Music Video Monday: Bringing NYVES to a Gunfight

Welcome to an all new edition of Music Video Monday, where we play the best Music Videos from the best in CCM and the Fringe and GRAC. If it's great, you'll see and hear it here.

We begin with a "new" artist. Actually, they have been around for a year or so. The name is +ILIA Music . They are a hot new sound out of Little Rock, Arkansas. Before you say "Can anything good come out of Little Rock?" I would remind you that it is the same city that produced Evanescence, so there is a good musical heritage. This is Young Diaries, off their album Reborn.
They say to never bring a knife to a gunfight. Well, they must never have heard of NYVES. They can be forgiven, because they are new. Again, sort of. It is an electronic side project from Ryan Clark, lead vocalist of Demon Hunter. This is Return

Finally, a video from the ongoing concept. They are still not ready for prime time in my opinion, but they are growing on me as they progress. This is Handmade.

That does it for this week. Next week is a special edition of Music Video Monday. How special?, you ask. Next Monday at 7pm Eastern Time the #PlatVnyl5 Award Ceremony will take place, and you can finally find out who was named the best of the year. We will be sharing the winners on the blog all next week, so stay tuned. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Hurricane

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled edition of Music Video Monday. The Music may be heating up, but the weather around here is more reminiscent of March than June. Let's get on to the Videos.

We begin with Lifehouse. They recently released an album entitled Out of The Wasteland. This is the Music Video from the Single Hurricane

Next up we go to the airport to listen to Twenty One Pilots. From the album Blurryface, this is Stressed Out.
And finally, we go to Rap, and SPEC. This is Don't You Know.
That's it for this week. Until next week, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Exhale

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled edition of Music Video Monday. It has been difficult to maintain our regular schedule recently, but I think we may begin to be able to pull it off now. I may have to schedule them in advance, but such will be the case.

We begin our journey with an artist I have been hot and cold with. Jimmy Needham is his name, and this time I am tending to hot, but I'm not so sure about the video end of it. This mascot bombing thing (which I assume is the Vice part) is pretty cruel. Yes it was probably staged, but why?

Next we go to a long awaited return by one of my favorite Rock bands, and yes it is an FFR band. Fireflight is back, and they've gone through a sound change as well. This is more poppy than the Fireflight I was used to. Still, they have pulled it off seamlessly, and I like the result of INNOVA, though I still don't know why they named their album after a Disc Golf Company. This is We Are Alive.

Last, but certainly not least, we return to my favorite Fruit (er, Dance Artist). I mean Plumb (aka Tiffany Arbuckle Lee). She continues to Crank out perfection in Pop, Electronica, Dance and Rock. This is the title cut from the Perfect Album Exhale.

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

Night Beat Rewind: May 2015

We seem to be back on Schedule. April is up and linked and now May has been finished with a few days to go. If the release schedule has its Summer Slowdown I may even have the breathing room needed to make a proper #PlatVnyl5 awards ceremony. We did have some individual songs released during May

The Singles Scene

• Salt of The Sound - Dwell Among Us 4.75 Emeralds

Although like the 45 there are two sides to these singles they only usually pick one to announce. So, this month it really is a single single scene. We move on to the albums that did not get included in the pool.

Missing The Mark

• Audio Adrenaline - Sound of The Saints 3.75 Emeralds
• Faith Child - Airborne 3.75 Emeralds
• Jerry Fee - We Are The Voices 3.75 Emeralds
• Gemstones - Blind Elephant 3.75 Emeralds
• Hillsong United - Empires 3.75 Emeralds
• Unspoken - Unplugged 3.75 Emeralds
• Various - Tyscot Loud Platinum Mixtape 3.50 Emeralds

What can I say? I know I don't like Audio Adrenaline 3.0. They have made great strides in becoming a band that people will swear they've heard before, and that is the problem. They used to have a fairly unique sound. And with the exception of EDM outreach Hillsong Young and Free everything out of Sydney these days sounds pretty much mailed in. As opposed to our next grouping.

