Adele – 21
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
Foxy Shazam – anything they’ve ever done. I was introduced to them yesterday, and they’re hilarious
Kanye West & Jay Z – Watch The Throne (my guilty pleasure…)
Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger (just the song, not the album…another guilty pleasure)

The best things in life are often hard to describe. But because it is mankind’s natural instinct to understand the world, there is an attempt to box things into categories. Even the most complex feelings and emotions are neatly organized with made-up labels that over simplify the most beautiful complexities of existence. Music is no different. Genre titles such as “Pop”, “Folk” and “Alternative” are meant to give a listener an idea of what to expect and how to group music together. But, for the musical collective, Gungor it is not that simple.

It’s not so much an attempt to directly defy the rules of modern music making as much as it’s simply the honest musical response of the Denver based group that sees the world as a beautifully complicated place. Multiple Grammy ® nominations, magazine covers and even a few “Album of the Year” declarations for 2010’s Beautiful Things, proves that listeners are longing for excellent and authentic music, whether it fits the norm or not.

For their third major release, Gungor has composed a concept album that celebrates the beauty of life even in the midst of darkness and pain. Starting with a startling musical imagining of the creation of the universe and traversing subjects like the “fall of man” and the imperfection of our religious systems, this album leads the listener through a roller coaster of emotion that eventually leads us back to wonder and thankfulness to this beautiful gift of life.

This is a group that believes listeners are intelligent enough to appreciate lyrical metaphor and allegory along with intricate time signatures and somewhat uncommonly paired instruments in pop or rock music. Ghosts Upon the Earth paints a hauntingly beautiful soundscape that emotionally conveys both the intricacy and wonder of the universe that we live in as well as the tension and dissonance that we all experience. From sweeping string lines and soaring, falsetto vocal melodies to distorted flute riffs and five part dissonant harmonies, this album explores quite a wide emotional and musical gamut.

And according to Michael Gungor, the namesake, producer, and leader of the collective, it’s all very purposeful and full of subtle meaning. From fast violin arpeggios that represent vibrating “strings” in a primordial universe, to the sacred sound of the first heartbeats that Michael and his wife Lisa ever heard of their baby girl reminding us of the fragility and preciousness of life, nothing is haphazard about this album.

Also featured more prominently on this record than the last one is Michael’s wife, Lisa, a gifted musician and songwriter in her own right. Most of the songs on the album are written by Michael and Lisa together, and there are several songs that feature her as the primary vocalist. Her voice is used as an instrument in itself, in an album that includes credits for things like a six-person string section, horns, glockenspiels, banjos, and a boys choir.

The title, Ghosts Upon the Earth was somewhat inspired by the allegory by C.S. Lewis titled The Great Divorce, in which the “ghosts” of a grey town encounter a heaven that is astonishingly, even painfully, real. “Sometimes it seems like the most real thing is what we can see and experience with our senses around us- this life, the tangible,” explains Michael Gungor. “Ideas like love, like God, these things sometimes feel more disconnected and ethereal, like that’s the ghostly realm. But what if that’s wrong, and God and love is actually what is most real, and we are more like ghosts walking upon the earth, hoping to become more real?”

Gungor’s work on this new album follows a season of touring that was far removed from a typical concert or worship service. Composed into three movements, these “Beautiful Things Events” explored the intersecting of ideas like art and spirituality, faith and doubt, hope and social action, in ways that really resonated with concert goers, both in religious and mainstream settings. “I purposefully didn’t talk much or try to get people to do anything along with us,” Michael recalls. “But somehow in that lack of pressure, we started having these deeply spiritual moments in the room together, and by the end of the night, people might be crying or dancing or maybe just sitting there in silence, but there was something real happening among us.”

To Michael, this new album is a step farther down that path. “I feel like we’re a bit more comfortable with who we are at this point, and it’s been nice that there seems to be this little niche that we’ve found where people are excited to explore these things with us. Music doesn’t have to fit the mold to move people’s hearts, and at the end of the day, that’s really what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make honest music that opens people’s hearts.”

