It’s a band we all know and some of us love – Mumford and Sons. The band has something new up their sleeve, and as always it finds a unique way to celebrate music.

Mumford and Sons is a band that is essential when it comes to the discussion of music being “Christian”. While it is true that Marcus Mumford is the son of a pastor, his music shows that he has internal struggles when it comes to what he believes about God. The first Mumford and Sons album, Sigh No More, was released in 2009, in it carrying lyrics full of angst, sadness and questioning while also somehow displaying a sense of acceptance and celebration. Although it is true that each song of Mumford’s holds the dichotomy of peace and confusion, he somehow finds a way to tie the two together into a piece of music that can be described with no other word than “human”.

Formed in 2007, the band has not only created interesting and attention-grabbing music, but they have also continuously provided new and exciting ways for people to experience their music live. In 2012, the band began “Gentlemen of the Road” stopovers for their album Babel, and it was such a hit that it has set the tone for all of the band’s shows today. These stopovers are not always big cities and large amphitheaters – mostly, they are small towns and places with exceeding history and character. The tour also encourages local vendors to participate in order to be supported through the shows. This sort of tour is more like a festival than a typical concert, and it is the way that Mumford and Sons has changed the idea of live music for their listeners.

In accordance with the band creating unique music and experiences, lead singer Marcus Mumford and his bandmates hit the road this past January, traveling all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Their time there made its impression on Mumford and Sons, and it shows through the music that was created and recorded during the trip. The band features South African musicians and DJs on their new mini-album Johannesburg, which was created and recorded during two days of all-day and all-night sessions.

Johannesburg is set to release on June 17, but two singles from the mini-album are currently on Spotify: “Wona” and “There Will Be Time”. Both of these released singles are a perfect combination of South African rhythm and Mumford’s signature British rock sound.

These two songs along with the rest of the album are being brought to America to be shared. If you’re interested in seeing Mumford and Sons on their Johannesburg tour, take out your white blank page and write down Mumford’s upcoming dates in New York City and London.

Relevant Magazine reported on June 21st that Taylor Swift and hundreds of other artists are “petitioning to Congress to update the legislation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to allow them to be paid properly and have more control over the way their music is used on the website.” Many people know at this point that Taylor Swift seems to be the captain of the “artists should make the money they deserve” team, and for the past couple of years she has spoken out against streaming companies (especially Spotify). Besides Swift, artists such as Beyonce, Adele, lead singer of Radiohead Thom Yorke, Bjork and countless others all agree that they are not being compensated properly for their music from streaming sites. And as convenient as Spotify and other streaming sites may be, it’s time we ask a tough question: Are we cheapening music, and for that fact artists as a whole, by not buying albums directly anymore?

Artists are getting upset, and mainly it seems as though the biggest artists are the most angered. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they have already been discovered and now they are feeling frustrated at a lack of compensation. Some of the most important female singers in the world are all choosing to be off of Spotify, and this is not something that can be ignored. Clearly, Spotify is causing certain artists and their work to feel undervalued. Singer Bjork made a statement to Billboard in early 2015 stating, “To work on something for two or three years and then just, Oh, here it is for free. It’s not about the money; it’s about respect, you know? Respect for the craft and the amount of work you put into it.”

Robert Johns brought up this issue on our blog about a year ago and made the point that he uses Spotify strictly to discover music. From there he purchases the music that he finds and enjoys. While this is undoubtedly the best way to support artists and the music that you enjoy from them, it wouldn’t be a huge statement to say that most people do not use that model. Non-upstanding citizens like me simply subscribe to Spotify Premium and take advantage of the wide library of music that is offered to me for $9.99 a month. Yet, I cannot deny that from time to time, I pose the aforementioned question to myself about the cheapening of music. Is that what I’m doing? Is that what we’re all doing? When it comes down to it, Spotify does not pay its artists enough for them to live off of if Spotify earnings were their only income. Spotify pays an artist between $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream, which is possibly a decent amount for artists that have their music streamed constantly. Yet, smaller artists struggle greatly from this amount.

