Newest from Hillsong United and Hillsong (2009)

I'm putting these two albums together because they're basically like one very long album. There are many of the same artists and writers on both, including Joel Houston, Brooke Ligertwood, and Reuben Morgan.

Let's talk about the United album first. They have a really catchy sound with this CD. A lot of the songs are fun to get into and jump around with. They're branching out musically, and my favorite is "More than Anything" because it's different and has unexpected rhythms!

Also, "Tear Down the Walls" is a really intense song written by Joel Houston as Hillsong made their way across the world, and they realize that it's all about love. Heh.... how do I know this? I went to a Hillsong worship leaders conference, and that's what he said.

And on the "big Hillsong" CD, as we like to call them, Darlene leads on 2 of the songs. To compare this CD with Hillsong United's, it's more calm, but also very powerful lyrically. My favorite on this is "Glow" because it has a nostalgic feel and it's in 3/4 time (triplet feel), which is fun.

I am a big fan of Hillsong/Hillsong United because they're servants of the cross and I respect them for using their musical talent for God's glory and giving youth groups fun songs to worship to!

Jimmy Needham - Not Without Love

(Click Here to buy on Amazon.com, or click on the album for iTunes)

I had been searching for months and months for a Christian equivalent of a pop/acoustic/soul sound like Jason Mraz, and my friend told me about Jimmy Needham a few weeks ago!

Nothing against Jason Mraz. It's just I wanted to listen to someone who's making music about spiritual matters.

The often-heard complaint about contemporary Christian music is that it's only country or ...... country. There weren't many genres even a few years ago. Now there's tons of genres that have branched out in the last few years, including heavy metal, acoustic, as well as new great artists in the gospel/soul genres.

What I love about Jimmy Needham is that his lyrics are VERY Christ-centered. Well, except the one song he's singing to his wife, haha.

My favorite songs off this album are "Firefly," which has a really fun groove, and "Forgiven and Loved," which has a great message as well as an interesting beat. If you were wondering which song he sings to his wife, it's "Unfailing Love."

I've been playing this album non-stop and I'm not sick of it yet. I hope you like it, too!

Pandora.com

So the first thing I'm recommending is not a specific album or artist, it's an online radio staion that remembers what kind of music you like and tries to stay within that style of music. I like it because it cuts way down on commercials (there's only one every half hour or so), and the music is played at a better quality, hopefully, because it's coming out of your speakers and not the radio.

How to use it?

First, go to www.pandora.com, and create a log-in name. Don't worry, they don't spam you at all. Then you can create a personalized station or select a category to start listening.

To create a personalized station, go to "Create a new station" at the top left, and type in your favorite artist, or your favorite song, and they'll do the rest for you.

A fun feature of Pandora is the Quickmix, which lets you play several stations at a time, so you're not only listening to one genre of music. The Quickmix link is on the bottom of the list of your stations.

I discover lots of artists on Pandora that I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Have fun with it!