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.
Three genres to go. We are in the final stretch. Remaining are Modern Worship, Pop and Rap, surprisingly enough. We are covering pop, so I'll leave it to you to figure out who is the winner. It will be revealed soon enough.
Pop Music
Chris August - Seasons
Jonny Diaz - Sweetness and Sorrow EP
Tori Harper - Seasons EP
Mat Kearney - Crazy Talk
Mark Lee - Unshakable Heart
Lovecollide - Tired of Basic
Teresa Peterson - Faithfu EP
Plumb - Beautifully Broken
Plumb - Beautifully Broken (Remixes)
Sarah Reeves - Easy Never Needed You EP
Ryan Stevenson - No Matter What
11 songs for the bubblegum set. Mark Lee is a former member of Third Day. Kind of cements the breakup. Two releases from Plumb in this quarter by no means tips my hand. Modern Worship is next. Yes, they are only in second place. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Welcome back to another edition of Night Beat Rewind. We are back at Night Beat HQ after our Independence Day Holiday. That is the 4th of JULY to the rest of you. Yes, July. And with the end of June also ends the 3rd Quarter of #PlatVnyl9. Yes, we have only three months to go. It is partly due to how big this year has been that we are way behind on #PlatVnyl8. Partly. We begin with those songs released during the month, or as we like to call it:
The Singles Scene
Austin and Lindsay Adamec - Streams 4.75 Emeralds
As I Lay Dying - My Own Grave 5 Emeralds
Francesca Battistelli - The Breakup Song 5 Emeralds
C Boss - Summer Fun 4.75 Emeralds
Mack Brock - Into Dust 4.75 Emeralds
Aaron Cole - Off My Back 4.75 Emeralds
Color Theory - In Space No One Can Hear You Cry (Will Rock Remix) 5 Emeralds
Emasound - I Know 5 Emeralds
Austin French - Good Feeling 5 Emeralds
Tom Golly - His Name Is Jesus 4.75 Emeralds
The Gray Havens - Forever 4.75 Emeralds
For King and Country - Pioneers 5 Emeralds
Edu Linares - One In A Million (ft Goshen Sai) 5 Emeralds
Marshall Marshall - One of Us (IAIRVS DJ Remix) 5 Emeralds
Leigh Nash - Don't Get Me Wrong 4.75 Emeralds
North Point Inside Out - Unshakable Love ft Brett Stanfill 4.50 Emeralds
North Point Inside Out - Changed ft Heath Balltziglier 5 Emeralds
Sarah Reeves - Easy 4.75 Emeralds
V.Rose - S.O.S. 4.75 Emeralds
Jay Sanon - Swerve Off 4.50 Emeralds
Scandroid - Red Planet 4.75 Emeralds
Tony Tillman - Tryna Get It ft Byron Juane 4.25 Emeralds
On to the albums. We have a critical ear here at Night Beat HQ. We don't just hand out 5 Emerald ratings like candy, though you may wonder in just a moment. These are the releases that don't make the cut.
Missing The Mark
Antioch Live - History's Anthem 4.25 Emeralds
Xay Hill - Red Ranger, Part 2 3.75 Emeralds
John Mark McMillan - The Mercury Sessions 4.25 Emeralds
Nobigdy - Solar 3.75 Emeralds
Peabod - Healthy Snacks 3.50 Emeralds
Corey Wise - 4 Ever is Now 4.25 Emeralds
Now to the perfect albums. The Candy Man Can.
Pure Platinum Perception
Chris August - Seasons 5 Emeralds
The Choir - Bloodshot 5 Emeralds
God's Chosen - God's Chosen 5 Emeralds
Hillsong Young and Free - III 5 Emeralds
Jeremy Johnson - Legendary 5 Emeralds
Kevin Max - AWOL 5 Emeralds
Chris McClarney - Breakthrough (Live) 5 Emeralds
Jasmine Murray - Fearless 5 Emeralds
Plumb - Beautifully Broken (Remixes) 5 Emeralds
Somniscape - Calm, Volume 1 5 Emeralds
10 Perfect albums in a month. Talk about candy store. Though a 6/10 ratio is fairly balanced, though slightly sugary. The big amount, as usual, is in the middle.