This issue has been brought up for a while now, and it’s just the beginning. The recent petition for the updating of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is just the push that the war between dissatisfied artists and streaming sites needed to continue. We the listeners can only wait and see what ends up happening with the digital streaming debacle. Yet, in the meantime we can try to figure out what it means to stream songs that are important to people even though the people aren’t being compensated in the way they wish to be. It’s a tough question to pose, but what I believe is most important is that we are always conscious that we are not undervaluing music or the people who write and perform the music we love.

What do you think about the petition? Should Congress update the law in order for artists to have more control?

The moment after graduation caps are tossed in the air, Lynchburg seems to lose half of its inhabitants for a few months. Being one of many “college towns” across America, Lynchburg experiences a spike of residents in the fall and spring and a significant drop in residents for the summer. Yet, this does not mean that “the Burg” becomes a lackluster spot on a central Virginian map! Instead, it is easier to get around and explore without the nuisance of extra traffic and long wait lines at restaurants. With this in mind, here are a few thoughts that come along with being a year-round Lynchburgian (is that a cool term?).

1. Do you ever have a day in Lynchburg where you have to walk into multiple coffee shops just to find a spot to sit down and start some homework? Most likely this occurred on a Monday night when online class homework was due and you were in a bit of a frenzy. One of the best parts of living in Lynchburg over the summer is the higher chance that a seat will be available at The Muse, Mission House Coffee, White Hart or any Starbucks around the area.
2. Along with the higher probability of having a table for yourself at a coffee shop, food is definitely up there on the list of reasons why a summer in Lynchburg can be enjoyable. Of course, the wait times to be seated significantly decrease over the summer, but there are even more perks – one of these being Food Truck Thursday. On Thursdays around lunchtime, Lynchburg’s most hip and Snapchat-able foods are served at Miller Park. If you’re around, you won’t want to miss T&E Catering‘s dirty fries and Uprooted’s sweet tea. And if we’re discussing food, Lynchburg Restaurant Week cannot be passed over. With participants such as RA Bistro, Market at Main, Waterstone Pizza and others, Restaurant Week is always one to look forward to in the summer. This year, Restaurant Week is from June 18-25, and you can see the deals that each restaurant is putting on here.
3. Over the summer in Lynchburg, we get to experience pretty cool “happenings” before the students return. Some of Lynchburg’s newer features this summer include Aldi (a grocery store with lower priced food but higher priced shopping carts), One Way Out (an escape room located off Lakeside Drive), and Steak and Shake (no explanation necessary). All three of these locations bring something new to Lynchburg that contributes to what people like to do around here: eat, get milkshakes late at night, and make new memories with a group of pals.
4. Lynchburg’s shopping scene is not typically one that people rave about, but it has its perks. Just think – with thousands of college students departing for the summer, how much more is there to buy at TJ Maxx and the J.Crew Clearance store? Stores around the 434 are much more enjoyable to peruse when there are less people and seemingly more items for you to choose from.
5. Lastly, let’s talk about the place where we probably feel the most judged – you guessed it! The gym. If you are able to get into the LaHaye Student Union during the summer, consider yourself blessed. During the school year, 5 pm is the time to avoid the gym the most due to no available treadmills, a small selection of weights that are undoubtedly too heavy for most, and a lack of foam rollers (which are the best part of any post-workout). Yet, during the summer 5 pm rolls around and the gym is pretty much as unoccupied as a spring or fall semester’s 5 am (which is slightly busier than you would think, but still not overwhelming). Due to the lack of students in Lynchburg over the summer, one could imagine that many fitness centers in the area experience the same sort of retreat of members, just in a less dramatic fashion.

There you have it, folks! In the summer, Lynchburg becomes less “Liberty”, leaving room to notice some of the pretty cool things we have goin’ on that might not be given attention to with the influx of students in the fall and spring. We live in a pretty cool place, and there is no better time to discover its features than from May to early August, when the students come back and we start the excitement and bustle all over again.

