Reunion Summer

This year is turning out to be quite interesting if, like me, you kind of miss some of the "old" bands or artists. I'm speaking figuratively guys, you're only as old as you think.

First Came The Legends. This Year the Cornerstone Festival had a Jesus Rally. Present were the Legends of Rock. I have usually never wished that I was in Illinois in the Summer. This year was different

Jesus Music Rally

Thursday June 30, 2011

3:00 PM - Servant

3:50 PM - Barry McGuire

4:55 PM - Daniel Amos

5:50 PM - Randy Stonehill

6:50 PM - E Band

8:00 PM - Resurrection Band (REZ)

9:15 PM - Phil Keaggy

10:15 PM - Classic Petra

To a lot of Christian Music enthusiasts, this was a dream matchup. I mean what was there to complain about. O.K. "Hey, How come REZ got the most time of all of them (technically it's their festival), but apart from that. Of course shortly before news of this rally we heard that Petra was reorganizing under it's classic lineup, and things have gotten better since then. Sweet Comfort Band is getting reconstituted and recording again. Grammatrain, a band which announced they were breaking up the first (and Only) time I saw them in concert, recorded a new album, which you can hear on their site. According to Jesusfreakhideout.com Time and Space the first release from Miss Angie in a dozen years. (Triumphantine dropped back in 1999) will release next Tuesday. I am psyched.

The track listing:

1. Time and Space (feat. The Identity Crisis)
2. Letting Go (to your love)
3. Great is Your Salvation
4. I Dare Myself
5. Intermission (make the connect)
6. Lovestealer
7. Oh Daddy
8. Wanting My Heart
9. Hear My Prayer
10. Not Enough
11. Not Enough (Remix by Paradoxx)

You can listen to Time and Space, as well as Great is Your Salvation, I Dare Myself, Lovestealer, and Wanting My Heart, in their entirety on her official site. That's half the album folks. I would love to be able to get my hands on a full copy so I can make a review, but based on the five songs available, Fans of the first two albums will not be disappointed. There is just enough "space-pop" to satisfy, and it is combined with a now much matured voice. This is her best work yet, and I will give it a preliminary 4.5 Emeralds. Welcome back Miss Angie.

Finally, we have Burlap to Cashmere, which released their last Album Anybody Out There? back in 1998. Their self-titled release which came out this past Tuesday, is available to listen to in its entirety though hearitfirst.com. After listening, I would hope you would return to the site and support the night beat by buying through this site. I hope to have a full review up on the site soon.

That will do it for now. As Always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Heat is On: PVA 2011 3rd Qtr Nominees - Alternative

We come to Alternative, which in my opinion has always been the most subjective of the genres. If push came to shove most alternative music out there would simply be classified as rock or hard rock (mostly rock), and for most of the major awards out there it is. Since right now this is a one person operation, considering various sub-genres as it were is a two edged sword. On the one hand it creates more groups to keep track of, but on the other hand it makes each group more manageable, and right now, the latter is more important.

Alternative

If the nominations for the 2011 Platinum Vinyl Awards closed today, we would have a full slate of nominees from this quarter alone. That's right, seven nominees were eligible this quarter, and we still have the results from the first two quarters as well. As always, this is a prolific genre.

• Control, Abandon
• With Shivering Hearts We Wait, Blindside
• Easy for you to say, Hello Kelly (D)
• Weights and Measures, Hyland (D)
• Dwell, Aaron Keyes
• Come and Drink, Matthew Reed
• Light Makes a Way, Remedy Drive

Seven entries, two debuts. Of them all I was quite impressed with the debut of Hyland. Some were a little too critical I think by saying they were a clone of Anberlin. We all choose our mentors, and I think one could have picked much worse. Click for my full review of Weights and Measures. Swedish Alternative/Pop act Blindside is also worth checking out. Genre leader Remedy Drive makes a case with their EP Light Makes a Way, but like all well produced EP's, you wish there were more.

