Music Video Monday: Moment to Moment

Welcome to the latest edition of Music Video Monday. Since I am continually getting new readers care of Facebook, I think it is only proper that I should continue with my introduction every week. Music Video Monday is where I share the best in Christian Music Videos on the web. Think of it as my way to resurrect the original MTV.

We have come to the Rock Genre for the 3rd Quarter Releases of 2012. Due to the abundance of videos out there, (there were 10), I am once again splitting this into two weeks, and part two will be out on Labor Day. Todays edition will be somewhat more sedate than next. We'll leave the hard stuff for the holidays.

We begin with Big Daddy Weave, one of those bands that I had somewhat forgotten about. This is Redeemed off of their album Love Come To Life.

We move on to our next band, the Rock/Worship band Deluge. This is a live performance of Your Joy from their release Swell.

Continuing with Rock/Worship, this is The Hurt and The Healer, the song from the album of the same name by legend Mercy Me.

We conclude with the harder stuff, a preview to next week. We Begin with a band originally called Magnified Plaid. Thankfully it got shortened to MxPx. This is Far Away from Plans Within Plans.

And we conclude with Sibling Punkers Children 18:3 and Moment to Moment from their latest release On the Run.

That concludes this edition of Music Video Monday. We will be having an MVM post on Labor Day, and we will finish up the Rock genre with videos from The Rocket Summer, Thousand Foot Krutch, Willet, Write This Down, and Classic Petra. Until then, or my next post, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Je Suis Fini

Very rarely do we stretch out a genre over two weeks, but such will be the case for the Two rock genres. Both Hard Rock and Rock just had too many videos to squeeze into a single post.

We begin with The Overseer, and Amend, from their June release, We Search, We Dig.

Our second video is from To Speak of Wolves and their new release, Find Your Worth, Come Home. This is Je Suis Fini which means "I am Dead".
We Conclude the Heavy Metal genre with War of Ages, which released Return to Life this past quarter. Prepare yourself for this one folks, the Music is not all that's heavy. This is Silent Night, and it ain't no Christmas Song. That concludes this edition of Music Video Monday, as well as the heavy metal videos for the 3rd Quarter. I would encourage all of you, if these videos of The Overseer , To Speak of Wolves, and War of Ages have piqued your interest, to click on the links and purchase through Amazon, and support The Night Beat at the same time. Next week we move on to Rock, and until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Rock

We end our rollout of the third quarter 2012 releases that are eligible for Platinum Vinyl Award consideration with Rock. Ten entries made the cut this quarter, and that would be more than enough on its own. As always, this one will have a lot of whittling down to do

Rock Music

• Big Daddy Weave - Love Come to Life
• Children 18:3 - On the Run
• Deluge - Swell
• MxPx - Plans Within Plans
• Mercy Me - Hurt & The Healer
• Petra - Best of the 80's
• The Rocket Summer - Life Will Write the Words
• Thousand Foot Krutch - The End Is Where We Begin
• Willet - Love On the Outside
• Write This Down - Lost Weekend

That's a lot of entries, and if you would like to help The Night Beat, click the titles to go to Amazon and purchase. We are an Amazon Associate, and your purchase will help support this blog. If you want to read my original full reviews, click on the band names.

That concludes the 3rd Quarter Rollout. We now continue with the final quarter of eligibility. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr - Hard Rock & Metal

We're down to the final two. Next up are the entries for Hard Rock and Metal. Remember, these bands and artists haven't won anything yet. They have merely been admitted into the initial eligibility pool for the 2012 Platinum Vinyl Awards, which will be the third annual ceremony. Without further ado:

Hard Rock & Metal

• Demon Hunter - True Defiance
• For Today - Immortal
• Haste The Day - Best of the Best
• The Overseer - We Search, We Dig
• To Speak of Wolves - Find Your Worth Come Home
• War of Ages - Return to Life

One more to go. Before we wrap things up, I want to remind you to enter my first ever giveaway for a copy of Heather Williams This Time Around. You can enter either on my Facebook Page or on the original blog post. With under one hundred entries right now, and nine days to go, your odds are terrific. So enter today and get all your possible entries. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Dance

We are continuing with our announcing of Third Quarter releases which crossed the initial bar of admission to the pool of Platinum Vinyl Award contenders. This time we move onto the Dance genre. Five releases mad the initial cut this quarter.