I would like to expand on this previous post which looked briefly at Francis Schaeffer’s thoughts on the nature of a Christian’s art. Author Andy Crouch, in his work Culture Making, reflects on the lives of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa in order to state what seems to be the obvious: more people are drawn to the life of the celebrity princess than they are to that of the self-sacrificing saint**. This is despite the fact that hardly anyone could fill the role or have the international appeal that Princess Diana did, while nearly everyone is qualified and capable of doing what Mother Teresa did. Why is this?

His answer: Power. More specifically, he argues that the draw of “celebrity” is intoxicating because it assumes wealth, fame, and influence, which are all accompaniments to power. For American Christians, it seems that few things have been so desirable as a prominent, public figure, whether entertainer, athlete, or politician, who is willing to identify with Christianity. You only have to look at the parade of A-to-F-List celebrities of various kinds who have appeared at Liberty in the last 5 years to know that even The World’s Most Exciting University isn’t impervious to this seduction. But, he warns, pursuing power this way is futile because 1.) there’s no way to measure the amount of power one actually has and 2.) the pursuit becomes endless because no amount of power is ever enough.*

He offers an alternative. Rather than pursue power (which he defines as “the ability to successfully propose a new cultural good”*) through some form of notoriety, he suggests using power in service of the apparently powerless.*** That is, rather than seeking fame from our creativity as a means to attain power and influence, we should use our existing power, to whatever degree we have it, to serve those who appear to have less, or more rarely, none. Doing so “moves the horizons of possibility” for them, a phrase he uses throughout Culture Making; it is the opening up of opportunities, unlocking abilities, or otherwise empowering them to more fully realize their potential.

Applying this back to Francis Schaeffer, it casts the life of the artist who is a Christian in a new light. For one, it is probably the most effective way to ease the pressure to create any cultural good that is overtly “Christian”; using creativity in service to others is Christian to the core. Secondly, this type of service is a much needed, faithful witness, especially in contrast to any fame-seeking contingent that will undoubtedly persist among Christians. More often, we recoil at blatant fame-seekers, and in the current climate of growing skepticism surrounding truly evangelical Christians****, a Christian faith that serves the apparently powerless will have much more to offer than one that seeks only to impose its will on the broader culture.

Keep in mind, too, that even Mother Teresa, who was in a way both saint and celebrity, cannot escape criticism of her work, and neither did the Christian doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia a couple years ago. Even fame achieved through honest, Christlike pursuits may be met with skepticism. But as Andy Crouch effectively argues, our creative efforts will produce much more lasting and powerful fruit if they are done not as a means of self-promotion or power-grabbing, but in true service to others.

References

*Culture Making, p. 219

**p. 222

***p. 230

****See David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons’ latest work for an extensive treatment of this

I don’t love to read. I wish I did, but I don’t. I love the idea of reading though. It makes you smarter and the books you have look cool on the shelf (probably not the greatest of reasons). But, every once in a while I find a book that I really enjoy and it doesn’t feel like such a chore. So as summer approaches, don’t plan on watching television all day – pick up a good book. Here are some of my favorites…

• Scary Close by Donald Miller
• The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink
• Start With Why by Simon Sinek
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

What books are you planning to read this summer?

As Coachella is wrapping up its 16th year, the topic of summer music festivals comes to the forefront. Over the next few months, America has been #blessed with incomparable lineups, and this post is an encouragement to not only attend one, but to be as prepared as possible.

A music festival is an experience that I would encourage everyone to partake in at some point. This past September, me and a group of friends attended Landmark Music Festival in DC. We were able to enjoy a variety of our favorite musicians and bands, from Manchester Orchestra to Drake to Alt-J to CHVRCHES. There were a plethora of artists that we collectively wanted to see, and with the festival only being two days, we had to make a game plan in order to make the most of our time.

Here are a few pointers that I learned from Landmark that I would like to think could be applied to most festivals:

Eat whenever you can.

The lines at the food trucks inside the festival were so long that I wasn’t able to eat inside the festival either day. I didn’t want to miss any artists, so I was hungry instead, which takes away from the experience. Make sure you come to the festival on a full stomach and if you have any sort of gap between bands then eat, eat, eat!