Semi-Precious Metal
Amman/Josh - PiecesEP 4.75 Emeralds
Marqus Anthony - Walking By My Faith: Through The Storm EP 4.75 Emeralds
Cory Ard - The Blackout 4.75 Emeralds
Jonathan Cain - The Songs You Leave Behind 4.75 Emeralds
Circle of Dust - alt_machines 4.75 Emeralds
John DeGroff - Salt 4.75 Emeralds
Jonny Diaz - Sweetness and Sorrow EP 4.75 Emeralds
Enterline - Kingdoms 4.75 Emeralds
Fades Away - Resurrection, Part 1 EP 4.50 Emeralds
Heartsound - Heart Sound: Live From Vineyard Boise 4.75 Emeralds
Here Be Lions - Only a Holy God 4.75 Emeralds
Highland Worship - Vol 2: Jesus You Alone EP 4.50 Emeralds
Impending Doom - The Sin and Doom Volume 2 4.75 Emeralds
Javen - Grace 4.75 Emeralds
Lecrae - Let The Trap Say Amen 4.50 Emeralds
Lexi - Just Listen 4.50 Emeralds
Kevin Max - AWOL Deluxe Demo Sampler EP 4.75 Emeralds
Steven Malcolm - The Second City, Part 2 4.75 Emeralds
Owl City - Cinematic 4.75 Emeralds
Teresa Peterson - Faithful EP 4.50 Emeralds
Plumb - Beautifully Broken 4.75 Emeralds
Sareem Poems - Mind Over Matter 4.75 Emeralds
Prafitz - Nazarene Movements EP 4.75 Emeralds
Leon Timbo and Northern Lights United - Invitation to Worship, Volume 1 4.75 Emeralds
United Pursuit Band - Garden 4.50 Emeralds
Joey Vantes - The Vantes Project III 4.75 Emeralds
What a month. A great way to close a quarter. The 4th Quarter Awaits. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply
We are beginning to get back to normal here at Night Beat HQ. One of the major parts in the return to normalcy is the return of Music Video Monday. And we get a January Thaw at the same time. A double bonus. Without further ado, the first Music Video Monday of 2018. We begin with New Music from a New Artist. Brooke Robertson (of Duck Dynasty Fame) has thrown her hat into the CCM Ring. She released her debut EP entitled Have My Heart this past Friday and this is the video for the title cut. Next up we have Plumb (aka Tiffany Arbuckle Lee). She put out an EP this past quarter entitled God Help Me. From the EP, this is the title cut as well. In an all title cut edition of Music Video Monday we move on to RED. They released GONE. A band which, despite the lyrics of the song, will never "Fade Away". I think they will be here for a while, and when they do hang it up, which I hope is far away in the future, I have no doubt that they will go out with an orchestral bang. That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. 2018 is under way. Let's see if we can get a streak going. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Our three way tie wraps up with Pop Music. Once again Pop Music had a very good quarter. And, as you can see, it is a nice mix of veteran and newbie. On to the entrants.
Pop Music
Adam Agee - Paper Planes EP
Francesca Battistelli - Greatest Hits: The First 10 Years
Julie Elias - A Girl Like Me
Brandon Heath - Faith Hope Love Repeat
Plumb - God Help Me EP
Alexis Slifer - Famous For EP
John Tibbs - Heartland
Next up is Rock Music with 8. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
We are quickly wrapping up the nominee announcements for our Video of The Year segment of #PlatVnyl6. We are moving on to Video by a Female Artist. It's just a bookkeeping thing you know, just like FFR. The nominees are: Dance Up by +Abigail Duhon ; Exhale by Plumb ; Neosho by +Jennifer Knapp ; The Well by +JJHellermusic ; and We Will Rise by Natasha Owens. Our Playlist of the nominated videos: Video by a New Artist is Next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
We continue our announcements of the Video of The Year Nominees for #PlatVnyl6. Pop Video of The Year is next, and then we move on to the Electronic Music nominees. The nominees are: Exhale by +Plumb (official) ; Forget You In LA by Poema; Greater Is He by +BLANCA CALLAHAN ; In The New World by +AnnieMosesBandVEVO ; and The Well by +JJHellermusic . Here are the nominated videos in a single playlist. Dance-Synthpop is next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
We're Back with the Nominee Breakdowns. I had thought of abandoning this post and moving on to the general field since I had not narrowed down my Perfect 5's from which the Album of The Year would be awarded. I have since gotten things down to a reasonable number to extract a sampling. Not to say that these will be THE NOMINEES. Not yet anyway. Due to the differences in how we perceive genre, 2 genres and Album of The Year make 5 genres and Album of The Year at the Platinum Vinyl Awards.
