It barely made it on to the scene this year, but hip-hop artist KABOOSE’s video for the song “Goin’ Outta Control” made its way on to you tube last week.

The track comes off of his latest CD with Syntax Records, called Excuse Me. KABOOSE has only been in the Christian hip-hop scene for a short time, but is already making a big name for himself. The video is a fun, bouncy mix of flash animation depicting not only the graphic design elements of his album artwork, but also illustrates the lyrics to the song as they are being said. According to his record label, he is their highest selling artist to date, and with quality videos like this, we don’t think it is going to stop anytime soon.

First Runner-Up: Ambassador- Gimme Dat!

Ambassador is one of the founding members of the foundational Christian hip-hop super group, The Cross Movement. He and his partners have been dedicated to their ministry of using hip-hop to reach people since the mid-nineties, and his latest album The Chop Chop: From Milk To Meat is another solid testament to his talent and devotion to his ministry. The song and video deal with the idea of letting God determine what is good for you, and being satisfied with the things He gives us. Note at the end of the video when the men in suits, that were happy to eat what was in front of them, were rewarded with so much more….

My partner’s recent rant about spiritual ambivalence in the music industry simultaneously rings true for me and causes me to pause. We are building One21music on meaningful music that others shun because of legalism, yet we are criticizing music without truly knowing the musician’s heart.

At the same time, Christian artists must represent our faith, not in our way, but in Christ’s way. Christian musicians face all of the challenges and temptations we face and maybe even more. One21music embraces the Christian musician who openly shares his or her struggles as a believer trying to follow their faith in a world of temptation. I do hope that Christian musicians understand that they hold a position of significant influence with new believers and struggling non believers and that they accept this responsibilty fully.

However, we can not, as a parent, youth worker and spiritual leader of growing Christians, abdicate responsibility for discerning uplifting, spiritually challenging or wholesome music to the Mainstream or Christian music industry. That is why it is incumbent on us, parents, youth pastors and other spiritual guides, to provide the discernment in music that young and new believers need.

Discernment is different than legalism. Discernment, in this case, is the careful consideration of music (and other influences) to determine its consistency with your beliefs and the beliefs you promote to those in your realm of influence. Legalism is the enforcement of those same judgments on the creators of the music, such that you attempt to force the musicians into creating within your set of values. It is not the artists’ responsibility to protect your heart, it is yours. New and developing believers sometimes need help in navigating that road.

Far too many Christian leaders concede the responsibility for discernment and allow their young believers to fully step into the malaise of the mainstream music culture. More than 90% of the Christian youth I worked with listened to music promoting horrific lifestyles and worldviews. It is difficult to battle the pervasive forces of popular music, but how can we effectively develop believer’s values when we endorse, through apathy, the influence of those glorifying ideas we reject?

Rather than face the beast of popular music culture many Christian leaders try to move Christian Youth to the “safe” confines of the Christian music industry. In my experience this does not work because the universe of quality music in the mainstremm Christian music scene is just too small and too isolated to sustain a music oriented youth through their music life cycle. At some point they will branch out from the Christian scene and they will have not developed the skills to discern those who are creating uplifting music from those who are promoting false doctrine from those who are spitting on our Christian values.

Discernment is difficult. It requires a meaningful understanding of the offerings on the market. It requires research on the artists. It requires reading lyrics. Discernment requires that you actually listen to a lot of music you will probably hate and you will probably even need to go to some concerts. I spent many nights in a room of people half my age trying to read a good book by the light of the merch table.

My journey of discernment, “How Christian Music Saved Us“, took me from ska to hip hop to hardcore and beyond. I laughed through teens skanking to The O.C. Supertones; encountered pierced, tattooed, leather sporting Christian bikers at a P.O.D. concert and was overwhelmed by the showmanship of Project 86.

One21music is trying to make your journey of discernment a little easier. We are doing the research. We are listening to the music. We will be encountering the musicians.

In doing so, we hope to help you focus on meaningful Christian music, that is wholesome and uplifting, that shares your faith and your Christian values. But make no mistake; you still need to exercise discernment. You will need to choose the One21 artists that express your faith and share them with others in your life.

Tell me what you think. How can we exercise meaningful discernment as Christian leaders without engaging in legalism?  Share with me your stories of trying to help you teens discern meaningful uplifting music from degrading music.

Happy Christmas

It is 6:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve and I am blissful.  I celebrate the birth of Christ every day, so these next few days are not unique for me in that way. But every year at this time I am overwhelmed with a sense of peace, joy and gratitude.  I am grateful that God has provided for us a time to pause and reflect on the true, enduring gifts he has given to us.