Wear clothes that you won’t overheat in.

You don’t want to wear a turtleneck to these sort of ordeals! It’s hot and crowded, so even if it isn’t hot temperature-wise, it’s still hot because there are a billion people around you. Dress appropriately to the atmosphere, but of course, keep it classy.

Prepare yourself for interactions that may take you off guard.

One of my closest friends and co-supervisor Drew is one of the people who attended Landmark with me. He wrote a review of the festival and has some really good insight into what it meant for him to attend Landmark, which could resonate with many Liberty students.

Make a game plan with your friends about who you want to see.

This was really good for my friends to do prior to the event because we figured out who we wanted to see, which stage each band would be at, and how long it would take to go between stages. We also broke off into groups or even went to a show alone that we were interested in seeing, and it was helpful for us to establish this plan beforehand so that we weren’t stressed out during the day.

Landmark was an experience I’ll never forget, and I guarantee you that if you go to a music festival this summer you will have a memorable experience as well. Firefly, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo…we’re coming for you.

A reminder, and also an encouragement:

“Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person who is a Christian. What a Christian portrays in his art is the totality of life. Art is not to be solely a vehicle for some sort of self-conscious evangelism.”*

Francis Schaeffer said this 43 years ago in his book “Art and the Bible”, an exceptionally helpful little book (it’s just under 100 pages) and an essential read for its explanation of the Christian’s relationship to the arts, whether that person is an artist or a consumer. Ultimately, he is arguing that the themes in art produced by a Christian do not have to be specifically Christian, or even religious, in nature. It is a good reminder that the content of a creative work does not have to be explicitly, overtly Christian for it to have significance, beauty, or value.

Of course, the content or message of a creative work is important, especially when presented in an artistic medium. Schaeffer warns of the dangers of great art that has an “untrue or immoral message”; we tend to lower our defenses in response to artistic beauty, and so it can have devastating consequences in leading people astray.** His point, though, is that art’s value is not dependent on its Christian-ness. He puts it more bluntly: “Too often we think that a work of art has value only if we reduce it to a tract.”*** He simply points to the world around us, which shows that God did not deal only in “religious” objects, but in nearly unending variety and style****. Beauty is evident in nearly every detail in all creation, something we are able to imitate when we create our own works.

This idea of beauty in creativity touches on another idea that perhaps is more important: finding joy in creating, or the pure enjoyment of, works of art. But for now, we think this is an important point to remember as we watch, learn from, and discern our way through the various creative works we encounter, Christian or otherwise.

Schaeffer also offers a good encouragement to those of you who are Christians doing various creative works: use your imaginations to their fullest, and resist the pressure that is often placed on you to produce only that which can be rubber-stamped as “Christian”. As he argues, an active faith has already informed and continues to inform a Christian’s work, and that will show through whether the subject matter is a bowl of fruit or the fruit of the Spirit.

References

*Art and the Bible, page 88

**Page 66

*** Page 54

****Page 88

A few weeks ago, I wrote about why I think Christians need to pay better attention to rap. Now that Kanye West’s album The Life of Pablo has been out for over a month and was just added to Spotify and Apple Music, Kanye is in the spotlight again for his work. Of course, we know that The Life of Pablo is explicit, therefore as I represent Student Activities through this post, I will not be endorsing his music or who he is as a person. Instead, I want to bring in a new perspective about an individual that we are probably pretty shut off to learning more about.

Hey – don’t be turned off by those nine letters K A N Y E  W E S T! Has he been known for some controversial situations, his prideful attitude and for being a potential presidential candidate in 2020? Well, maybe… his track record isn’t the greatest when it comes to speaking his mind. We all remember the 2009 VMAs when he “let Taylor finish, even though Beyonce had the best music video of all time!”

Therefore, the question that lies before us could be “What can we gain from Kanye and why do we care about gaining anything from him at all?” When it comes to the second part of the question, it is mainly personal preference. If you have no interest or desire to know anything about Kanye West, no hard feelings here. Yet, I care about finding the positives in Kanye, however few or many they may be, because he is prevalent in our culture. He is one of the most famous rappers alive, and at some point we have to step back and ask ourselves why.

