October 2009 picks

Only music picks this month…

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

Probably the ‘happiest’ Pearl Jam album ever.  The band finally embraces the poppiness it has been keeping at arms length for their entire career.  Great tunes.  Love it!

Swell Season – Strict Joy

The Oscar winning duo return with all new songs.  Truly mesmerizing like their debut performances in the movie Once and their self-titled debut.  Terrific!

MUSE – the resistance

This band is unbelievable!  They continue to evolve with each record and get better and better.  Amazing.  They blow me away every time.

Chris Tomlin – Glory in the highest:  Christmas songs of worship

Christmas in October?!  Yes, it’s true.  This album is unlike any other Christmas album in that it consists of worship songs.  I love the hope expressed in these classics and several new originals.  Great, great stuff!

New Project!

In a strange series of events that I can only think of as being supernatural, a new project is in the works starting tonight.  The short version of the story is this.  I did not intend to do another solo project for quite some time, especially after the culmination of the “Taking Flight” EP which took quite a long time to complete.  I had toyed with the idea of recording a Christmas EP for X-mas 2010, but that was it.

That’s not to say I wasn’t going to be doing anything.  Almost a year ago, I put music to Dave Nixon’s prayer causing the song “Lose my life” to be born.  I had initially planned for that song to be included on “taking flight” but then I kept writing, and shortly thereafter followed “Mercy”, and then “Unleash Hope”.  Fast forward to May 2009 and my pastor and buddy Jeff Cannell is talking about doing an EP of the new material as a Central Vineyard recording.  I knew that in order to make room for the new tunes, “Taking Flight” would need to be finished so I completed that over the summer.

I start asking studios around town if they are available and nothing really seems to be clicking.  In the meantime, “Weakness” is written and introduced at church.  And then in a weird chain of events in September, Jeff mentions, “Hey, how about using John Reuben to produce the project?”  John, who has his own studio and has self-recorded some of his own projects, was a perfect choice and one I hadn’t even thought of.  I meet with John and he’s game.  But then Jeff calls again and says he feels like it should no longer is to be an EP, but a full length, and it is no longer to be a Central Vineyard recording but a new solo project containing the new songs and some good recordings of older material.

Immediately following that, I’m in a flurry state where the floodgates of writing are wide-open and I’ve been writing about a song a week, and not just writing songs but really good songs.  Add to that new songs that will be revealed at CV soon:
“Truth”, “Love & Justice”, “Hallelujah”, and “Trust You”.  Nine total new songs, and possibly another one in the works (“Father me”), combined with 3 older tunes: “Magnificent Master”, “Sweet Jesus”, and “Lay it down”.  Eleven/Twelve tunes.  Should make for an exciting project.  I feel ecstatic, and like I’m doing what I was created to do.  I feel like this is something that only God could pull together.  I’m excited to get these songs recorded which reflect my expanded paradigm and understanding of worship is and should be.

Recording begins tonight.  Can’t wait!!

Summer Picks (Jul, Aug, Sept 2009)

Music:

David Crowder*Band – Church Music

Stunning release by a band who continues to improve with each release.  The album flows seamlessly from track to track.  Great stuff!

Matt Redman – We shall not be shaken

Redman is no stranger to writing great songs, unfortunately he usually doesn’t make great entire albums.  This one is an exception, and his best piece of work yet.  Every song is terrific.

Over the Rhine – Live from nowhere volume 4

I fell in love with OtR’s music back in the early ’90’s.  In those days they were a four-piece act with amazing guitarist Ric Hordinski in their ranks, and EVERY show was a spectacular experience.  Unfortunately they never released any live material until after Ric left OtR to form Monk.  Thankfully they reunited to celebrate OtR’s 20th anniversary and this is the live recording that never was.

Doves – Kingdom of Rust

Really great stuff.  Terrific musicianship.