Whether you know Jesus as God, as your personal savior, or not, this weekend is a time to celebrate a history changing event.  We celebrate the birth of a man who, in three years, rocked the world.  Jesus was a man who taught such a profound message of love, peace, charity, community and humility that the entire western civilization has been built on his principles.  The ideals he proclaimed are so fully ingrained in our culture that we cannot fathom a world where Jesus’ teachings are not the standard by which all actions are judged.

Jesus was, at the bare minimum, the greatest man who ever lived.  If that is all you can grasp of Jesus, celebrate his message this weekend.

Of course, many of us know Jesus as so much more than just the greatest man who ever lived.  If you know Jesus as God and as savior, I encourage/ challenge you to celebrate him every day with this same intensity of joy and love.

Some of you are entering this season with someone missing from your life.  You may even be alone.  I have not experienced that, so I cannot imagine what this weekend is like for you.  I do pray that in the stillness of the next few days, you can open your heart to God’s presence.  You may be mourning, but I know you are not alone.

Most of the world enters this year’s holiday with some level of financial angst.  Many of us have seen our financial security blanket shrink and we are unsure of what is to come.  Some come into this holiday without work or facing the fear of losing a job soon. I have been there.

It was not long ago that our family went through the holidays without a job, without much cash and with no prospects.  It was one of our best Christmas’s ever. We truly experienced a Christmas miracle.  We were able to provide our children some gifts, which they loved.  We were even able to provide Christmas, gifts and a Christmas dinner, to another family.  Most importantly we were able to experience God moving in our lives.

In these troubled financial times, please remember that God has promised to provide your needs.  Close your eyes to what the world says you need and fall back into God’s arms to receive his blessing.

We at One21music wish you and your family the most joyous of holidays.  We will check back in next week.

Merry Christmas; Peace on Earth

Danielson, Danielson Famile, Tri-Danielson, Br. Danielson
Genre: Rock
Styles: Indie, Avant garde, Experimental
Location: Clarksboro, NJ
Label: Secretly Canadian / Sounds Familyre
Website: http://danielson.info/
Myspace : http://www.myspace.com/danielson
Christian label: yes
Category: The Message whats this?

When your “cool friends” mock Christian Music as derivative and bland, drop a Danielson CD (one of their two latest Ships or Trying Hartz) into the player.  When debate of innovative indie bands turns to Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, drag everyone to a Danielson show. Since 1994, Daniel Smith and his ever evolving collection of bands and projects- Danielson, Danielson Famile, Tri-Danielson , Br. Danielson, has been creating challenging, enthralling, enlightening indie music.

Danielson began as Daniel Smith’s art school project. He received an “A” and we received over a decade of innovative, entertaining music proclaiming the glory of life with Christ. The original project is still available and some of the videos are on YouTube. Daniel asked his musical family to join him and that beget Danielson Famile and Tri-Danielson.

In 2006, Danielson relased a breakthrough recording “Ships” which made just about everyone’s list of best releases. They recently released Trying Hartz which is a must have sampling of the first ten years of Danielson, Danielson Famile, Tri-Danielson and Br.Danielson. It does a great job of introducing you to maybe the most inventive Christian music around. The third leg of your journey into Danielson world is to watch the DVD  “Danielson:A Family Movie (or. Make A Joyful Noise, HERE)”.
Danielson is more than a recording act, it is performance art. In the past they have sported hand-made, old-fashioned doctors’ and nurses’ uniforms while performing, a “visual reminder of the healing taking place.” I saw Daniel perform wearing a nine-foot tall, hand-made fruit tree to remind us to “bear the good fruit.” Danielson toured in 2006 sporting hand-made uniforms inspired by the drawings and colors from the “Ships” artwork. All of their uniforms bear their hearts on the sleeve. Props are an integral part their performances as well, but rather than describe them I will just show you:

Daniel Smith is a true artist. He has a clear mission and a unique aesthetic. I have carried with me the discussion Daniel had with a DJ, in the movie, regarding the name Danielson and how it reflected his life as a son of God. I will let you watch it on the DVD mentioned above, but, for me, it was beautiful description of believing and submitting without preaching. For anyone seeking a full palette of music, Christian or not, you must include Danielson.

You can get Danielson’s vast library of songs digitally on

You can also get their CDs on Amazon: Prayer for Every Hour(1994), Tell Another Joke at the Ol’ Choppin’ Block(1997), Tri-Danielson!!! (Alpha/Omega)(1998-1999), Fetch the Compass Kids(2001), Brother Is to Son(2004), Ships(2006), Trying Hartz(2008), Our Givest(2008)

Let us know what you think of your adventures into the world of Danielson.

So this our weekly effort to keep everyone up to date on what is going on in the Christian music world.  To be honest, it was a slow week, as I believe many of the artists are winding down for the holidays.  There isn’t much in the way of releases this week either, hence the lack of a posts in that area.  Just wait though, because as soon as the new year hits, it looks like there are going to be a ton of albums and tours to talk about. Anyway, here is what is going on this week.

