Music Minute

I've never been a fan of August, to be perfectly honest. It's 31 long, hot, sweltering days and no holidays to ease the pain. My family lives in hurricane country, and August is the month to watch out for. Growing up, I lived in a little tourist town on Lake Michigan, and August was the month all the summer people went home and we had to start thinking about school again. But I've also always been a person who tries to look for the silver lining, and some new Christian albums out this week make August look a whole lot better.

Anberlin front-man Stephen Christian has a new acoustic-rock album with side project Anchor & Braille. (It's not strictly a "Christian" album and features a cover of "Frosty the Snowman," just so you know.) Mandisa is touring like crazy with Women of Faith—try to catch her on the road. If you're a fan of Hillsong, check out their latest release Faith + Hope + Love, which features 13 new worship songs.

Aaron Shust released his third album, Take Over. Family Force 5 has a new disc called Dance or Die Vinyl, and old-school fellas Phillips, Craig and Dean have a new disc, Fearless. Stars Go Dim released an album full of worship songs called Love Gone Mad, and 1000 Generations has a kicky new album of piano-driven rock worship called Turn Off the Lesser Lights. Check out "Invocation"—it rocks.



All right y'all, load up your mp3 player with some new tunes and enjoy your August (gulp, I never thought I'd say THAT!).