It makes sense to me that Kanye is important because aside from being an award-winning rapper (and having a longevity and relatability in his career that not many rappers possess), Kanye is expressive. People are attracted to people who speak their mind, and Kanye is an artist who has no issue speaking his mind, eloquently or non-eloquently.

And when it comes to speaking his mind, Kanye receives more heat in Christian circles than your typical Drake or Chris Brown. This is probably because he mentions Christianity often. The first song on The Life of Pablo “Ultralight Beam” begins the album with phrases such as “So I look to the light
(Lord) To make these wrongs turn right” and “I’m tryna keep my faith (Yes, Jesus) / But I’m looking for more / Somewhere I can feel safe / And end my holy war.”

His lyrics, although they do discuss Christianity, do not always line up with the moral aspect of it, and this could be why he is easily criticized. It is genuinely difficult to hear lyrics like the aforementioned ones and then listen to the rest of the album’s explicit lyrics and feel comfortable, but it is also understandable that Kanye is conflicted. The lyrics “I’m tryna keep my faith, but I’m looking for more…” perfectly describe this album. Kanye is obviously searching for something to believe in, but he seems to not have found it yet.

Relevant Magazine published an article March 3rd about Kanye and Kirk Franklin’s relationship, and the following statement makes sense when it comes to the Christian criticism of Kanye:

“No one (or at least no reasonable critic) is suggesting that Kanye West is actually a credible theologian. No one is suggesting his words should be held to the same standard of a pastor or a Christian leader. But when we criticize the orthodoxy of what are essentially artistic choices, we elevate the words to a higher level than they are meant to be held. Kanye West isn’t a teacher or a leader. He’s an artist wrestling with ideas and emotions. It’s OK to disagree with them—but we shouldn’t automatically criticize him for expressing them, just because they mention our faith.”

Maybe instead of shutting Kanye West out, we as Christ-following, gracious people should welcome him in. No matter your thoughts or opinions on Kanye West and his new album, it is important to keep an open mind as you listen to his lyrics and try to figure out how you feel about them. Discussing The Life of Pablo is a great way to have some conversations with people about culture and what it means for Christ followers.

Bill Hader and Fred Armisen are back at it again with a crafty series that they have co-written entitled Documentary Now! The series aired on August 20, 2015 on IFC and has recently made its way over to Netflix, where it is becoming more noticed and picking up steam.

Documentary Now! consists of seven episodes that are only twenty minutes long. The series covers a variety of topics, and with an almost “Portlandia-n” feel Bill Hader and Fred Armisen act as different characters in each one. The premise of the show is that the season that is currently airing is the 50th. Helen Mirren hosts the show by giving an overview of the mini-documentary at the beginning of each episode.

As a major fan of the work of Hader and Armisen in the past, this show has quickly become one of my favorites in my Netflix queue. Separately, these two actors/writers are hilarious and important, but together they achieve a new level of strange humor that begs the question “What is happening on my screen right now?” through tears of laughter.

This show is definitely not one that everyone would find to be worth laughing at. When encouraging my Director Steph to watch it, my friend Jordan and I had to tell her that the show is funny, but not every sense of humor would find this to be the case. If I had to make a recipe for an episode of Documentary Now!, the ingredients would consist of a third of an episode of Portlandia (because of the changing characters and outlandish scenarios), a third of an episode of The Office (the dry humor that we all have learned to love), and a third of Blackfish (because it’s a documentary, kinda).

Although the show is a bit out there, it is well worth your time. Give it a watch this week!

Is rock & roll alive or is it dead?

“Of course rock’s not dead! Just look at how awesome Dave Grohl is! And even though album sales in general have been steadily decreasing since 2008, rock album sales remained the highest of all genres even in 2014 with an impressive 85.25 million albums sold.”

