want - 4.75 Emeralds
• Kirk Franklin - Hello Fear - 4 Emeralds
• Gideon - Costs - 2.5 Emeralds
• Aaron Gillespie - Anthem Song - 4 Emeralds
• Know Hope Collective - Know Hope - 4 Emeralds 
• The Letter Black - Hanging on by a Thread Sessions, Vol. 1 - 4.75 Emeralds
• Josh Lopez - Broken, Restored, Loved - 3.75 Emeralds
• Mary Mary - Something Big - 4.75 Emeralds
• Smokie Norful - How I Got Over: Songs that Carried Us (Live) - 4.25 Emeralds
• Passion - Here For You - 4 Emeralds
• Seventh Day Slumber - A Decade of Hope (3 CD Set) - 4.25 Emeralds  *
• Skillet - Awake & Remixed - 4.75 Emeralds
• Holly Starr - Tapestry - 4 Emeralds
• Ryan Stevenson - Yesterday, Today, Forever - 4.25 Emeralds 
• Tenth Avenue North - Inside and In Between - 4.5 Emeralds
• Vineyard UK Worship - Creator: New Worship From Northern Ireland 4.25 Emeralds 

* Note: The rating for Seventh Day Slumber is for the Entire Three Discs as a unit. Despite the rating, since it is a repackaging of old albums, they are not eligible for the PVA's

The Valley of Eisley

The Valley, the latest release by the Tyler, Texas DuPree family. Sisters Sherri (Rhythm Guitar), Stacy (Keyboard, Guitar) and Chauntelle (Lead Guitar) handle the vocals, while brother Weston (Drums) and cousin Garron (Bass Guitar) round out the band. Collectively they are known as Eisley. The music is pop-rock, simply categorized, yet it manages to be so much more. The harmonies among Sherri, Stacy and Chauntelle are the best since Lauren, Becca and Alyssa Barlow (aka Barlowgirl) and they manage to blend in violin as effortlessly as Reilly.

The title of the album refers to the low points or "valleys" of life. However, the girls seem to take these moments in stride, as the tone of the album is very upbeat or even "playfully vengeful". Comparisons in tone could be made with one of my favorites from 2010, Evolett, except they inhabit the Rock-Hard Rock genre. Try as I might, I am unable to find a klunker among the selections, but I do have my favorites. Sad, the fourth track, which also happens to be the hardest, starts off the best part of the album, which extends from tracks 4-11. Oxygen Mask is next, and it is a masterpiece of Violin and Piano. Better Love is my personal favorite, and who couldn't love a song with lyrics like "I've finally found out, you're on my side. With a bullet for the bad guys, Hallelujah." Still, Better Love isn't the best song on the album, that falls to Kind, and the song with the best overall vocals is I Wish. Mr. Moon also has heavenly vocals. Please and Ambulance round out the CD. Or, for those audiophiles out there, for a premium, you can get it on Vinyl.

For a limited time, though the page is still active, Soundcloud is offering a complete album stream via SPIN magazine. You can also get free downloads of Ambulance and Smarter.  After you check it out, I would ask that you return here if you wish to purchase and help support The Night Beat.

My final verdict on The Valley is 4.5 Emeralds. It is near perfect, and definitely will make the initial pool, and maybe even the final pool of entries for the 2011 Platinum Vinyl Awards, but I'm getting ahead of myself. My biggest problem is classification, because the CD falls into Pop, Rock, and Alternative categories. It is also an Indie release, and if enough of them meet my criteria, it may make four categories at least. Needless to say, it is a pleasure to walk through the "Valley of Eisley".