Mika – The boy who knew too much

We fell in love with Mika around the time our son Patrick was born.  I don’t know if there is anything as good as “Grace Kelly” on this album but so far Mika continues to do what he does best with fun pop music.  Looking forward to dissecting this a little more.

Wilco (the album)

Pure tastiness!

Stryper – Murder by pride

What is this doing here?!
A much better release than their comeback album “Reborn”.  This album gets back to their roots of letting it rock hard, yet still not dating themselves.  This what their comeback album should have been.  They’ve still got it!

Books:

Batman – Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale

I read this out of curiosity.  As its predecessor “The Long Halloween” was a huge influence on “The Dark Knight”, it has been speculated that this book would make a great inspiration for the 3rd Batman film.  I think this is even better than “The long halloween” and would be super excited if this was the basis for a new film!

Grant Morrison’s Batman
- Batman & son
- the resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul
- the black glove
- Batman R.I.P.
- Final crisis

My buddy Jeff recommended this story arc to me and he was right.  Morrison takes on the daunting task of tying together the entire Batman storyline from 1939 to present and showing how Batman came to be who he is, and that Hh truly is the same person from start to finish.  Really good.

Film:

Inglourious Basterds
I admit that I love Quentin Tarantino, but this film is a masterpiece.  Tarantino unfolds a captivating story that pulls you in, and also make something truly visually stunning.  Loved it!

District 9

A highly original piece of sci-fi action.  Great storyline and characters.

Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” & “Changeling”

Eastwood is an amazing director and has an eye for beauty even amongst difficulty.  Both films are terrific.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Fun film.  Had a blast watching it with my kids.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince

Terrific film setting the stage for the finale.  Can’t wait for “deathly hallows”!

Taking Flight – Artist inspiration and notes.

Taking Flight is special to me for a variety of reasons.  One being it is the first collection of all new material since The Cross was released in 2002.  It’s true that Sing Your Praise had one new song previously unreleased, and the Central Vineyard cd had 4 original new songs but this one is all ‘new’.  It’s also an EP which is think is easier to digest.  I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have the songwriting chops to compete with some of my favorite bands like U2 or Coldplay who can truly present a musical journey in an album and make it an experience worth listening to.  But I think this collection is fairly strong and consistent and at only 6 songs makes it easy to listen to, and hopefully worship along with without a huge time commitment.  It was a lot of fun to make a recording with great friends, my longtime drummer Zach Pappas and buddy Grant Wentzel who had moved to Sioux Falls, SD but thanks to the internet was able to contibute guitar parts from afar with ease.  Also special thanks is due to Chris Kay and Ian Martin for help with recording drums, and Sarah Fahringer for the cover design.

The goal was ‘all killer, no filler’ and I think I accomplished that.  I think also the songs range from a variety of styles yet still maintain pop sensibilities with easy memorable melodies and present within themselves their own musical journey.  This collection of songs is also significant because it symbolizes a real breakthrough in songwriting.  I had severe writer’s block for several years and last year was able to get the river flowing again.  During the recording more songs like: “lose my life” (co-written with Dave Nixon), “mercy” (co-written with Eben Brusco), and “unleash hope” (co-written with Noelle Shearer) were written in addition to what was originally planned, and it looked like those songs would be included.  But in the end for the most part the original plan is what happened.  The newer songs will become something else which I’m excited to see what happens with them.

The Songs

YOU ARE GLORIOUS
I love big anthemic singalongs, and this song is exactly that.  The melodies and some of the lyrics were in my head for months before I wrote them down.  I think actually this song first started to be created while I was out running which may be why them beat is at a driving pace, and it was during a run that I sorted through the myriad of lyrics in my mind and put them in order.  I think in our culture we severely overuse the word “awesome”.  God truly is the only one or thing that really is awesome which is why the chorus states “the only one awesome”.

