Music Minute

True story: This morning, I saw a crow by the side of the road chomping on a chicken bone. (That is called "unclear on the concept.")

I didn't feel very music-y today. I'm not much good before 10am and today there was an early meeting and I was kind of grouchy and fidgety. Except in the middle of the meeting, a clip was played from Britain's Got Talent, a tv show that looks for talent amongst ordinary people. (Sometimes they find it, sometimes they...don't.) This particular clip has been making the rounds this week. It's Susan Boyle, a 47-year old unemployed, frizzy-haired lady who admits to having never been kissed, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. The audience is actually snickering at her...until she opens her mouth to sing, and an absolutely astonishingly sweet voice comes out. In the UK, they would say she left the judges gobsmacked. (Speechless. I was.) It turned my day around.

It's amazing to me what power music has to touch, affect, and grab hold of people. I'm kind of a geek and I know the reason music 'works' is because your brain recognizes - and craves - patterns. A big chorus in a song is a kind of pattern payoff. If you like classical music, you can find examples of this in almost any composer's work. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a good example. He seems to run around the melody, change it up so it's not quite what you want to hear, and continually hold it out of your reach, until the big payoff—which by then sounds like angels singing. And it wouldn't work if he just gave you the payoff up front. If you prefer pop, what people refer to as a 'hook' in a song is that payoff your brain craves.

But completely apart from any analysis, music has the power to reach out and grab you, make you cry, feel happy, sing, worship, or think you're a tough guy. Sometimes it's a sweet voice, or a clever line, or a grungy-sounding guitar. What that 'it' is is totally a matter of personal choice. Just remember that music has power. Every society on earth has music. Pretty interesting, huh?



So this week, our featured artist/album is FM Static. Made up of Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine from Thousand Foot Krutch, FM Static is a sort of side project for these two fellas that turned into something really cool. Full of punk-power pop anthems, their sound is bright, happy, and a perfect album for warmer weather. Fans of Fall Out Boy and Hawk Nelson will like them—these boys give 110% on every track. Our favorite is "Boy Moves To A New Town With Optimistic Outlook." The album is called Dear Diary and you can find it at the iTunes store or preview it at MySpace.



If you're looking for something a little more mellow, check out John Waller. His new disc, While I'm Waiting, reminds me of a cross between Sonic Flood and Chris Rice. This is a power worship album that will leave you feeling better than when you started listening to it. We like "Our God Reigns Here."



And finally, we're looking forward to the new Jars of Clay album, Falling Back to Earth. Look for it in stores April 21—these guys never disappoint. Our favorite so far is "Hero."

So what music moves you?