The BPM Awards (Electronic/Dance Album of The Year) correspond to Dance/Synthpop Album of The Year and Electronic-Industrial Album of The Year. Their nominees:
Capital Kings - II 5 Emeralds (#PlatVnyl7)
Fireflight - Innova 4.75 Emeralds
Levi Whalen - Timelines 4.50 Emeralds
Rapture Ruckus - Invader 5 Emeralds
Transform DJ's - Never Alone4.75 Emeralds (#PlatVnyl7)
Capital Kings and Transform DJ's are in the #PlatVnyl7 Pool and Fireflight was in the Rock Pool, though I may give them a nod here since entries in these genres were low this year. Same with Levi Whalen, whose album I just learned about recently. As far as Automatic Qualifiers go, for Dance-Synthpop, we have just one, the compilation WoW Hits Party Mix, and Electronic-Industrial had two
NYVES - Anxiety 5 Emeralds
Rapture Ruckus - Invader Deluxe 5 Emeralds
The AMP Award (Rock/Alternative Album of The Year) actually corresponds to three categories here at the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Alternative Album of The Year, Rock Album of The Year, and Hard Rock/Metal Album of The Year. Their nominees:
P.O.D. - The Awakening 5 Emeralds
Red - Of Beauty and Rage 5 Emeralds
Seventh Day Slumber - Redline EP 4.75 Emeralds
Tree 63 - Land 4.75 Emeralds
XXI - Inside Out 4.75 Emeralds
This is a fluid area for #PlatVnyl6 even now, as Auto Qualifiers for alternative number 10, Rock 7 and Hard Rock 3. All are very good choices and I have no other comments except that P.O.D. is Hard Rock and Seventh Day Slumber is in #PlatVnyl7. As to our automatic qualifiers: Alternative Album of The Year
Anberlin - Cities: Live In New York
Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal: Live In New York
Foreverlin - Still After
Kings Kaleidoscope - Becoming Who We Are
Kings Kaleidoscope - Becoming Who We Are (Instrumental)
Lifehouse - Out of The Wasteland
Kevin Max - Broken Temples: Deluxe
Steve Taylor and The Perfect Foil - Goliath
Tenth Avenue North - Cathedrals
Jonathan Thulin - Science Fiction
Rock Album of The Year
Altar Boys - Gut Level Music (Re-Release)
Children 18:3 - Come In
Pillar - One Love Revolution
Red - Of Beauty and Rage
Sidewalk Prophets - Something Different
Sumerlin - Runaways Deluxe
Toby Mac - This Is Not A Test
Hard Rock/Metal Album of The Year
P.O.D. - The Awakening
Project 86 - Knives to the Future
Saint - Broad Is The Gate
I made a pronouncement that no Perfect 5 would be left out of the Finals. I intend to still keep that promise, even though it appears quite difficult this year. Not every release may get into a genre category. I may have to do some "creative shuffling" and there will be many who will feel snubbed.
Album of The Year is the Big Prize everyone wants, which is surprising since the Dove Awards no longer wants to award it. The five nominees for the WLCMA's, for the most part don't really seem to fill the expectations for such a prestigious award. Their Nominees:
Amanda Cook - Brave New World
Hawk Nelson - Diamond
Hillsong United - Empire
Jonathan Thulin - Science Fiction
Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be
The first requirement for an album of the year according to the rules of the Platinum Vinyl Awards is that the album in question MUSTcome from the Perfect 5 Pool. By that standard only Science Fiction by Jonathan Thulin makes the cut. Hillsong United wouldn't even make the initial pool at 3.75 Emeralds.
For this comparison I will keep to my best of 2015 list. The nominees for #PlatVnyl6 will most likely include some albums from October to December of 2014, and nothing after September 30, 2015. Calendar Year 2015 had 49 Perfect 5's. This was whittled to 18 for a best of list. A random selection from that list is as follows.
The City Harmonic - We Are
Toby Mac - This Is Not A Test
Plumb - Exhale
Red - Of Beauty and Rage
Jonathan Thulin - Science Fiction
All Perfect 5's from The Night Beat. A formidable judging job if you ask me. That does it for the album awards. I will skip the song awards because I am not ready in the least. We will go to the General field, which I can hobble together. Until Next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
The matchup begins. As we mentioned in our last post, the +We Love Christian Music Awards recently announced their nominee pool, and we here at the +The WENC Night Beat were pleasantly surprised to find we are pretty much on the same page. We go now to the actual nomination comparisons. We start with the Album Awards. One slight Caveat. We have not yet finalized our nominees yet, so I can only speak with possibilities except in the case of Perfect 5's, which are considered Automatic Qualifiers for the finals. The Hook Awards correspond to our Pop Album of The Year. Our biggest problem with this bunch of picks is we seem to have a difference of opinion on our definition of "Pop". Their nominees.
