Undone

This is my anthem for the summer.

I flipping love Daniel Bashta and his sister Harvest Parker. They are the creative genius behind amazing songs such as 'Like A Lion', 'Pursuit' and 'The Song of the Lamb' and have been covered by everyone from Newsboys and the David Crowder band to Kim Walker-Smith.

Undone is Daniel's latest single and it's been pretty much on repeat in my house for over a week now.

Enjoy.

Liberty

It's been ages since I've done this, but I've fallen in love with a new band and I had to share!

Shane & Shane did a song called 'The One You Need' which is lovely and led me to look up their album on iTunes. I bought it and turns out that is not even the best song on the album. It's probably the best £7.99 I ever spent (and that includes the BB cream foundation I just bought)!

The whole album is fantastic and I totally recommend it, but the best song on the is 'Liberty'. You want to turn your bass up LOUD for this one. Honestly I could listen to it on repeat. Forever. Except that it's annoying my children. Husband loves it though, so...

Anyway, this is not as good a version as the album, but it's the best I could find on youtube. Now I just need convince the worship team that we need to start playing this a church...

The Muppets

We went to see 'A Monster in Paris' at the cinema (again) this morning - but they'd sold out!!

As we were there anyway we went to see the Muppet's Movie anyway. I wasn't looking forward to it (I recently had to sit through the Smurf's Movie and I wasn't sure my parenting endurance was capable of going through that again) but I was pleasantly surprised.

In fact, I loved it. It had a real Flight of the Conchords (one of my favourite shows) feel about it. Hardly surprising since it turns out Bret McKenzie wrote some of the music.

Anyway, here's one of my favourite songs from the movie, sung by Bret and Kermit.

Sunburn

Today's song is taken from Catatonia's 1998 album International Velvet which was on my CD player for weeks at a time as a teenager. It has some great songs, but my absolute favourite is Don't Need the Sunshine.

I was reminded of it this week as our weather turns colder, but my sunburn shines brightly on. It opens with the lyrics 'It's a most peculiar feeling, like sunburn in the evening...' which was so true this week. Outside, watering the garden in the shiveringly cold air, with my skin still radiating heat did feel very odd.

Catatonia, for those who don't remember them, are a welsh band, fronted by Cerys Matthews. They originally chose the name 'Sweet Catatonia' believing Catatonia to mean extreme pleasure and sleep, but upon discovering it was actually a psychiatric condition they dropped the 'Sweet' part.

The band were fairly successful until Matthews started suffering with anxiety attacks and nervous exhaustions, which resulted in tour dates being cancelled regularly and the deterioration of relationships within the band. It seems some people just are cut out for the pressures associated with fame, even if they do have the talent to get there. The band dissolved in 2001 and although Matthews continues a solo career, it's a quieter one than Catatonia enjoyed with less promotional activities.

Sovereign

Earlier this week I bought Amber Brooks and David Vallier's Album 'Sovereign'. There are far too many amazing tracks on this album for me to share them all, but you should definitely buy it on itunes if you have a spare £7.99 knocking around. 

I've been a fan of David and Amber's since I attended the Worship and Warfare conference in South Carolina at their church in 2009. I bought Amber's album 'Still I rise' whilst I was there and three years on it is still on me and my husbands regular play lists. She writes in such a unique way and uses sounds that are so refreshing from the standard guitar band set up of most contemporary worship.  

David Vallier also has such a unique voice and sound, and together they have made a stunning album. Here is an acoustic version of the title track 'sovereign' which I have been listening to all week. 

Enjoy.

 

Girl On Fire

I recently went to see 'The Hunger Games' movie at the cinema and LOVED it. I'm told I didn't enjoy it as much as those who read the book first, but I don't care. I really enjoyed it.

Sadly this song, 'Girl On Fire' by Ella Mae Bowen didn't make it into the movie, but it is on the soundtrack. I'm a massive fan of Ella Mae Bowen, ever since her amazing cover of Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding out for a Hero'. It's such a beautiful haunting version of a classic song. So different from the original, it's innovative and stunning.

Enjoy.

Caro Emerald

I love this lady! Caro Emerald's album 'Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor' is definitely going on my christmas list. The album features ballroom jazz, cinematic tangos, groovin' jazz tracks and infectious mambos that sound like they were recorded in the golden age in Hollywood's most celebrated recording studios. But the smoking beats, catchy songs and inventive production mark Caro out as a present-day phenomenon. She's fun, light hearted and so easy to listen to. I can't help but dance whilst doing my housework when she is on the radio.

Here's a track from the album 'That Man'.



And if you liked that, here is a little bonus (it's nearly christmas after all!) her acoustic 'You're All I Want for Christmas' with Brook Benton was just recorded in the last two weeks, and here it is:

On Our Side

I feel I've been very good in not introducing loads of christmas music (now that my son's birthday is done I am totally christmassifying my house right now), and although this weeks artist does have some amazing christmas songs (her versions of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and O Come O Come Emmanuel are totally worth buying full albums for), the song I'm sharing is not a christmas one.

I mean it's not specifically a christmas song. You could play it at anytime of the year really, including christmas. Events this week have brought this song back into memory so here it is, Bethany Dillon 'You Are On Our Side'

KidSave

This weeks song is by Lionel Neykov. I was first introduced to him by GarageBand when I fell in love with his song 'Freeze My Senses'.

Lionel is a talented song writer, and although this week's song isn't his best vocal track (IMHO) I've chosen it because I want to encourage you to download it from KidSave. He's what Lionel has to say about them:

Kidsave is a wonderful organization that specializes in helping foster kids and orphans make a lasting connection with a family. Because they realize there's nothing more important in the development of a child than being able to rely on someone who you know is going to be there for you no matter what. And that's what this song is all about. I was taking the love of my parents so much for granted. But when I fell on hard times last year, the truth is nobody else was there for me. Nobody else believes in me as much as my parents do. And now I know how precious that is. How much we all need that.

On Kidsave's website there are some pretty shocking statistics about what happens to foster children and orphans who have to grow up without that kind of love and support. How much more likely they are to run into hardship and trouble. So it really makes sense to try and find parental figures for these kids, even for the older ones, the teenagers. They perhaps need it the most. Because it's never too late to create that special bond. And it's never too late to rekindle it either...

For more on our interest in orphans, you can read the 'Adoption' tab on my main blog.

So here is the song, it's called Vanio and you can download it here for a donation of $0.99 or more.

Cherry Blossom

The first song I want to share with you is by Andy Squyres. He's written loads of amazing songs, and you should definitely buy his album Be Magnified on iTunes, but this is one of my favourites, the Cherry Blossom song.

Enjoy