The Alternative Hymnal

because lots of christian music sucks...

CD Of The Week – Renaissance Presents 3D

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Faithless - 3D

CD: Renaissance Presents 3D
by: Faithless

I am a FAITHLESS fan from way back, those who sat through any of the TOLLS services that I dj’ed through would be familiar with my use of their remixes and tunes, I recently purchased their “Best Of” dvd with some of the most fantastic clips to an equally impressive collection of tunes, songs like “God is a DJ” and “Mass Destruction” and “We Come One” are absolute classics and carry with them a depth and understanding that I think is still rare today. Maxi Jazz is an absolute genius, as is Sister Bliss and Rolo who, in this collection of 3 cds have pieced together an awesome collection of tunes for people to listen to anywhere.

The collection of songs and remixes have been organised into “songs for the Club” “songs for Home” and “remixes and rarities of their own tracks.” If you’re expecting the entire cd to be filled with their own remixes you’d be mistaken and possibly a little dissapointed, however if you are expecting 3 absolutely packed cds that have been expertly mixed together by the crew then you’ll be as impressed as I was, this is a beautiful mix of tunes and collaborations. The cd of their own tracks is great to listen to, but my favourite disk out of the three have been their selection of tunes for the “home” which has been on loop at my house for the last few days.

This is a remarkable and beautiful and inspired mix of tracks that has made an impressive and special release.

Tracklisting:
Disc: 1 (Studio)
1. Salva Mean [Original Radio Edit] – Faithless
2. I Feel Love [Rollo & Sister Bliss Monster Mix] – Donna Summer
3. Dreamer [Rollo & Sister Bliss Remix]
4. Woozy – Faithless
5. Crazy English Summer [Brothers on High Remix] – Faithless
6. For Real [Rollo & Sister Bliss Remix]
7. Blissy’s Groove – Faithless
8. Miss U Less See U More [Pete Heller Remix] – Faithless
9. Reasons [Goldrun Mix] – Faithless
10. Addictive – Faithless
11. Get Higher [Rollo & Sister Bliss Remix] – Black Grape
12. My Culture – Maxi Jazz, 1 Giant Leap,
13. Seven Days & One Week [the Rollo & Sister Bliss Remix]
14. Worthless – Dido
15. Don’t You Want Me? – Maxence Cyrin

Disc: 2 (Club)
1. Running Up That Hill
2. Soul Power [Mike Monday Avec Piano Remix]
3. White Horse – Wonderland Avenue
4. Popper [Shinici Osawa Distortion Disco Edit] – Christopher Just,
5. Carnaval [Hardsoul’s Future Latino Mix]
6. Game [Kid’s Voodoo Dub]
7. She’s Dancing – Trulz & Robin
8. Hundred Million Light Years
9. Change Works – Oxia
10. Dreams [Axwell Remix] – Deep Dish, Stevie Nicks
11. Seven Hours
12. Body Resonance
13. Cold Drink Hot Girl [Original Mix] – Jody Wisternoff
14. Live on the Main Stage [Loudeast Remix] – Iba
15. Walk a Mile in My Shoes [Tiga Mix] – Coldcut,
16. Circles [Kinetic Dub]
17. Breakfast
18. Ha Pardon [DJ Tarkan Remix]
19. Give Me Love [LĂĽtzenkirchen Remix]

Disc: 3 (home)
1. Takeover – LSK
2. F.E.A.R
3. Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)
4. Private Life Drama [Sly & Robbie Dub] – Grace Jones
5. Petrol – Ward 21
6. Money Money (Aka the Root of All Evil) – Horace Andy
7. Worries in the Dance – Frankie Paul
8. Straight out the Jungle – Jungle Brothers
9. Woman to Woman – Joe Cocker
10. Grab the Mic
11. Children of the Ghetto
12. Next Type of Motion
13. Go Down Easy – John Martyn
14. Twuneanunda – Dwele
15. Summertime – Maxi Jazz, Jason Rebello
16. Time After Time – Cassandra Wilson
17. Remember Me – Todd Rundgren

Lamb – Remixed – CD Of The Week

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I’ve regained my alternative hymnal passion, it’s probably because I’ve lost other passions, but I can live with that, another factor may be my recent cd purchases, which will probably appear here fairly soon…

The remix cd has come of age again, recently Block Party released a remix cd of their album “Silent Alarm” allowing artists like Four Tet the opportunity to remix what was among the most popular new alt/rock albums of the year. Sarah Mclachlan has also released a remix cd titled “Bloom” which includes remixes of some of her more well known tracks.

My cd of the week is Lamb’s latest remix experiment simply titled “Remixed,” it’s a beautiful collection of their tracks that have been remixed by artists like Rae & Christian, Autechre and Kruder & Dorfmeister. It doesn’t take more than a quick glance at my CD collection to realise that I’m a fan of Lamb, their music has always been a few steps short of Godly and they have never been a band to settle for being bland, even if it means to break up for a while before they could handle releasing yet another masterpiece.

It’s a deeply personal thing when people open up their catalogue to other artists and ask them to remix a track, I have enough trouble allowing someone to look over a paper or essay of mine, let alone giving a finished piece of art like a song to someone to rip up, mix, remix and play with. Some of these remixes are b-sides from previous single releases, the Wagonchrist remix of “God Bless” for examble was on their 1996 single of God Bless. The insert allows Lou and Andy the space to say a few short words about each of the remixes, what they liked, what was hard to listen to and what they’ve had to grow to like.

