Music Recommendations

All credit to Dawid Richardson

 Hey guys! I've been thinking for a while about doing a post with some music recommendations. So... here it is! Hope you get something from it!

Disclaimer: 

1. I know some of you may not be huge music fans. That's OK. I know I wasn't till a year or two ago. But hey, maybe pass this on to a friend?
2. Many of you will probably disagree with some of my music choices. In fact, I reckon the majority of you will find at least one thing in this list that you wouldn't listen to. You might personally choose to listen only to worship and instrumental music. You may shy away from rap. Again, that's OK. I respect your standards, and honor you for choosing to stick by them if that's what you're convicted of. I agree to disagree. Feel free to let me know what you don't listen to and why in a comment. But I hope you find at least one thing to agree with or take from this post.
3. This list does not include worship songs. Trust me, I have plenty of them, but I haven't put them here because I think worship songs are easy enough to find... plus this list would be way to long then!
4. The songs are kinda-sorta colour-coded. But I don't have definite genres. You can work it out for yourself. :)
5. If you guys have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

So, without further ado: my music recommendations...

• Practically anything by "Sleeping at Last." This band I discovered through a friend. I LOVE them! OK, some of there songs are romantic (I tend to avoid those), but most a really profound. You will find that some of their songs address death... but they do so brilliantly. I'm slowly working my way through their portfolio, but my ever-enduring favourites are "Overture," "Saturn" (that's a death-ish one), "Mercury" and "Sun," "Noble Aim" and "Mars." Their lyrics are often a bit cryptic or hard to figure out, but here's a link to all their lyrics.
• Anything Lecrae. Lecrae is a rapper. {"Whoah, whoah!" I hear some of you saying.} I never thought I'd get into rap, but when my brother started buying their music, I found that many of their songs far surpass other Christian songs! Favourites include "Tell the World," "Free from it All," "Children of the Light," "Far Away," "Just Like You" and "God is Enough." 
• Other rap songs. There is a HUGE amount of awesome Christian rappers out there! ( For example, Tedashii is a great one.) Many of them feature in the songs of the others. :) Songs of theirs (various rap artists) I like include "Make War" by Tedashii, "Till they know" by Tristan Peace, "Surrender" by Flame (no, not Flume) and V-Rose, and "Man-Up Anthem" featuring a whole bunch of rap artists (this one's mainly for guys... but I like listening to it too! It's actually super-encouraging for. Take a listen and you'll find out why.) Oh, and a note on rap songs: their full value can only be appreciated if you look up the lyrics. Although there's quite a lot you can get out of them without doing so.
• V-Rose. V-Rose is very up-beat, getting close to rap, but not quite that fast. :) Her song "Not so Average" is AWESOME! I think it's one of the few "be-you-not-what-every-one-else-tells-you-to-be" songs that actually glorifies God. Look up the lyrics, they definitely help :). 
• Kerrie Roberts. Her songs "Outcast" and "What are you Afraid of" are two more "be-you-not-what-every-one-else-tells-you-to-be" that glorify God. Again, up-beat like V-Rose. 
• Audio Adrenaline. I haven't listened to many of their songs, but I love "Kings and Queens."
• Building 429's "Listen to the Sound." A little note: '429' refers to Ephesians 4:29
• Casting Crowns. Ah yeh, you've probably heard of these guys. :P I find some of their songs a bit lame, but many of them are great. If you haven't already, try "Courageous," "Praise You in this Storm" and "Who Am I."
• Group 1 Crew. In the same genre as V-Rose and Kerrie Roberts, although maybe a little faster in some songs. There album "Outta Space Love" is great.
• Marching South. These guys are fairly unknown, but I love their music! It kinda sounds like Mumford and Sons... but Christian (although it's not obviously so at all). We own their album "Lost in the Woods."
• Newsboys. Yeh, you probably know these guys too. If you don't, you've got to check them out. They've remained my favourite band for many years. Also, in my opinion, the old Newsboys (with Peter Furler as lead singer) are are better than the new (with Michael Tait as lead singer). Both are awesome though.
• Selective songs by Pentatonix. These guys are a crazy-awesome a-capella group. They mostly do covers, many of pop songs, so I don't listen to those. But "Little Drummer Boy" and "Carol of the Bells" (OK, both Christmas songs...) are great. I also listen to "Run to You." That's kinda one of those kinda-boy/girl-kinda-God cryptic songs. I don't find it a problem at all, but you may differ.
• "Captivated" by Shawn McDonald. I haven't listened to any of his other songs, but I get the impression they're pretty good.
• Naturally 7. Have you heard these guys? They're an all-African-American a-cappella group, and their songs are really funky.
• Peter Hollens. This guy sings a-cappella and mashes his voice recordings. He's AMAZING. Aaarrr, his vocal range!! Like Pentatonix, some of his songs are covers of pop-ish songs (I can see a Katy Perry song, and others like it, in his YouTube channel), BUT, many are other great ones! Just check out "Scarborough Fair," and "O, Holy Night," for instance. He also does a few songs from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (including "Into the West," and "Misty Mountains").
• Pretty much anything by The Piano Guys. You may know these guys. But if you don't, check them out! Almost all their music is instumental (piano and cello), and they are SUPER AMAZINGLY SKILLED! It's nuts how good they are! Not to mention the lengths they go to do crazy-awesome music videos. (Think in an ice castle, on a sand dune, on the top of a cliff, and on the Great Wall of China. No kidding. And no green-screens. Just watch the behind the scenes clips.) Some of their covers are of pop songs (Taylor Swift and Coldplay, etc), but a good portion aren't. They do covers of "Story of my life" and "What makes you beautiful" by One Direction... and though as a general rule I don't like One Direction, these are so amazing that all the wishy-washy originals don't even come to mind. Favourites of mine are "The Cello Song," "Let it Go/Vivaldi's Winter," "Lord of the Rings," "Me and My Cello (Happy Together)" (you gotta check out the video clip for that one), "The Mission/How Great Thou Art" and "Over the Rainbow/Simple Gifts." 
• The WOW CDs often have good songs on them. Lots of them are worship, but many aren't. 

 There you have it! My music recommendations. Hopefully there's something there you've just discovered and will love to listen to!

Cassie xoxoxo