Welcome to an all new edition of Music Video Monday, on this next to the last Monday of Summer, at least unofficially. We begin with our monthly release by For King and Country. Can we get an Amen.
Next up we have a new entrant into the EDM Scene. DJ em-D is up with Spencer Kane. It's time to Turn The Light On.
Finally we have a video by Ledger (as in Jen Ledger, drummer for Skillet). This is Not Dead Yet. I think the girl has some definite anger management issues.
That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
The Home of the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Reviews of New CD releases, mostly CCM but also mainstream releases that may interest the Christian Music listener. Music News and Commentary, especially when there's a CCM connection.
Showing posts with label Jen Ledger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jen Ledger. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2018
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Cutting Through The American Noise
WOW!!! To quote a title from Sweet Comfort Band, The Waiting Is Over.
Let me take a breath and rewind. Expectations are a cruel thing, and usually they are not met and disappointment ensues. The best out there usually wind up just meeting our expectations and leave us feeling... satisfied.
Then there are the truly rarefied air bands. They are the acts that not only clear the bar of expectation every time, they can clear it so well that they make further comparison ridiculous. Such a band is +Skillet.
Skillet had a less then industry changing debut in 1996, and even Nostradamus wouldn't have predicted their success. To be fair I got their debut CD after I was hooked. I came in at Hey You, I Love Your Soul, which though only their second album, represented a giant leap in talent and production. Beginning with Invincible, Korey Cooper, John's Wife, came on board to add programming, synthesizers and backing vocals. She also runs the band. (If you don't believe me, look at the credits for her name on any album).
Rise
has been haled as the bands Magnum Opus, and hint that this may be their swan song. I hope it's not, but if it is, talk about going out on top. Though Korey has hit the big 4-0 and John is pushing it, the couple are in tremendous shape and I think with the popularity the band has they will be chasing Petra's longevity before long.
Rise
is a Theme Album, like FM Static's Dear Diary, though on a much darker note. The Theme is Evil, and what we must do to stand against it. It is brought into focus with the 911 Montage ending the title cut, where we are urged to "Rise in Revolution", against the world system if we're "Sick of it", which reintroduces the long missing electronic edge of the band.
Chicks rule on Rise
. The album marks the "introduction" of Jen Ledger to the world. Though she has been drummer since Comatose (2006), she shines on this time, and is even allowed to (almost) carry a few songs (three: Salvation, Fire and Fury and What I believe).
This could be Skillet's hardest rocking album, though ballads like Good To Be Alive, American Noise and Salvation could steal the show. They also create a few mega songs by using intros between Rise
and Sick of It, Good to Be Alive and Not Gonna Die, and Madness in Me and Salvation. We still find room for strings, another Korey Cooper specialty, on Salvation especially.
Music Videos don't usually capture the intensity of the album, and lyric videos even less so. However for Rise Skillet has managed to do it. A "lyric video" with an animated dystopian world.
The only bad thing to say is that I have to give this album a measly 5 Emeralds. I mean, I've got this on auto repeat as long as Billboard Magazine has the preview up. 50 Emeralds is more like it. Rise
in Revolution, buy the album. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Let me take a breath and rewind. Expectations are a cruel thing, and usually they are not met and disappointment ensues. The best out there usually wind up just meeting our expectations and leave us feeling... satisfied.
Then there are the truly rarefied air bands. They are the acts that not only clear the bar of expectation every time, they can clear it so well that they make further comparison ridiculous. Such a band is +Skillet.
Skillet had a less then industry changing debut in 1996, and even Nostradamus wouldn't have predicted their success. To be fair I got their debut CD after I was hooked. I came in at Hey You, I Love Your Soul, which though only their second album, represented a giant leap in talent and production. Beginning with Invincible, Korey Cooper, John's Wife, came on board to add programming, synthesizers and backing vocals. She also runs the band. (If you don't believe me, look at the credits for her name on any album).
has been haled as the bands Magnum Opus, and hint that this may be their swan song. I hope it's not, but if it is, talk about going out on top. Though Korey has hit the big 4-0 and John is pushing it, the couple are in tremendous shape and I think with the popularity the band has they will be chasing Petra's longevity before long.Rise
is a Theme Album, like FM Static's Dear Diary, though on a much darker note. The Theme is Evil, and what we must do to stand against it. It is brought into focus with the 911 Montage ending the title cut, where we are urged to "Rise in Revolution", against the world system if we're "Sick of it", which reintroduces the long missing electronic edge of the band.Chicks rule on Rise
. The album marks the "introduction" of Jen Ledger to the world. Though she has been drummer since Comatose (2006), she shines on this time, and is even allowed to (almost) carry a few songs (three: Salvation, Fire and Fury and What I believe).This could be Skillet's hardest rocking album, though ballads like Good To Be Alive, American Noise and Salvation could steal the show. They also create a few mega songs by using intros between Rise
and Sick of It, Good to Be Alive and Not Gonna Die, and Madness in Me and Salvation. We still find room for strings, another Korey Cooper specialty, on Salvation especially.Music Videos don't usually capture the intensity of the album, and lyric videos even less so. However for Rise Skillet has managed to do it. A "lyric video" with an animated dystopian world.