As the Modern Worship genre gets more entrants than Hillsong, it is evolving into a less Adult Contemporary and more Alt/Rock genre. As such there are two Modern Worship/Alternative double nominees this time around, with both Aaron Keyes and Matthew Reed appearing in both categories. Simply by coincidence, we will be going to Modern Worship next. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Heat is On: PVA 2011 3rd Qtr Nominees - Gospel/R&B

It's amazing how fast things can go when one genre doesn't have any possible entries and four others have so few they can go into only two posts. Such will not be the case from now on. We move on to Gospel, the real kind, as opposed to that stuff called Southern Gospel (aka "The Devil's Music"), as well as its close relative Rhythm and Blues aka (R&B). The two styles combine quite effortlessly in CCM and it makes sense to combine them, even though no one would really mistake Fred Hammond (Gospel) with say Trinitee 5:7 (definitely R&B).

Gospel/R&B

There were 6 potential nominees this time around, which is encouraging, since, for all of last year, I was only to come up with eight nominees total, which I whittled down to seven (the cast off was We Fit by K-Drama). We wont have a problem like that this time around.

• The Love Album, Kim Burrell
• Keep Living, Ricky Dillard
• What if We Were Real, Mandisa
• Never Odd or Even, Shonlock
• My Heart Says Yes, Troy Sneed
• Angel & Chanelle, Trinitee 5:7

Of the six nominees, if I had to break it down, Burrell, Dillard and Sneed (I don't know why, but that sounds like a law firm) would go into Gospel and Shonlock, Mandisa and Trinitee 5:7 would be R&B. I am familiar with four of the six artists (I never heard of Ricky Dillard or Troy Sneed before this quarter), and I was the most surprised by Mandisa. Since he is a double genre nominee, all I will say is to Check out my full reviews of What if We Were Real and Never Odd or Even by clicking on their titles.

Six down, Four to go. Next up is Alternative. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Heat is On: PVA 2011 3rd Qtr Nominees - Hard Rock and Hip Hop

We continue with the Third Quarter nominations for the 2nd Annual Platinum Vinyl Awards, continuing this time with Hip Hop and Rap and Hard Rock. Usually these two categories can be relied upon to produce quite a few entries in any given quarter. Surprisingly though, each only gave us four entries this time around.

Hip Hop & Rap

As I said above, there were only four eligible entries in Hip Hop and Rap. Not surprisingly, they were from some of the leaders in the genre.

• Live In Concert, Manafest
• Hotdoggin, Playdough
• Never odd or Even, Shonlock
• Blacklight, Tedashii

Playdough is a new one to me, but you've got to have an artist willing to name himself after a moldable clay, at least that's what I think he is naming himself for. With the Hip Hop Community, you just never know. Of the four entries this quarter I confess to be most knowledgeable about Tedashii, and I can thank the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for that. For those not in the know, the BGEA and Franklin Graham sponsored Rock The River in Canada at the end of Summer last year, and Tedashii was at 2 of the Three Events. Now You Know. As to Shonlock, read more later in the post.

Hard Rock

Another short list this time around, but, with the exception of August Burns Red, there weren't any leaders in this group.

• Leveler, August Burns Red
• Before There Was, The Chariot
• Dissimulation, Hope for the Dying
• Ark of the Covenant, Separation

This quarter I didn't get to hear any of these in their entirety with the exception of Shonlock. I did manage to get a review of Never odd or Even in. Once again I would like to thank the staff of New Release Tuesday for keeping the album preview up for Three Straight Weeks. I really do love you guys.

That finishes the first four categories. Technically we are half way done with the quarter, seeing that Folk/Folk Rock had no entries this time around. Up next is Gospel/R&B. As I say now at the end of every post, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Heat is On: PVA 2011 3rd Qtr Nominees - Children's Music and Dance

We begin the listing of potential nominations for the 2nd Annual Platinum Vinyl Awards with the Children's Music and Dance Categories. Now I wish to remind my readers that these are "POTENTIAL" nominations. When the year of eligibility is finished on September 30, the list will begin to be whittled down to, hopefully, Seven Final Nominees in each category.

One final note. I am seriously leaning toward weaselling out with an Inspirational category to get out of my Jackie Evancho dilemma. I am currently listening to Come Down O Love Divine by Fernando Ortega, and it seems that this could be a second entry in an inspirational genre. It sounds beautiful, and if I looked hard enough, I am sure I could round up a handful of others. We'll see. On to the Nominees.