Blanca - Blanca 4.75 Emeralds
Jonathan Thulin - Science Fiction 5 EMERALDS
Kevin Max - Broken Temples: Deluxe 5 EMERALDS
Mat Kearney - Just Kids 4.75 Emeralds
Ryan Stevenson - Fresh Start 4.75 Emeralds
We agree with Blanca and Stevenson, and at 4.75 we shall see if they make the finals in Pop. Jonathan Thulin and Kevin Max, however are automatic qualifiers for Alternative, not pop, and Kearney is in the mix in Rock. I wish to suggest the following Pop Albums for Consideration.
Annie Moses Band - American Rhapsody 5 EMERALDS
JJ Heller - Sound of A Living Heart 5 EMERALDS
Plumb - Exhale 5 EMERALDS
Kerrie Roberts - My Hearts Lifted 5 EMERALDS
The Softlight Award correspond to our Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Album of The Year. Again we seem to differ in our genre interpretation. Their nominees
Chris August - The Maker 4.50 Emeralds
Jeremy Camp - I Will Follow 4.75 Emeralds
Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be 4.75 Emeralds
Plumb - Exhale 5 EMERALDS
Sidewalk Prophets - Something Different 5 EMERALDS
Of the five Daigle and August are in the right genre in our opinion, though August most likely wont get in the finals at only a 4.5. Plumb isn't her usual dance, but AC? Please. It's Pop. And Jeremy Camp and Sidewalk Prophets are both Rock. Only Two AQ's for AC from us for your perusal.
Big Daddy Weave - Beautiful Offering 5 EMERALDS
The City Harmonic - We Are 5 EMERALDS
The Prose Award, which they say is for Singer/Songwriter Album of The Year, would seem to correspond to our Folk/Folk Rock Album of The Year. You can check my latest rant to see what I think of the Singer/Songwriter label. Anyway, their nominees.
Andrew Peterson - The Burning Edge of Dawn 4.75 Emeralds
Cindy Morgan - Bows and Arrows 4.75 Emeralds
Jon Guerra - Little Songs 4.50 Emeralds
Josh Wilson - That Was Then, This Is Now 4.75 Emeralds
Sara Groves - Floodplain 5 EMERALDS
We have a number of problems to sort out here. One is misplaced genre, as Wilson and Morgan are Pop. Guerra is AC/Insp. Except for Guerra's 4.50 I Think they would make a fine finals. Our biggest problem is the meshing of eligibility years. Ours run from Oct 1- Sept 30, so Andrew Peterson and Sara Groves, while excellent choices, are in the running for #PlatVnyl7, not the current #PlatVnyl6 year. Again, not much for Folk AQ's but here are ours.
Jennifer Knapp - Set Me Free 5 EMERALDS
The Vespers - Sisters and Brothers 5 EMERALDS
I can hear the peanut gallery screaming "Jennifer's Not Christian Anymore". I never heard her renounce Jesus. These two are in big time. As to picking, here goes. I think Blanca should get the Hook Award, Daigle the Softlight and Sara Groves the Prose Award. We'll hit another bunch next time. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
The final of our trio is Pop Music. We still have one genre to go, and it is the biggie for the quarter.
Pop Music
Blanca - Blanca
David Dunn - Crystal Clear
Lexi Elisha - Drowning In Love
Chad Evans - Before and After
Jimmy Needham - Vice and Virtue
Morgan Harper Nichols - Morgan Harper Nichols
Plumb - Exhale
Populis - EP
Gracie Schram - I Am Me
Jonathan Singh - City Love Music
Lexi Elisha is an up an comer that seems to bounce around the genres, and Plumb is settling in quite nicely into the pop arena. And Blanca is set up for a promising post Group 1 Crew career. Only one more to go. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
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.
We move on with our announcements of the #PlatVnyl5 pool entries for the 4th Quarter. Pop Music was next on our genre ladder with eight entries. Since our aim is to whittle each genre down to seven entries, when a quarter has that number you know we will have a lot of judging to do.