• Family Force Five - III.V
• The Letter Black - Hanging on By a Remix
• Owl City - Shooting Star (EP)
• Page CXVI - Re:Hymns
• The Washington Projects - Space Time Continuum: The Remixes

Both The Washington Projects and The Letter Black normally wouldn't be found in this genre. Their usual home is Hip Hop and Rock, respectively. However the remix is particular to Techno, and if one is done correctly, will turn anything into a dance album. (There is one exception - Switchfoot - Vice Re-Verses - why?)

Hard Rock and Rock are the only two genres remaining. Then we can get on with the new stuff. Click on the links to go to Amazon and buy from them. You will get some great music and support The Night Beat at the same time. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Pop

Before I begin with the task at hand, a welcome and a little gloating. The Night Beat began (apart from a now deleted 4th of July Post) on July 8, 2010. Though I knew that I wasn't the only fish in the sea, I didn't know who they were at first. One of the first competitors I discovered was Jays Muzik Blog. Well, he started just before me and I Survived Him! So to all of Jays readers, I hope you will choose to make the WENC Night Beat your new home.

Continuing our announcing of the 3rd Quarter 2012 releases (for PVA Eligibility, that 3rd Quarter is April - June 2012). We move on to the Pop Music Genre. While the genre as a whole has been very well represented, not so much this quarter. There were only five entries this quarter. Considering that I will narrow things down to Seven nominees at the end, five sounds pretty good. However, considering the Pop Pool is now thirty strong, that means that the first two quarters contributed twenty-five, so that puts things in perspective.

Pop Music

• Mat Kearney - Young Love (Deluxe Edition) [+video] [+digital booklet]
• Jon McLaughlin - Promising Promises
• Point of Grace - A Thousand Little Things
• Rock Loves Emily - Secrets Don't Make Friends
• Holly Spears - Heartache to Hope

Only three more to go. To all the new readers coming from Jay, please follow me on Facebook or Twitter. And while you're here, don't forget to enter my This Time Around Giveaway for a copy of Heather Williams perfect album of the same name. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Alternative

Continuing once again with our rollout of the PVA eligible releases for the 3rd Quarter. We move from Gospel to Alternative. This was also pretty well represented.

Alternative

• 12 Stones - Beneath The Scars
• Bellarive - The Heartbeat
• Canopy Red - Wake Up
• The Choir - The Loudest Sound Ever Heard
• Lovelite - In Three Persons
• Mewithoutyou - Ten Stories
• Newworldson - Rebel Transmission

12 Stones is a solid group, now going independent. They welcomed Evanescence into the Wind-Up fold and became the 1-2 Christian Band duo at Wind Up. Though Evanescence is more mainstream, both have deep spiritual themes.

We are almost through with the rollout, only four more remain. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Gospel

We Continue our revelations of the early nominee pool for the 2012 Platinum Vinyl Awards. Another well represented genre this quarter, and every quarter, is Gospel/R&B. Now as I gain new readers every day via our Inaugural Giveaway, I feel I should explain that the fact that these albums are in the pool does not guarantee that they will win an award. There is still the voting process. But just like they say you can't win if you don't enter, if you don't make the initial pool, you can not win an award. This is the first hurdle.

Without further ado, the 3rd Quarter initial nominations for

Gospel/R&B Music

• Regina Belle - Higher
• Todd Dulaney - Pullin Me Through
• Deitrick Haddon - A Beautiful Soul (Music Inspired By The Motion Picture)
• Israel & New Breed - Decade
• Israel & New Breed - New Season
• Forever Jones - Musical Revival
• Mary Mary - Go Get It
• Marvin Sapp - I Win
• Anita Wilson - Worship Soul

Now I have one caveat, and that is that both the Israel and New Breed releases, while qualifying on content, are re-issues, and this year that has produced a new curve for me. There are a lot of re-issues, and I have to decide whether to include them. One more time, I encourage you to enter the giveaway either on this blog or at My Facebook Page (click on the giveaway tab). And while your at it, get extra entries by liking the page or following me on twitter. Until the next time I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Modern Worship

Continuing with the announcement of the Spring Releases which crossed the initial bar to qualify for the pool of entries eligible for the Platinum Vinyl Awards. This of course only means they get to be judged, but if you don't make the pool, you can't win.