Revive updated fans on the schedule for the band over the next few months.

Jonathan Jones finishes his solo record.

Since October gave a long overdue update on the near happenings for the group.

Switchfoot talk about a few things such as free music, holiday gift packs, tours on their myspace.

Addison Road‘s equipment that was stolen a few weeks ago has been recovered!

KJ-52‘s latest video devotional, Let The Past Go, hit the web this week.

Holland did an interview over at the Metal Resource ‘Zone.

Natalie Grant was one of the most played female artists on AC Christian Radio this year; a statement concerning the achievement was made this week on her myspace.

Before Their Eyes talk about a lot of new stuff this week.

Bombwork Records announced the signing of Usynlig Tumult, Bloodline Severed, Dagon, Disaffection, In Grief, A Hill To Die Upon,Deus Invictus, Monotheist,  and Penny For An Old Guy this week.

August Burns Red announced that they will be contributing their version of Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time” for the upcoming Fearless Records compilation Punk Goes Pop 2.

Prog-metal band Hands signed to Facedown Records this week and talked all about it on their myspace.

Newreleasetuesday.com posted their top 10 albums of the year. Kevin Davis’s appeared earlier this week, and Kevin McNeese’s was posted a few days ago.

Facedown Record‘s founder Jason posted an end of the year update for the label and himself this week.

blessthefall‘s new video for the song “To Hell and Back” premiered on Hurley.com today.

Phanatik talks about a new youth study, The Urban Remix Project, that he helped create on his blog this week.

Kyle from the band Stryper sent a message to his fans asking for prayer in relation to his battle with cancer.

Ambassador‘s new video for the song “Gimme Dat!” made its way online this week.

Impending Doom put a video update up concerning the recording of their new album,…..kinda.

First up we go The Fray playing “You Found Me” on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week. This is debut of their new song from their upcoming album. Enjoy!

Relient K played one of their Christmas songs on Jay Leno this week as well. According to the bands myspace bulletin, the gentleman in red playing acoustic guitar is the actor that portrayed “Biff” in the Back To The Future movie series. Go figure..

Lastly we have Casting Crowns preforming on TNT’s Christmas In Washington a few days ago

Spiritual ambivalence is a disturbing trend in the music industry; both popular music and Christian music. It pervades the mainstream music industry and nobody seems to bat an eye at it, although it warrants some real examination. In the Christian music industry, it happens all the time. While some people talk about it, most of the time it is seen as a positive move for the artist involved, and therefore should be respected by the artist’s fans and listeners.

The practice of seeing one’s spiritual life as so disconnected from an artist’s music, that it can be flaunted or discarded at any time with no sense of consequence, fails those searching for true values for in this world of temptation. Now, this is my own theory, so I don’t want anybody to hold what I am saying as fact. If you disagree or agree this post is merely an attempt to have people talk about much of an impact an artist’s spiritual life (or lack thereof) should have on their musical expression and career. Secondly, my intent is not should overtly negative, just realize that I am trying to present a concept, and so I am going to use my experience to try prove what I am trying to bring to your attention.

Although I have been noticing this trend for some time, it really came to my attention again as I was watching Fuse TV’s top video’s of 2008. The video that was playing when I turned on the station was a hip-hop video (of course feat. Lil’ Wayne) in which the rapper was talking about how hard his life has been coming from the particular neighborhood he came from, and how most of his childhood friends were either dead or in jail. Not an overtly offensive subject, but as most secular rap videos go, I could hardly understand what was going on lyrically because constant “bleeps” were making the song almost unlistenable. After two minutes of unintelligible ( due to the ”bleeps”) rapping, the song started to fade out displaying a huge graphic quoting Galatians 2:20. It struck me as funny that this guy could sit there for an entire video and speak in a language that would offend a sailor, and then expect me to take his Christian values seriously. In all honesty, I don’t know what is in his heart, or what his relationship with God is, but after a few minutes profanity, drug use and violent posing I couldn’t understand what was going on. I was a bit reluctant to believe that we were reading from the same Bible.

This has been happening in the hip-hop community for a long time. When a rapper accepts an award at any level, they make a great deal of effort to thank God (most times “God Almighty”) before anybody else. I would love to believe that these men (and women) were my brothers and sisters in Christ, but the majority of guys that see it so important to make God first as they accept their “Best Video of the Year” award, are the reason that we have those parental advisory stickers on CDs. I really love hip-hop, so don’t take this as me being down on the rap industry, because the country music scene is almost as bad. While the profanity is a bit more subdued, country music is notorious for its “beer, fightin’, women” mentality. Yet, almost every interview given by the same artists who write entire songs about how they can’t remember who they went home with, will talk about teaching Sunday school, and how their singing career started with them singing in their church’s choir.