The only bad thing to say is that I have to give this album a measly 5 Emeralds. I mean, I've got this on auto repeat as long as Billboard Magazine has the preview up. 50 Emeralds is more like it. Rise
in Revolution, buy the album. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Flashback Friday: Cooking Something Up
Among the top tier of Christian Rock, and definitely Christian Industrial, very few have survived as much change as Skillet. Begun in 1996 as a trio (Skillet Trio, sounds like something at Denny's), the band was originally a side project to three bands which no longer exist. The original lineup consisted of:
Three years old and the first change occurred. The trio became a quartet. Ken Steorts left to found the Visible Music School (responsible for creating the band Luminate among others). The new lineup was:
The lineup of The Coopers, Peters and Haaland recorded a live worship album which will go on the Night Beats list of the Best Albums ever. I went to Christian Bookstores a lot at the time, and this was the only album which I remember forgetting to advance through the songs quickly. I went from song one, to two, to three, to four, before getting a little embarrassed. Needless to say I bought the CD. If you believe, like me, that "it ain't worship until your ears bleed", then this album is for you. Plus the extended "worship jams" (like the 5 minute Angels Fall Down jam).
Beginning with Collide (2003), the now firmly established Hard Rock/Industrial band began a practice of turning the title track on a CD into a signature piece, complete with massive orchestration and the like. More change occurred after Comatose when Peters left to be replaced by (now) gorgeous redhead Jen Ledger from Great Britain, the bands first reach out into the international talent pool. Haaland was replaced by Ben Kasica in 2001 and left to be replaced by current guitarist Seth Morrison. Comatose (2006) has a record three "love songs", which somehow mean a lot more to me now than when I originally bought the album.
Awake (2009) was the last time they were in the studio, but word is we may soon see something in the next year.
For A band which has thrived on change, even going so far as to have an Upright Bass and Violin in its lineup, the sky is the limit. And though they are now entering their forties, John and Korey still look like they're about twenty, so I don't forsee the band going away any time soon. And neither will The Night Beat, though we must take a bit of time off for Thanksgiving. Until we next meet, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
- John Cooper: Vocals, Bass, Piano (fmr Lead Singer of Seraph)
- Trey McClurkin: Drums, Vocals
- Ken Steorts: Guitars, Vocals, Guitar Synths (fmr Guitarist Urgent Cry)
Three years old and the first change occurred. The trio became a quartet. Ken Steorts left to found the Visible Music School (responsible for creating the band Luminate among others). The new lineup was:
- John Cooper: Vocals, Bass, Loops, Keyboards, Guitars
- Korey Cooper: (John's Wife) Keyboards, Loops, Sampling, Programming (fmr lead of the band Alkeme)
- Kevin Haaland: Guitar
- Trey McClurkin: Drums
The lineup of The Coopers, Peters and Haaland recorded a live worship album which will go on the Night Beats list of the Best Albums ever. I went to Christian Bookstores a lot at the time, and this was the only album which I remember forgetting to advance through the songs quickly. I went from song one, to two, to three, to four, before getting a little embarrassed. Needless to say I bought the CD. If you believe, like me, that "it ain't worship until your ears bleed", then this album is for you. Plus the extended "worship jams" (like the 5 minute Angels Fall Down jam).
Beginning with Collide (2003), the now firmly established Hard Rock/Industrial band began a practice of turning the title track on a CD into a signature piece, complete with massive orchestration and the like. More change occurred after Comatose when Peters left to be replaced by (now) gorgeous redhead Jen Ledger from Great Britain, the bands first reach out into the international talent pool. Haaland was replaced by Ben Kasica in 2001 and left to be replaced by current guitarist Seth Morrison. Comatose (2006) has a record three "love songs", which somehow mean a lot more to me now than when I originally bought the album.
Awake (2009) was the last time they were in the studio, but word is we may soon see something in the next year.
For A band which has thrived on change, even going so far as to have an Upright Bass and Violin in its lineup, the sky is the limit. And though they are now entering their forties, John and Korey still look like they're about twenty, so I don't forsee the band going away any time soon. And neither will The Night Beat, though we must take a bit of time off for Thanksgiving. Until we next meet, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
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