“Grohl Shmohl. Plus, who still buys albums? People who don’t know what BitTorrent is and rich people who can afford vinyl, that’s who. Besides, streaming music is all that matters, and no one streams rock. Rock is DEFINITELY dead. Just look at the ‘charts’. How often is a rock band anywhere near the top 50, let alone top 10? Maybe twenty one pilots. Sometimes Coldplay. Does DNCE count? No, they don’t. And who cares anyway. Rock is dead.”

A conversation like this takes place every day in the hearts of music lovers everywhere. But regardless of what you think, and regardless of your current listening habits, we think rock & roll is alive & well, and in fact is quite good right now. So whenever you get sick of throwaway pop, whenever you just can’t take any more of The Weeknd and Drake, and the Jesus Culture songs you need to wash off The Weeknd and Drake, here are three pure rock suggestions* to cleanse your palate.

#1 – FOALS (2,357,581 monthly listeners)

Albums – What Went Down (2015), Holy Fire (2013), Total Life Forever (2010), Antidotes (2008)

Why, look at whose name is on the headliner lists of Coachella, Glastonbury, and Lollapalooza this year! It’s Foals, arguably the finest modern rockers Oxford, England has produced since the great Supergrass. You know they deserve main stage treatment when you encounter the driving power and energy of their studio albums, an energy they carry to their live shows, which earned them a Q Award and 2 NME Award nominations for Best Live Performance. For a good, first listen, you cannot go wrong with their latest album What Went Down, with their 2013 release Holy Fire right up there in terms of completeness and accessibility. Like all good bands, the further back you go, the more raw it gets, but Foals have had such a great musical head on their shoulders from the beginning, combining the excellent technical skill of their prog/math rock backgrounds with gorgeous melodies and rich, electronic/synth textures.

#2 – DUSTIN KENSRUE (266,119 monthly listeners)

Albums – Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood (2016), Carry the Fire (2015), Please Come Home (2007)

Though it was pathetically few of you, some of you lucky students got to see Dustin Kensrue perform live in the LaHaye Event Space in September. The Thrice lead singer just released an album of cover songs, recorded at a live show in Santa Ana, CA in December, some of which he performed at the Event Space show, such as his versions of Lorde’s Buzzcut Season, Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball, and Down There By the Train by Tom Waits. Other songs on the album include Bruce Springsteen’s road anthem State Trooper, Radiohead’s classic Creep (clean version), and the haunting and beautiful song Jesus Christ by Brand New. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the artists or tracks on the album, it’s a perfect introduction to the thematic depth and artistry of the musicians Dustin covers, but performed in his style and with his incredible, heavy growl. Perhaps more importantly, it’s the respect paid by one artist to another, but with a Christian eye towards the message of each song, newly appropriated, sanctified even, making the listening experience far more than just hearing another, live performance.

#3 – THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR (73,175 monthly listeners)

Albums – Space Is Still the Place (2015), Self-titled (2010)

It’s never bad to get in on a band early. The Bright Light Social Hour out of Austin, Texas made their first mark at SXSW in 2011, winning a whole bunch of awards including Band of the Year. You’ll see them described as “psychedelic rock”, and you definitely get plenty of that with spacey guitar tones and funky bass lines throughout their two albums. You also get a distinct, Southern alt-rock flavor along the lines of My Morning Jacket or early Allman Brothers; the lead track on their most recent album, Sweet Madelene, even has a lyrical nod to the Allman’s great track Whipping Post. They move towards the progressive rock side of psychedelia with the unbridled soloing they’re capable of. In fact, pause right here and go play the song Rhubarb Jam from their first album. Like all excellent, classic rock groups, they move seamlessly between jam and groove, never out of place in any tempo, with the groovier aspects of their songs helped along by subtle, capable electronic/dance elements. Theirs is the kind of music that hearing the studio album makes you want to hear it live, the hallmark of any great and lasting band.

Rock is dead. Long live rock and roll.

*Suggestion parameters: Three artists, classified as “rock” (alt, modern, indie, math, or otherwise), with at least 2 albums, each one based on Spotify average monthly listeners – one artist of 1 million+, one artist of 100,000-500,000, and one of less than 50,000.