Pure Platinum Perfection

• Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal Live In New York City 5 Emeralds
• Foreverlin - Still After 5 Emeralds
• Plumb - Exhale 5 Emeralds

Really not much to say here. Anberin (should I say the late Anberlin?) and Plumb are consistently excellent. Foreverlin is a new discovery, yet I like them. Now for those in between the extremes.

Semi-Precious Metals

• 21 Pilots - Blurryface 4.75 Emeralds
• Abandon Kansas - Alligator 4.75 Emeralds
• Blanca - Blanca 4.75 Emeralds
• Cornell Burton, Jr - The Singles EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Elim Sound - Elim 100 4.50 Emeralds
• Emery - You Were Never Alone 4.75 Emeralds
• CJ Emulous - Light It Up 4.50 Emeralds
• Chad Evans - Before and After 4.75 Emeralds
• Fedel - Flaw 4.50 Emeralds
• Mia Feldes - Ashes 4.50 Emeralds
• Fireflight - INNOVA 4.75 Emeralds
• Jon Foreman - The Wonderland: Sunlight EP 4.75 Emeralds
• J Han - Tower Ivory 4.75 Emeralds
• Haste The Day - Coward 4.50 Emeralds
• Lonnie Hunter and Structure - #GETITDONE 4.50 Emeralds
• Illuminate - Charismata 4.25 Emeralds
• Kingdom - Acoustic Sessions 4.75 Emeralds
• Morgan Harper Nichols - Morgan Harper Nichols 4.50 Emeralds
• Jimmy Needham - Vice and Virtue 4.50 Emeralds
• Northwest Collective - Rejoice: Live From Seattle 4.50 Emeralds
• Pioneer - Passive Agression, Volume 1 4.50 Emeralds
• Planetshakers - Outback Worship Sessions 4.75 Emeralds
• Freddy Rodrigues - Amazed 4.75 Emeralds
• SPEC - Vacancy 4.50 Emeralds
• Gracie Schram - I Am Me 4.50 Emeralds
• Jonathan Singh - City Love Music 4.75 Emeralds
• Wolves at The Gate - Reprise EP 4.75 Emeralds

I am going to do the same thing this month. I will get this posted now and link it up Monday. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: April 2015

I'm beginning to think that I might actually do this. The rush to get #PlatVnyl5 under way, plus an abundance of current releases has combined to create a bit of a backlog. Fortunately things don't stay that way for long. The 2nd Quarter releases are in the bag, and we have already put out the March Edition of rewind. Now we are about to do the April edition of rewind and it is still May.

Web begin with a few songs released during the month of April, or as we like to call it:

The Singles Scene

• Big Dismal - Know You 4.50 Emeralds
• Jonathan Thulin - Compass (David Thulin Remix) 5 Emeralds

We move on to the Albums. Of Course we begin with those which did not make the #PlatVnyl6 Pool.

Missing The Mark

• Alex Faith & Dre Murray - Southern Lights: Overexposed 3.75 Emeralds
• Amy Grant - Be Still and Know: Hymns And Faith 3.75 Emeralds
• Steve Green - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection 3.75 Emeralds
• New Hope Christian College - New Hope Christian College 3.75 Emeralds
• Various - Little Boy Soundtrack 

Officially, all of these releases are very good, just missing the #PlatVnyl6 pool by a hair. Unofficially, however, very rarely has a nominee gotten in with a 4.50 Emerald score. Usually the minimum bar is 4.75 Emeralds, sometimes it has been all Perfect.

Next is the Perfect ones. Or as we call it here:

Pure Platinum Perfection

• Children 18:3 - Come In 5 Emeralds
• Kings Kaleidoscope - Becoming Who We Are (Instrumental) 5 Emeralds
• Rapture Ruckus - Invader (Deluxe Edition) 5 Emeralds

With only three Perfect Albums this month, I hopefully see the Candy Store as having reduced hours at the very least.