This is 2 cds of remixed goodness, it’s enough to keep anyone busy listening for a few weeks, for me I poured out a few cold beers, turned down the lights, lit some candles and broke out a block of chocolate while I gave this cd a first listen, since then I’ve been able to drive along to the tracks, sometimes the music is so powerful that I need to stop, turn the cd player up to full volume and just let the house or car shake…

This cd is a must-buy for Lamb fans, and for anyone looking for some great electro-dub-dance-funk-bass-beat goodness should give it a go… It’s currently released in the UK and US, Amazon and will be released in Australia later in October, (although if you’re lucky you’ll bump into it as an import).

Album: Remixed
by: Lamb

Disk 1
1. What Sound (Tom Middleton Deep Step Mix)
2. Cottonwool (A Guy Called Gerald Mix)
3. God Bless (Wagonchrist Mix)
4. Gold (Mr Scruff Mix)
5. Softly (Bola Remix)
6. Gold (Autechre Mix)
7. Little Things (Klute Mix)
8. Gabriel (Si Begg’s 5.1 Futures Remix)
9. Please (Mezzowave Mix)
10. Wonder (Lento Mix 1)
11. Heaven (Funkstorung Mix)

Disk 2
1. Alien (Photek Remix)
2. Trans Fatty Acid (Kruder & Dorfmeister Remix)
3. All In Your Hands (Rae & Christian Remix)
4. B.LINE (Andy Votel Mix)
5. Gorecki (Global Communication Mix)
6. Gabriel (Mj Cole Remix)
7. Wonder (Dead Guys Vocal Mix)
8. Sweet (Soulchild Radio Mix)
9. Cottonwool (Fila Brazilia Mix)

Bruce Springsteen – Devils And Dust – CD of the Week

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I’m gonna try and post my “CD of the week” each Monday from here on in, we’ll see how it goes…

I’m a scatterbrain sometimes, perhaps this’ll focus me more 🙂

Devils & Dust is another collection of hymns, stories, songs and acoustic poems from the folk-musician-come-rocker-come folk musician Bruce Springsteen. One of Bruce’s strengths is the ability to tell stories of people while also sharing pieces of himself. The cd “The Rising” was one that caught my ears and my heart as he shared his grief and responses to the events of September 11th 2001, the lyrics, raw spirituality, questions and stories that echoed throughout that remarkable album were enhanced by his honest and simple musical skills.

In Devils & Dust Bruce picks up his huge collection of guitars, sits in front of a microphone and belts out a new batch of honest, raw and self-aware songs. Many of the songs on the cd were recorded in one take, hence why Silver Palomino seems to skip around alot, sometimes missing words or in some cases seeming to miss entire lines. I placed the cd into my home stereo, turned off the lights and sat back as he told stories of faith, fear, family, prostitutes, soldiers and friends. The listening experience was almost like sitting in a small pub with Bruce hammering out songs on his guitars to a small number of onlookers.

The title track tells a story of a soldier on “the front line” with the stresses of having to tell if the people coming towards them are friend or enemy or innocent bystanders. In the song we’re transported to the front line, sitting by the side of the soldier asking questions of faith, love and war while having the job of protecting his brothers in combat. The lyrics “I’ve got my finger on the trigger, cause tonight faith just ain’t enough” echo throughout the entire CD as we meet a number of people all with their own spiritual searches and personal battles to face.

The lyrics to Devils & Dust also hit other spiritual questions about what side is God on in a war, the power of fear, of who was on the right and who was on the wrong, questions of someone who has the power of death in their hands while also having the frightening responsibility of choosing who is the enemy and who is a friend. It’s not an easy song to listen to, it picks you up out of the couch and into a place where you see through the eyes of the soldier that’s there on the front line.

I’ll reflect more on a couple of the songs like “Jesus was an only son” in a later post, possibly in July but there’s no doubt that this is a cd of songs sung by a man with a good sense of what makes a good story, and better still what makes a good song.

The songs aren’t “Christian,” but then again, Jesus’ parables weren’t exactly seen as sacred by the people of the time, this is a collection of stories about people as told by a folk musician who has re-discovered his calling as a musical story teller.

There’s also a nice 2 part audio interview with Bruce Springsteen over at npr.org

Devils and Dust
By: Bruce Springsteen
Album: Devils & Dust

I got my finger on the trigger
But I don’t know who to trust
When I look into your eyes
There’s just devils and dust
We’re a long, long way from home, Bobbie
Home’s a long, long way from us
I feel a dirty wind blowing
Devils and dust

I got God on my side
I’m just trying to survive
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear’s a powerful thing
It can turn your heart black you can trust
It’ll take your God filled soul
And fill it with devils and dust

Well I dreamed of you last night
In a field of blood and stone
The blood began to dry
The smell began to rise
Well I dreamed of you last night
In a field of mud and bone
Your blood began to dry
The smell began to rise

We’ve got God on our side
We’re just trying to survive
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear’s a powerful thing
It’ll turn your heart black you can trust
It’ll take your God filled soul
Fill it with devils and dust

Now every woman and every man
They want to take a righteous stand
Find the love that God wills
And the faith that He commands
I’ve got my finger on the trigger
And tonight faith just ain’t enough
When I look inside my heart
There’s just devils and dust

Well I’ve got God on my side
And I’m just trying to survive
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear’s a dangerous thing
It can turn your heart black you can trust
It’ll take your God filled soul
Fill it with devils and dust

It’ll take your God filled soul

Fill it with devils and dust