Favorite Albums of 2008 (1 through 5)

5. Andrew Peterson - Resurrection Letters Volume II

Five Star Songs:

Invisible God

I like Andrew Peterson because he writes good folk music about faith that is deep and epic at the same time. When I listen to Resurrection Letters it makes me feel like I am outside in the woods, in a cave, or out in a field experiencing something very ancient and spiritual. I don't know if that really makes sense. Maybe you just have to listen to AP to know. The theme of resurrection in the songs on this record really came at a good time in my life. I needed to be reminded that nothing truly dies. Every end is just a new beginning, and we see it all over - from a seed being planted in the ground to the sun coming up each day to a man finding grace and renewal in Jesus. Resurrection Letters tells this over and over again in a very beautiful way.


4. Thrice - The Alchemy Index Volumes III & IV (Earth and Air)

Five Star Songs:

Come All You Weary
Broken Lungs

If I made of special award for "Album worth digging into the most," The Alchemy Index would definitely get that award. With most albums I don't get out the liner notes and follow along with the music. I would but I don't have the time. For Thrice's new album I read the lyrics along with the songs and I even looked up words I didn't understand. It seemed that within the words of each song was hidden some sort of mysterious, divine truth. This was very rewarding because I am terrible with literature and poetry, I rarely ever see the deeper meaning in anything. When I took a closer look at the music and lyrics of The Alchemy Index, I found more than music that just happened to be cool because the earth CD sounded earthy and the air CD sounded like wind.

The Alchemy Index is deep, which is important because Dustin Kensrue writes songs about faith that are poetic and meaningful and not shallow. He makes the song "I Am a Friend of God" look like the alphabet song. It just isn't fair how good Thrice is.


3. Counting Crows - Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

Five Star Songs:

1492
Cowboys
When I Dream of Michelangelo

Counting Crows is a good band to listen to when you are sad or feel like being pessimistic. I got on a big Counting Crows kick last fall, and it carried over into spring of this year. They were my favorite band for a really long time, not because I really felt like being sad or anything. Adam Duritz is just a really honest and open -not to mention talented- songwriter. His singing voice is incredible and CC's folk rock sound is exactly what I like to spend my time listening to. Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings packs more of a punch than other CC recordings. It starts out fast and hard but mellows out after about song 6. A very solid record, I listened to it probably too much.


2. Ben Shive - The Ill-tempered Klavier

Five Star Songs:

She Is The Rising Sun
4th of July
New Year

Faith and doubt have sort of been a recurring theme in my life for the last couple of years. I have been doing a lot of questioning. Ben Shive's album sort of represents how I believe God communicates to people through art and beauty. Nowadays, everybody puts so much emphasis on reason and rationality when really the human brain is designed so that we make decisions holistically. People seem to think that something is only true if it is measurable and tangible. I took a sociology class this semester with a professor who had a PhD and was really a pretty darn intelligent guy. From what I gathered, the guy's personal religious beliefs were agnostic. He said once that he goes to church, but only because his family does. I liked listening to his teaching, we had discussions about all the really touchy subjects in his class - issues like politics, race, and religion. I remember sometimes I would leave his class after a really deep discussion wondering if God really existed at all. It was good because it forced me to think about my faith, and I think that I've come out stronger for it. But some days I would really be perplexed.

After one particular class I walked out and put my iPod earphones in. I was thinking and wondering about some things, feeling some particular doubts that haunt me every once in a while. The song that came on my iPod at that moment was a song by Ben Shive called "Rise Up" and these are the lyrics I heard in this particular moment:

Every stone that makes you stumble
And cuts you when you fall
Every serpent here that strikes your heel
To curse you when you crawl
The King of Love one day will crush them all

And every sad seduction
And every clever lie
Every word that woos and wounds
The pilgrim children of the sky
The King of Love will break them by and by

And you will rise up in the end

It was just a cool moment for me because at that very moment I probably couldn't have heard something better than that. Looking back it was a key moment for me because now I'm coming to the point where I feel pretty safe in my belief again, and it has been a gradual process with moments and happenings such as this over a long period of time.

The Ill-tempered Klavier is a beautiful and unique album. Ben Shive's songwriting is brilliant, and his lyrics are both captivating and thoughtful at the same time. It is a really great CD.


1. Relient K - The Bird and the Bee Sides/The Tennis EP

Five Star Songs:

The Lining is Silver
Up and Up (acoustic)
Who I Am Hates Who I've Been (acoustic)

When I was thinking about making this list, I decided what would be the #1 album before I ranked any others. Relient K's new release was basically a clear choice. It has (I think) 26 songs total, and not just songs that are alright but songs that are REALLY GOOD. I could listen to this CD all the way through and not get tired of it because truly it is good all the way through, even though it is more than an hour long in its entirety. And it's more than just a bunch of good punk songs. There are some acoustic versions of songs, some new songs that are acoustic or piano-driven. "Curl Up and Die" is definitely not your typical Relient K song, but it is one of my favorites on the whole album. Over the months that I have actually owned the CD, it has been one of those go-to albums that I could listen to no matter what I was doing or what kind of mood I was in. It's good for singing along to, listening to, playing with friends, etc. It is truly a great all-around release and I've had a lot of fun listening to it.