Semi-Precious Metal

• Chris August - The Maker 4.50 Emeralds
• Daniel Bashta - For Every Curse 4.75 Emeralds
• Beacon Light - Open Eyes 4.75 Emeralds
• Dan Bremnes - Where The Light Is EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Canyon Worship - Canyon 4.75 Emeralds
• Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be 4.75 Emeralds
• Lexi Elisha - Drowning in Love  4.75 Emeralds
• Jon Guerra - Little Songs 4.50 Emeralds
• Jesus Culture - This Is Jesus Culture (Live) 4.75 Emeralds
• Derek Johnson - Real Love 4.50 Emeralds
• KB - Tomorrow We Live 4.50 Emeralds
• Dustin Kensrue - Carry the Fire 4.75 Emeralds
• Kutless - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Kutless 4.75 Emeralds
• Matt McCoy - Alive and Free 4.50 Emeralds
• Sandra McCracken - Psalms 4.75 Emeralds
• Needtobreathe - Live From The Woods 4.75 Emeralds
• Christy Nockels - Let It Be Jesus (Live) 4.75 Emeralds
• People of The Earth - We Are People of the Earth 4.75 Emeralds
• Shane and Shane - The Worship Initiative 4.50 Emeralds
• The Showers - The Showers Family Group 4.50 Emeralds
• Bryan and Katie Torwalt - Kingdom Come 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - New & #1 Radio Hits of 2015 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Top 25 Modern Worship Songs 4.50 Emeralds
• Matthew West - Live Forever 4.75 Emeralds

Caught up. On to the May edition. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Polar Vortex Polka Redux: The 2015 2nd Quarter - Modern Worship

This is it. The final post for the 2nd Quarter of 2015. And what a post it is. Modern Worship had a whopping 19 eligible entries. I try to judge this category the hardest and somehow I have a whole lot to do at the end. Here is the Final List in all its glory

Modern Worship

• Bethel Music - We Will Not Be Shaken (Live)
• Bridgecity - Christ Be Glorified
• Sarah Brusco - The Woven Whisper
• Calling Glory - Life and Spirit
• Trev Conkey - Mighty Ocean Strong
• Danen Kane - Flesh and Soul
• NCC Worship - You Alone
• New Method - Greater
• Newport - Paradise
• North Point Music - North Point Music: Beginning
• Passion - Even So Come (Live In Atlanta)
• Robbie Seay Band - Psalms
• Sixteen Cities - The Depth of Your Love
• Jon-Micah Sumrall - Faith and Family
• Third Day - Lead Us Back: Songs of Worship
• Various - iWorship Now/Next 2015
• Vertical Church Band - Church Songs
• Watoto - Oh What Love
• Worshipmob - Carry The Fire

And that finishes off the 2nd Quarter of 2015. On to the 3rd Quarter of Music. Until next time. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Polar Vortex Polka Redux: The 2015 2nd Quarter - Gospel

Two left to go. I have finally got things under control here at Night Beat HQ. The announcement of the 2nd Quarter of 2015 is almost over. Actually, this is the penultimate post. Gospel had a very good showing as well, but not as well as our final post. Still, eleven entries makes almost two years worth of final material. These genres will require some heavy judging. Let's get to it.

Gospel/R&B

• Crystal Aikin - All I Need
• Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir - Pray
• Erica Campbell - Help 2.0
• Benita Farmer - Mender of Me
• Armar'rae Hill and True Foundation - We are Royalty
• Jason Nelson - Jesus Revealed
• Various - Billboard #1's Gospel Hits
• Various - Risen: Powerful Gospel Resurrection Songs
• Various - WoW Gospel 2015
• Virtue - Testimony Reloaded
• Brian Courtney Wilson - Worth Fighting For

Two perfect albums were in the mix, and they weren't on the Compilations. They were both among the ladies. Erica Campbell and Virtue were both Flawless. Modern Worship is the last and the greatest. They had a whopping nineteen entries this quarter alone. That would be just two shy of three years of finals. They are next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.