Pop Music
Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be
David Dunn - Crystal Clear
Group 1 Crew - #Faster EP
The Lasting Hope - Sunsets and Second Chances
Moriah Peters - Brave
Plumb - Need You Now Deluxe
Brian Weaver - Motion
Ayiesha Woods - It's time
The only comment that needs to be added here is that both Plumb and Moriah Peters are in the final 7 because they both garnered Perfect 5's. Of course, when the judging occurs there may be more than 7 in the final. Next up is rock. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
We have reached the fourth of eight Genre based Video Awards. Once we have awarded the Dance/Synthpop Video of The Year, this portion of #Platvnyl4 will be half over. For those who haven't been keeping pace with the awards so far, click on the highlighted genres to see the results for Adult Contemporary, Alternative, and Pop. The five nominated videos came from all over the dance world, though one might have slipped in from hip hop. You just never know. Anyway, the five nominees are: Battery by +V ROSE ; Gold by +Britt NicoleGOLD ; I Don't Deserve You by +Paul van Dyk feat Plumb ; Solar System Remix by +Har Megiddo feat +Michael Ketterer ; and WHTVR by +Allistair Music .You can check out the nominated videos and artists at the nomination page for the category. Har Megiddo was really good, but the video was fairly old. While I really was rooting for Plumb, in the end the Hip Hop crossover won. The #PlatVnyl4 winner for Dance/Synthpop Video of The Yearis Battery by V.Rose
Like I said, we have reached the halfway mark of the #PlatVnyl4 Video Awards. Next up is the electronic sibling of Synthpop, Electronic/Industrial Album of The Year. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
This is it, fans, the final #PlatVnyl4 post, at least as far as the nomination process goes. From now on it will be all #PlatVnyl5 material except for Flashback Friday, which I have resurrected. The final category is that of Song of The Year. I usually go for mega anthems in this category, but the big requirement is that it has to be a song that makes you go WOW!. All of them qualify in the second respect, but not all make the first. A bunch of non-anthems in the mix. I have also suspended a lot of judging for this category, so there are a dozen nominees. And the nominees are: Bombs Away, +Jonathan Thulin (Feat. Charmaine) Dust to Dust, +The Civil Wars Fire and Fury, +skilletband Hope Will Rise, +Warr Acres Love Restores, +ShineBrightBaby Need You Now (How Many Times), Plumb Considering the number of nominees, I have made a decision to make this a two post segment in order to let people listen and judge. I am considering adding a survey portion to the awards this year and this is one of the categories I am thinking of. Stay tuned for part two. I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Next up among our nomination announcements, of which the entire list is already up at the nomination page, is that of Artist of The Year. These are the artists or duos, not bands, which stood out above the rest. The seven nominees are:
+The Civil Wars Even though they have a band like name, the team of Joy Williams and John Paul White is merely a duo. With two nominated albums now under their belt, and a win for Barton Hollow, the hope is that this isn't a lifetime achievement nomination for a band that has passed on.
+Caroline Cobb Big gambles can lead to bigger rewards. The gamble: Writing a song for every book of the Bible. Though the project needed to be scaled down (a 66 song collection would be unfeasible) Caroline takes us on a 12 song through the Bible journey and uses pop, folk and a bit of country in an enjoyable mix.
+JJHellermusic If we can be accused of bias here at Night Beat HQ, JJ is one of the reasons. She is consistent in her excellence.
Json
+Charlie Peacock The Civil Wars producer took some time out to put out a Jazz work that just boggles the imagination. Going down to Mystic indeed.
The final video category is upon us. Video of The Year. The five nominees in this category were deemed to be the best of all the videos in the pool, regardless of genre. These are the creme de la creme. (A little French culture for y'all). And the nominees are. Bombs Away, +Jonathan Thulin I Don't Deserve You, +Paul van Dyk feat Plumb K.I.D.S., +Farah Loux Unstable, +Anberlin Waiting Alone, +SHINY TOY GUNS Like I said, the creme de la creme. Watching these gave you a certain WOW. And in some cases creeped you out. You can check all the nominees at the nomination page. I will do more posts for the New Artist, Artist, Song and Album of The Year. And then we shall be done until the awards. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply
Next up is Video by A Female Artist. Once again we have five nominated videos, which distinguishes this category from the album and song awards, where we try to have seven nominees per category. The reason for this is the blog. Seven videos is a long scrolling experience. Five is pushing it, but under that seems like a waste. The nominees are: Battery, V.Rose Gold, +Britt NicoleGOLD I Don't Deserve You, Paul Van Dyk feat Plumb Loved, +JJHellermusic Wanted, +daramaclean
Those are the nominees. Watch, enjoy, and vote in the comments. I encourage your votes to help me pick the winners. Next up is Video by A New Artist. The young Turks get to shine. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