We move on to the Modern Worship genre. No one who is remotely knowledgeable about Christian Music should be surprised that this pool is an extremely large one. It seems these days that just about every Church has produced a worship album, and those that haven't yet are probably in the studio as I write. Most are good, and some are great. It is my job to weed out the great from the good.

Modern Worship

• Bluetree - Kingdom
• Delirious - The Cutting Edge Years
• Deluge - Swell
• Desperation Band - Center of it All
• Maranatha - Top 25 Praise Series Classics
• Christy Nockels - Into The Glorious
• Planetshakers - Heal Our Land
• Travis Ryan - Fearless
• Stuart Townend - The Ultimate Collection
• Phil Wickham - Singalong 2

All of these albums were above par, rising above the typical Hillsong Copy. The live album by Phil Wickham is also outstanding in the audience participation, though his voice did crack on the high notes a few to many times.

Three down, eleven to go. Stay with me as the results are revealed. Also stay with me tomorrow as we have a special Flashback Friday as I review the 30th Anniversary Re-Issue of More Power To Ya. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - AC/Inspirational

Continuing our revelation of the nominees to the initial pool of Platinum Vinyl Award contenders for the Third Quarter of 2012. Yes that was torturous, but it's the truth. All this does is admit you to contention. You still have to survive initial voting to get to the Seven Final Nominees (the only exception to the rule is if you get a Perfect 5 rating. Those go straight through to the final seven).

This time we go with a new and growing category. Adult Contemporary/Inspirational started last year as simply Inspirational, and it seems a nice home for those albums that aren't pop or rock enough, as well as those that aren't exactly worship either. This category did very well this quarter.

Adult Contemporary/Inspirational

• Fike -The Moment We've Been Waiting For
• Amy Grant - Rock of Ages: Hymns of Faith
• Lara Landon - Overcome
• Natalie LaRue - Even Now
• Dan Macaulay - From You For You
• Moriah Peters - I Choose Jesus
• BeBe Winans - America America

There are a few caveats to this list that may prevent them from going on. Amy Grant is a reissue of an album, not a current album. There are a bunch of them this year and I'm not sure how to treat them yet. BeBe Winans is definitely inspiring, but it is also a special 4th of July Music album, and since I don't award Christmas Music, I'm wondering how to treat this one. Feel free to chime in by commenting. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr 2012 Nominees - Children's Folk Rap

We begin the process, as we do each quarter, of revealing, by category or genre, those releases that I believe are worthy of going into the Platinum Vinyl Award Pool. Some of the genres aren't as prolific as others, and, as is the case, we combine them into one post. We begin with one such post. This time we will combine the Children's Music, Folk/Folk Rock, and Rap/Hip-Hop genres, which, this quarter, had 2, 1, and 3 entrants, respectively.

Children's Music

• Martha's Trouble - A Little Heart Like You
• Various - Faith, Hope and Lullabies: Sing Me to Sleep

Not much here. Martha's Trouble made the inaugural Platinum Vinyl Awards in Folk/Folk Rock and other categories for Anchor Tattoo. This is a different direction from them.

Folk/Folk Rock

• The Vespers - The Fourth Wall

While there weren't any real entries to pick from, one is all it takes, and this one was a doozy. This one should go far this year. Not predicting Barton Hollow style success, but it should do well.

Rap/Hip Hop

• KJ-52 - Dangerous
• Manafest - Fighter
• Trip Lee - The Good Life

Three solid releases from three established artists. I was only a little disappointed that there wasn't a solid new artist in this category. One more quarter to find one. By the way, check out my review of The Fourth Wall by clicking on the link. And don't forget to Like The Nightbeat on Facebook. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.