The progressive watering down of the Christian message is perpetuated by these celebrities and musicians that build careers celebrating their transgressions towards God, and then praising Him for their success. Like I said before, I am not judging these musicians hearts, but it just doesn’t seem like anybody sees anything wrong with this anymore. We are trying to teach the youth in our churches that the reason they should avoid the life styles presented by the popular media because it is in opposition to God’s will; but when they see their favorite country star talk about the same God, and then introduce his new video “The Beer Made Me Cheat”, what do we say then?

In the Christian industry, the exact opposite is happening. Where as mainstream artists that have no business talking about Jesus take every chance to do so; droves of Christian music artists seem to be scared of the subject. I have read and seen countless interviews with artists whose music and message is full of their walk with God, shy away from the subject when questioned about it. Musicians who are making Christ-centered music in both the Christian and mainstream industries seem almost afraid of the subject in public. So we have artist’s whose whole musical platform is built on their faith in Christ, and are unwilling to talk about it, and the artists whose message is in almost complete opposition to God who are more than willing to talk about theirs. In both instances, Christ’s involvement in the music seems flippant. Once again, this is not an attempt to be judgmental, but why is so hard to tell if an artist is believer or not? Why is it so easy for the secular industry to talk about their version of faith, but for musicians who love God to not want to bring up the subject?

So where does this leave us? What is the point? The point is that these trends are not going to go away. We as listeners have to strive to seek out the artists that truly share our beliefs. We have to be the ones that don’t fall haplessly for scripture quoted at the end of a filthy song. To allow the artists out there that are believers in Christ to speak freely about their faith no matter who is asking by showing our support for their career. Hopefully we can change this trend, but until then we have to approach the music we listen to with a large amount of discernment and understanding.

Has the music industry become too complacent with its view of Christ? Is it possible to have content (in music) that is deemed offensive even in a secular world, and still have a strong relationship with God?

It has been a little while since the last post or so. Travel and sickness has detracted from regular updates, but we are back on track!  Every Friday we try to keep you up to date on what is happening in the world of Christian music, and so without delay here are this week’s goings ons:

Indievisionmusic.com just threw up a huge music sampler for the holidays.  There are a few Christmas-like songs in there, but for the most part it is just a rockin’ sampler. Its called A Very Indie Christmas.

Ronnie from Joy Electric has issued an update on his recent recording process and the future of the band on his myspace.

Syntax Records talks about their new golden boy Kaboose and all of his recent good fortune.

Aaron from Copeland talks about his contribution to the Save The Music Foundation.

Showbread frontman Josh Dies is about to embark on a solo tour, and has posted the dates and a poster for it in anticipation.

Gnashing Of Teeth update everyone on their plans for shows, recordings, and the band’s status.

Christian metal pioneers Believer have signed to Metal Blade Records, and will release a CD in 2009.

Spoken is currently writing their new album, and Matt took some time to update everyone.

My Epic will be featured in the latest issue of AMP Magazine, go pick it up.

Indie Folkers Bodies Of Water contributed a version of “O Come O Come Emmanuel” for the Its Hard To Find A Friend- Peace On Earth: Vol II. You can download the track, and then buy the album.

The Afters new video for the song “Never Going Back To OK”, made its way onto the web this week.

The Glorious Unseen have a video of a recent interview on their myspace, although it dosent look like much got done.

The Becoming‘s new video for their song “I Cry” debuted this week.

Todd Agnew recently gave a interview for YES FM, and you can listen to it!

Christianity Today‘s Reader’s Choice awards were announced this week,  with Jeremy Camp and Skillet coming out as the big winners. Congrats!

Indie innovators Danielson give the details to their A Familyre Christmas Vol.II collection. Free Christmas music from crazy people will alwyas bring a smile to our faces.

Doomcore giants With Blood Comes Cleansing have finally given fans an update as to the future of the band.

Sixpence None The Richer have posted their video for “Silent Night”, which features vocals from Jars Of Clay frontman Dan Haseltine.

Underoath gave an interview to Metal Hammer this week, detailing their struggle over the last few years.

Addison Road‘s got robbed while they were on tour this week, read their blog to see how to help them out.

Blessed By A Broken Heart is going on tour!

Skillet video blogged some updates.

Destroy The Runner have parted way with their drummer this week, but have already replaced him.

Hearitfirst.com are celebrating 25 years in operation by giving away a bunch of tracks, 25 to be exact. You have to sign up, then you can download their massive sampler.

Legendary alternative rockers The Violet Burning have decided to give every one a gift for Christmas, a free CD.  We haven’t had the chance to listen to it yet, but we know The Violet Burning, so we know it is gonna be good.  Expect the unexpected, and enjoy. Right-click and Save Target As (or Save Link As) on the link below, save the ZIP file, then extract the files, and you got a new album for your ears!

The Violet Burning- Divine