Children's Music

There were only two entries this time around. Since last year we only had two entries total, we seem to be on the same pace. Unless I find a rush of Veggie Tales releases, this one should be quick once more.

• K5 Kids Sing The Songs of Toby Mac, K5
• Maranatha Kids Top 25 Kids Praise Songs, Various Artists

Dance (inc. Trance, Synthpop and Industrial

Things were a little better on the dance floor. I know, there were a few heart attacks as I said that. ("True Christians don't dance" is the common mantra). There were twice as many entries for dance this quarter as our entire Children's Music total year to date.

• One Girl, Katelynne Cox (D)
• All Things Bright and Beautiful, Owl City
• Water Colours, Swimming With Dolphins (D)
• Feedback, Derek Webb

As I have mentioned before, I managed to review One Girl a few months ago. The title link will take you there. That does it for now. Next up will be the final two categories with just a handful of entries this time around: Hip Hop/Rap and Hard Rock. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Heat is On: PVA 2011 3rd Qtr Nominees - Introduction

The Third Quarter Releases are completed and tabulated, and are now ready to be announced. This time around there were no eligible releases in the Folk/Folk Rock category, and only two in the Children's Music category. All the others had a good showing, with at least four releases in each of the remaining nine categories. (On a editorial note, we may go to eleven categories from now on. As I am archiving the PVA's to their own page on this site, we may split Traditional Folk and Folk Rock apart for good.)

This time I am appealing to the readers of The Night Beat to help me out with a dilemma. As you may have read in a previous post, I am impressed with the vocal abilities of the young Jackie Evancho, and I awarded her album Dream With Me a perfect 5 Emerald rating. She's in to the final round, no questions about that. I need a category please. The General Field is obvious. I can think of four nominations for her there (The Night Beat DJ's Choice Award, Female Vocalist of the Year, New Artist of the Year, Artist of the Year). It's the genre based Album of the Year categories where I am stumped. She comes across to me as Opera, and, if that's so, she would be the only nominee in the category. Children's Music is a stretch. We're talking about music by a child, not for children. Pop?, Create an Inspirational Category (I hate those, it sounds so weaselly, but it may be my best option. A little help would be appreciated. Please comment your opinion.

I will start with the roll out tomorrow with Children's music and Dance, but that will be all for today, as I say all the time in closing, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Welcome Jackie Evancho Fans

Sometimes you just stumble into things. Yesterday I posted my rewind for June, and little did I know what awaited me. While today will be a little light, mainly because I forgot my notes, yesterday was quite a day. Logging in I discovered I had picked up 196 new visitors because of my June Rewind post. All I can say is thank you JackieJunkies! Blog.

I think that my time as a DJ has given me the ability to recognize talent. I mean, you listen to enough music and you can pick out things that the average listener never will. From the reputed 8 octave voice of Greg X. Volz, to the operatic range of Sandi Patty, certain voices rise above the fray. The downside in this modern age is two-fold. First, with an abundance of shows out there (American Idol, The Voice, America's Got Talent, etc) who knows how long America's "fascination" (and I mean that in a good way) with Jackie Evancho will last. It could be infinitessimally short. That would be a shame. This in turn would lead to the second pitfall. She would either be persuaded to get all she can upfront and cash out, say, by the time she's fifteen, or, for the sake of logevity, abandon "opera" for pop music. That would expose her to a bigger audienc, but the reason people initially loved her ("the voice") would be gone. Both should be avoided. All the J.E. fan has to do is look at the case of Katy Hudson (aka Katy Perry). If you check out her self-titled (as Hudson) release, you will hear a mature sounding, resonant voiced teenager. Katy Perry? Lots of success, but I think the term pop princess and all it entails describes her perfectly. The resonant voice is gone, the common pop-shrill replaced it. A shame. Gospel or Mainstream has nothing to do with it. She changed her voice for success. I would advise Jackie Evancho not to do the same.

I could rant on that for a while, but I will refrain. All I will say is check out my two previous posts for more on that with Brought To You By the Letter K and One Girl named Katy, Take Two.

Well, the second year of the Night Beat is off to a roaring start. I'm ready, and thanks for making it fun. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.