GOD WHO SAVES
This song was a breakthrough for me in songwriting.  After several years of doing a backlog of material this song was the first brand new one in a long time, and was followed by several others.  Written in January 2008 in just a few minutes, it marked a return for me to songwriting.  I’ve noticed that I tend to like to write and lead songs in a punky pop style, and this one initially was no different.  Thanks to some great guitar work by Grant, helped this song become something different yet still maintain its upbeatness.

INSPIRATION SUFFOCATION
This song is the granddaddy of the bunch from way back in 1997 when I first started leading worship corporately.  Although I never intended this song to be corporately sung, I think this song has stuck with me throughout the years and needed to see the light of day.  It’s gone through several lyrical rewrites over the years but the heart of the song remains the same.  It had been dropped from the project, until I listened to it again and thought all that needs is some Grant Wentzel guitar on it.  When Grant gave it back to me with his parts added, I really enjoyed the song and thought it had earned a place on the EP.

WASH ME CLEAN
This one has also been around for 5+ years or so, but was one that I started doing in worship when I was going through major songwriting block.  I love the simplicity of this one.  It’s definitely older because the subject matter is one of continual struggle with sin.  I feel like I’m learning to stop focusing on sin as much and instead focus more on the things God has called us to.

THE HEAVENS PROCLAIM
Another collaboration with my old friend Jim Zartman that we’ve been doing at Central Vineyard since we started the church.  The lyrics are very simple but I love the feel to this song.  It reminds me a little of Pink Floyd

SO MUCH LOVE (IN THE WORLD TONIGHT)
This one has been around 5+ years or so.  It was written in a creative period one weekend alongside another song “My Love” which was on the Sing Your Praise live album.  The punky pop song style is very much ‘me’, and I let my freak flag fly here and just go for it.  For a brief period of time, I turned it into a corporate worship song with Jim’s help on the lyrics.  But I think it’s a little too crazy for that, so it didn’t last long.  So, it’s reverted back to its former self and original lyrics and is happier for doing so.  This song is where the line “taking flight” comes from which encompasses the theme of the album.  I’m really glad to finally have this one recorded.  I particularly love Grant’s rocking guitar on this.

Download now for free at Robberfly Music, and please Donate to Asia’s Hope.

All songs by Michael Gallaugher, except:
“The heavens proclaim” by Michael Gallaugher and Jim Zartman
All songs © 2009 robberfly music

Michael Gallaugher – Vocals, Acoustic guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Piano, Programming, Loops
Grant Wentzel – Electric Guitar
Zach Pappas – Drums

Recorded by Michael Gallaugher, Grant Wentzel, Chris Kay, and Ian Martin
Mixed, Edited, Mastered by Michael Gallaugher
Cover design by Sarah Fahringer

June 2009 picks

Music:

The Essential Michael Jackson

Sadly, an enormous talent was snuffed out early.  This album was a great look back at his career.  Michael Jackson was the first musician I was ever aware of, and I loved him back in 3rd grade.  It’s been great to relisten to some terrific tunes.

“21st Century Breakdown” – Green Day

Green Day take what they learned from making “American Idiot” and go one step further.  A terrific display of musicianship and arrangement.  I never would’ve thought the guys who sang “longview” in 1994 would be capable of making music like this.

House of Heroes “Meets the Beatles” EP

Another 3 song EP by a group quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.  This time they tackle the Beatles with 3 covers:  “Can’t buy me love”, “It won’t be long”, and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”.  Surprisingly faithful to the original versions, yet made with a blueprint all their own.  As always, great stuff!

Book:

“Jesus Brand Spirituality” – Ken Wilson

Great book and definitely worth checking out.  Ken Wilson describes what it means to be a Christian from Jesus’ perspective.

Film:

UP

Wonderful film about achieving your dreams.  This film had everything from laughter to tears, from adventure to redemption.

The Soloist

Terrific performances by Downey and Foxx.  Based on a true story.

Terminator Salvation

I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  They did a remarkable job tying it together with the storyline of the first 3 films.  Christian Bale is terrific.