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Album Of The Day: Illumination by Phil Keaggy & Rex Paul

Album Art of Phil Keaggy and Rex Paul's Illumination album - On a black background, a photo of two men in black shirts from the chest up sitting next to each other. In between them on the background is a bright, white bar of light, illuminating only the side of each of their faces that faces the middle. The man on the left, Phil, is wearing a black hat and has a white mustache and a bit of a beard. On the right, Rex, has no facial hair but grey hair. Both are looking straight ahead and have a pretty neutral expression. Above their heads, on the black background, is printed their names. And the album title is printed in white at the bottom.

Released 7 years ago today, this is a collaboration between guitarists and multi-instrumentalists Phil Keaggy and Rex Paul. Both have been working in the music industry for decades and this album shows their talent for music and guitar-based rock. Many of these songs like "Time", "Full Circle" and "Let Everything Else Go" I recognize as old Phil Keaggy tracks from the '70s or '80s re-recorded by the duo for this album, while I think a few tracks are brand new songs written by Phil and Rex. Like with most of Phil Keaggy's songs with vocals, the lyrics are very often talking about his Christian faith. There's also tons of guitar solos and excellent production here that makes these songs, old and new, worth checking out. It is a modern recording, but with a lot of classic rock vibes, and so fun to hear some of these songs with a modern refresh as well as a few new songs.

Release Year: 2019
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Album Of The Day: Nobody's Got It All Together by Jill Phillips

Album Art of Jill Phillips's Nobody's Got It All Together album - On the top and bottom, there's 24 photographs of people, mostly adults, though a few do have kids in the photo with them. The photos seem to be all taken in the same place behind the same background wall, and have a bit of a yellow-brown hue to them. In the middle, there's a large strip of white across the whole way, and on it is printed the album title in large brown print on two lines, and below that a decorative line, and then in smaller, thinner letters the artist's name.

"I'm hanging by a thread / I still believe every word you said / But I can't get it down from my heart to my head." Released 20 years ago today (I think), this is the fifth album from this singer-songwriter, Jill Phillips. She has been making acoustic-filled pop/rock for nearly 30 years now, with lyrics that strive to apply her Christian faith to her daily life. I can really identify with the struggles and my doubts, and I am also encouraged by Jill's encouragement to follow Jesus. This is not one of Jill's albums that I have listened to a lot, but the songs are really speaking to me today and I should listen to her more often.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day: Through Line by Skye Peterson

Album Art of Skye Peterson's Through Line album - On a background that is blue and orange and looks like a mostly cloudy sky, 11 red bird figures are in the middle in a 'V' shape, with the shape pointing to the left from the right. From each bird is a line going above or below, with the top 7 pointing to the letters in 'Through' and the bottom 4 pointing to the letters in 'Line', the album title. To the right of the V, in smaller white text is the artist's name. There's also a thin, gold border around the V design in the middle.

Released today, this is the third album from a young singer-songwriter, Skye Peterson. It's 10 songs of chill indie pop with lyrics ruminating on life's struggles and religious themes. Produced by her brother, Asher Peterson, these twenty-somethings make music that sounds well beyond their years, though maybe it's because they grew up in a household where music was a big part of life with their dad being Andrew Peterson. I often like music that is a bit more rock or higher energy, but I do keep listening to music like this because I find the lyrics apply to my own life and provide me insight.

Release Year: 2026
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Album Of The Day: To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere by Thrice

Album Art of Thrice's To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere album - Two black and white images are presented here. The top half looks to be maybe a black-and-white photo of water falling over some jagged rocks or something like that, or maybe it's some sort of electrical design. The bottom looks like various vertical lines on a display, but the display's output is warped and stretched in parts like an old TV screen. Over the middle is printed the band's name in very large white text, and in much smaller text near the bottom on two lines is the album title.

"Together we'll fight the long defeat." Released 10 years ago yesterday, this is the ninth studio album from hard rock/post-hardcore band Thrice. For a few years before this album, Thrice disbanded, but they reunited to record this and have continued to perform since then. I haven't honestly listened to this album too many times, but I'm liking what I hear and I remember hearing "Black Honey" on RadioU a bunch. The band is not a Christian band, but lead singer Dustin Kensrue is a Christian, and some Christian themes appear in the lyrics from time to time. However, the lyrics are mostly about social and cultural themes, along with some political thoughts even. It's an album I should listen to more and quality heavy rock.