Ladies and gentlemen, meet John Mark McMillan. AKA: The guy who wrote How He Loves.

While How He Loves is an incredible song that has affected millions of people all over the world, I don’t think that it’s his best. JMM’s newest album, Economy, has been in my head for months. When I drove to Nashville with the TBR guys in November to record our album, it was one of two CDs we had in the car. This record is amazing.

Now, before I go any further, let me warn you. JMM isn’t always pretty. The tone of his voice fits perfectly with his folk-rock style and sounds best when it’s left alone without reverb or delay or any other effects. Lyrically, he is incredibly theological, sometimes without even trying to be. The thing that I think JMM did best was recruiting his band. He has surrounded himself with dudes that are 100% perfect for his sound, making his music that much better. Songs like “Economy” and “Who Is This” have incredible instrumental sections that showcase the talents of his band (most of whom also play in All The Bright Lights).

This album wasn’t a favorite of mine to begin with. I was expecting another album like “The Medicine,” but what I got was much different, but in a good way. After listening for a few months, I’ve become a huge fan of this album and I think it’s as good (if not better) than “The Medicine.” So, if you haven’t heard John Mark, you need to check him out! The entire album is great, just listen all the way through.

Here’s a video of us playing an arrangement of his song “Sins Are Stones” from last month. Enjoy!

Fast forward almost 10 years and here I am writing about how Thrice’s new album, Major/Minor, is one of my favorites from the past year. But it didn’t happen overnight. In fact, I was a little turned off by Major/Minor at first, mostly just because I hadn’t gotten over my obsessions with the new records from Gungor and Switchfoot. But after deeper listening, I was consumed by the record. Frontman Dustin Kensrue‘s writing is some of my favorite; he is a writer who does not pull punches. The lyrical content on the record is sometimes hard to hear, as Kensrue confronts abusive husbands, helplessness, pride, and more. This dude tells it like it is, which ends up convicting me about the way that I’m living my own life. I love guys that do this, which is probably why I love listening to Pastor Mark Driscoll.

In the success of Major/Minor, the band has decided to take a hiatus and focus their attention elsewhere. For Dustin, this means going into full-time ministry as the Worship Pastor at Mars Hill Orange County, a new church plant in California. That’s another thing that I love about this dude; he values the local church!

Bottom line, you should check out Thrice. Maybe they’re a little hard for you, and if that’s true, no problem. Just read the lyrics and let me know what you think.

If you’ve known me at all over the past 12 years, then you should have seen this one coming. I LOVE SWITCHFOOT. I always have, and I probably always will. I got their second record in 1999 and I have been listening ever since. Jon Foreman’s writing has gotten better and better with each album, and the band is only picking up steam. Vice Verses is my sing-a-long album at all times. Drew Shirley and Jon Foreman smother another album in classic fuzz that fits perfectly with the way they write songs. Everything on the album is tasteful, from the opening track, “Afterlife,” all the way to the closer, “Where I Belong.” This is a must have from a band that is only getting better.

Check out this live video of “Dark Horses,” their first single from Vice Verses.

Lyrically, he’s one of my new favorites. “Farther Along,” an incredible recreation of an old hymn, is a theological work that so clearly communicates the state of the world we live in and what was done by God to save us from it. Catchy as it is, the lyrical content of this uptempo tune runs deep. I want to go through and write out my favorite tracks, but I can’t do that because it’s a COMPLETE WORK. These songs were written to be listened to together. So, go download it for free here and then find 67 minutes for you to relax and just listen. You won’t be disappointed.

Each day this week (Monday-Friday) I will be highlighting one of my Top 5 favorite albums from 2011. In addition, I’ll fill you in on my biggest regrets; a few more albums that I SHOULD have purchased this year based on recommendations from friends. So, be sure to track with me this week and feel free to post your thoughts about your Top 5, your biggest regrets, or any thoughts you have on my favorite albums from the past year!

I hope that the trend of making great albums continues as we head into the New Year! Let’s go into 2012 ready to hear some great stuff from the artists that we love.