Release Year: 2016
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Album Of The Day: The Wonderlands: Sunlight by Jon Foreman

Sunlight album - On what looks like rough, light brown paper with a coffee cup stain in the bottom right, there is a photo of a beautiful golden sky over a calm, wide body of water. On the left edge, the image is worn out a bit, and there's a piece of clear tape on the top left of the image, affixing it to the paper. Above it, in the middle, it says 'The Wonderlands' in a smaller, light gray font, and 'Sunlight' in a much larger black text. Below the photo, there's a handwritten, thin pen signature of Jon Foreman. There's also a thick black border around it.

Released 11 years ago today, this is the fifth EP from Jon Foreman. While on tour with his band Switchfoot, Foreman worked with a different producer on each different song in all four of his The Wonderlands series of EPs, each released a few months apart in 2015. The first is Sunlight, with each song being assigned an hour of the day of the midday, from 11am to 4pm on this EP. Like the EP's title, this is the brightest and lightest of the EPs. Songs like "You Don't Know How Beautiful You Are" and "All Of God's Children" bring hope and beauty. Though there are certainly darker moments, lyrically, at least. "Terminal" dwells on the idea of death and its inevitability and "Caroline" reminisces about an old friend who went down a darker path. "Patron Saint Of Rock And Roll" bemoans the lack of relationship between those who have and those who do not, and how many of them purport to worship the same God. This EP is not all good vibes, lyrically, but it challenges and it musically engages with its audience in a mostly acoustic, laid-back vibe. I'm usually a fan of a longer album, but Jon Foreman has put out many solid EPs and this is definitely one of them.

Release Year: 2015
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Album Of The Day: Scaled & Icy by Twenty One Pilots

Album Art of Twenty One Pilots's Scaled And Icy album - On a bright pink background, a drawing of a light blue dragon is the focus, with the dragon filling most of the frame. The dragon has yellow eyes and yellow smoke coming from his mouth and nostrils. In the top right, there's a vertically tall oval with a three-tonged fork icon on it in black.

Released 5 years ago last Thursday, this is the sixth studio album from pop/rock/rap duo Twenty One Pilots. While most of their last 4-5 albums are more industrial, rap/rock sounds set in a dystopian world, this seems to be a reprieve from that storyline. Scaled & Icy is also musically more pop as well as less intense and seems to be the band going for a more positive, mainstream sound. Fans of the band will still like it, I think, but it's definitely a bit of a departure musically. Around the time this came out, I listened to "Saturday" and "Shy Away" a lot, but I haven't found myself listening to this album as much recently. But on this listen today, there's still some solid songs and great vibes on this album. I've kinda lost interest in TOP in the last few years with their more recent albums, but this one is still fun to listen to.

Release Year: 2021
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Album Of The Day: Open Up The Sky by Lindell Cooley

Album Art of Lindell Cooley's Open Up The Sky album - A photo of a middle-aged white man with his hands raised to up the heavens in a short-sleeved polo shirt is standing in front of a microphone. The background is dark black and gray, out of focus--probably a blank wall. Towards the top, it has the album title in grey and the line 'with Lindell Cooley' printed below it in smaller white letters. Across the top there is a powder blue bar with the words 'Hosanna Music' printed in the middle.

Released 25 years ago sometime this year (the Internet does not remember), this is the eleventh album (I think) from Lindell Cooley. In the mid-'90s, the Brownsville Assembly of God Church in Pansacola, Florida, USA had a spiritual revival and Lindell Cooley happened to be the worship leader there at the time. People coming from all over the world to hear preaching and prayer also heard the powerful blend of music that he and his music team were making. They mixed music from other modern worship songwriters with a classic rock sound and even some Gospel elements including a large choir. This album was recorded 5-6 years into the revival, was the last album recorded at the church and features mostly songs written by Cooley, often co-written with Lenny LeBlanc. Tracks like "That's My Lord" and "Great Is He" are more Gospel praise than modern worship. And songs like "Your Mercy Goes Much Deeper" and "Day After Day" are more slow, reflective songs of God's love. The 11 tracks span over an hour, so many of these songs are 5+ minutes. Lindell Cooley is one of the worship artists I was first exposed to, and though he was never really my favorite, he definitely had a role in my musical education. Though this album is less of the modern worship hits, it's one of his best albums of more original songs.

Release Year: 2001
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Album Of The Day: Convocations by Sufjan Stevens

Album Art of Sufjan Stevens's Convocations album - On an aqua blue background with a bit of texture to it, a bright golden, spiral-shaped star of lines forms a circle in the middle. At the bottom, in the bottom left, it has the album's name in white, with the artist's name on the bottom right.

Released 5 years ago earlier this month, this is the ninth album from singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens. And even if you've heard Sufjan Stevens music before, it will not match what you find here. This is a collection of instrumental music made mostly from keyboards and synthesizers, though some other things show up in this recording too, I think. Much of it is very modern and even some of it is grating on the ears at times, while at other times it is otherworldly and beautiful, but it's always at least interesting and not what you you expect from an instrumental album. These 49 tracks of music total over 2.5 hours, so it's not something I've often listened to in total, besides just now. But it does come in 5 parts, which I have often listened to separately while reading a book. Sufjan Stevens says that he created this music as a "reflection on a year of anxiety, uncertainty, isolation and loss" after the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of his father. This music is pretty out there and I kinda like it on occasion.

Release Year: 2021
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Album Of The Day: The Big Surprise by The Elms

Album Art of The Elms's The Big Surprise album - On a light orange background, the outline of four young men is printed in a darker orange taking up most of the area, with the tallest person in the right and two people on the left, one sitting in front of the other. They all have hair of a few inches long, looking like the early Beatles or something. Repeated in the bottom is the same outline of the same four people, this time in a bright pink. In the top left, it says the band name, first word in white and the second in pink, in smaller text. Below it it says 'big surprise' in larger letters all in white, so that the 'the' applies to both the band name and album title.

"Who got the meaning of it all?" Released 25 years ago today, this is the first album from rock band The Elms, one of my all-time favorite bands. Though their later works became more guitar-focused rock, this album lands in the world of power pop, songs with melodic hooks, vocal harmonies and cheerful-sounding music. Even right from this first album, the band was tight and sounds great, though I would like their later albums with an even better, more pronounced guitar sound, "Hey, Hey" opens the album with a fun pop/rock earworm, and songs like "The Buzzing Won't Stop" and "A Minute To Ourselves" keep it moving. The quirky lyrics and epic vibe of the title track is one of my favorites on this album, along with the closing track "Real Men Cry". And "Lifeboat" is a great rock song with a religious angle. Though on a Christian music label for their first two albums, The Elms was never really making music for Christians, just trying to make music for the world at large, and I love how they did that with excellence and love.

Release Year: 2001
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Album Of The Day: January Flower by Mat Kearney

Album Art of Mat Kearney's January Flower album - On what looks like a flat, dirt surface with a blue sky and a rolling hill in the background, a grainy photo of a man and 5 chairs. The wooden chairs of a light brown color, and they are a very simple box to sit on with a very rectangular wooden back. Each of the chairs has a bit different design below the seat. A white man with short hair and a baseball cap is in a yellow shirt and orange pants, standing on the middle chair and looking down in a profile pose.

"You can't look back / There ain't no future in the past." Released 5 years ago today, this is the seventh album from pop singer-songwriter Mat Kearney. Mat continues to write soft rock, pop and folk songs, sometimes with a bit of a hip-hop influence as well. These songs may not have the notoriety that his earlier albums on a major label have, but they are by no means any less quality music. Most of these are love songs, such as "Anywhere With You", "Stuck In The Moment" and the album closer "Something Beautiful". Some songs are about nostalgia despite the song "Can't Look Back" saying not to dwell on the past, and some are about struggles with relationships, such as "Running In Circles" and "Grand Canyon". This isn't my favorite Mat Kearney album, but all these songs are really good even if they don't appear on his top tracks. I'm really glad that Mat Kearney keeps writing and recording new music and it's been so fun listening to an artist for over 20 years and growing with them.

Release Year: 2021
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