"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'" – Luke 2:10 (ESV)
 

Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us; let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art, dear Desire of ev’ry nation, joy of ev’ry longing heart.

Joy to those who long to see thee, Dayspring from on high, appear; come, thou promised Rod of Jesse, of thy birth we long to hear! O’er the hills the angels singing news, glad tidings of a birth; “Go to him, your praises bringing; Christ the Lord has come to earth.”

Come to earth to taste our sadness, he whose glories knew no end; by his life he brings us gladness, our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend. Leaving riches without number, born within a cattle stall; this the everlasting wonder, Christ was born the Lord of all.

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a king, born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all-sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.

First, I think that Derek has really dialed into how to successfully price and differentiate various product tiers in order to 1.) maximize value to his customers, 2.) encourage customers to consider the upper tiers, and 3.) provide a range of options that will satisfy customers regardless of whether they prefer a physical product over a digital one, lossless audio to high-bitrate mp3, or could care less as long as they get the music immediately.

Like I said, I really, really like how Derek has priced his product tiers. Tier 1 gets you an immediate high bitrate MP3 download for $10.

For $15, Tier 2 gives you the option of getting the album in lossless format immediately, adds a physical cd, and includes 5″x5″ prints of the two companion art collections, 18 art prints in all. That’s alot of additional product for only $5 more.

Tier 3, at $30, gives you all the above, plus a t-shirt, plus digital high-resolution files of the paintings, plus multi-track stems of the album tracks for remixing, plus several video interviews and short films.

I personally chose Tier 2, but I strongly considered Tier 3.

Now, on to the music itself:

On the whole, I like Feedback. I like what Derek is trying to do, and I appreciate how different it is from the status-quo in the Christian music arena that Derek often finds himself in. However, as a person who listens to a fair amount of post-rock / electronic / ambient music, “Feedback” didn’t blow my socks off (on the first listen, at least). I’m still figuring out how each musical piece interacts with or represents its respective title, and I’m trying to see how this album will “draw me into worship.” I’m not sure yet. I certainly think that I’m going to need to give this a few spins before I make a final judgement.

This is a largely untapped sound for the Christian market. That being said, I would say that this sort of stuff is done more powerfully in non-”Christian-specific” arenas by other artists (Hammock, Sigur Rós, Balmorhea, Jesu, Max Richter, The Album Leaf, Eluvium, Helios, etc.). To be honest, I find some of that stuff quite worshipful, at times. Derek’s Feedback project is interesting, especially in how it is framed, but I wouldn’t say it is groundbreaking, as a whole.

Now, what is interesting to me is whether Derek is using Feedback as a sort of bridge for Christians to learn to appreciate and pursue the sort of expression found in this other arena and find the beauty in it, to draw Christians out of their tendency towards sub-culture. I might be overthinking this, but that’s what I’m considering right now as I pore over the music.

In the credits to Feedback, Derek thanks Mako Fujimura, which I think is really cool. Mako is one of my favorite artists; I love the way he integrates his faith into his art without distancing himself either from Christians or members of the larger arts community. He makes good art that speaks for itself, and I like that Derek is trying to channel and highlight that. I am well aware that I’m not Derek’s “standard listener;” stylistically, the breadth of the music I listen to is atypical. For some that listen to “Feedback,” it may be mind-blowing and completely out in left field. I just wish he had gone a little farther and hit a homerun.

In sum, one of the key things to acknowledge about Feedback is that is a paradigm shift from much of the “noise” of established stereotypical CCM worship music. I think it’s healthy to dispel a narrow conception of what “worship” is and take it outside of the box. I admire Derek’s art and what he’s done since becoming a solo artist; Derek has the ear of people in the world of music and art, both Christian and non-Christian, and that’s a wonderful thing. As Derek said on twitter yesterday, “there are christian and secular people who make art. there is no christian or secular art.” Let’s support good art, regardless of where it’s made.

By the way, my favorite tracks after the first few listens are 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8. What are yours?

A few days ago, John posted a video explaining what the song is all about. It’s worth watching.

Watching this group of people play together is such a treat; the lineup is heavy on talent, including the likes of Andrew Osenga, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Ben Shive, Pierce Pettis, and multi-instrumentalist Gabe Scott.  All in one room.  All creating something beautiful together.

Suffice to say, this was one of the highlights of my December.

Anyway, a while back I ran across a video someone had compiled for the Behold the Lamb of God performance at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, KY.  It’s really well put together and gives a good preview of what it is like to attend one of these concerts.  Take a look at the video below (be sure to click “HQ” to view it in high quality!) and prepare to block out an evening or two this coming December to go watch them play.

httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A62FE2925410EF7F&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

If you don’t already own it, you can purchase Behold the Lamb of God in the store over at The Rabbit Room.  It’s one of my favorite albums, and I could listen to it all year long.

(Yeah, I know it’s August, but I was unable to find an embeddable version of this video before now.  It’s still worth watching.  )

Now what about Twitter? I find Twitter to be a kind of taunt: “Okay, truth-lover, see what you can do with 140 characters! You say your mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things! Well, this is one of those ‘all things.’ Can you magnify Christ with this thimble-full of letters?”

To which I respond:

The sovereign Lord of the earth and sky
Puts camels through a needle’s eye.
And if his wisdom see it mete,
He will put worlds inside a tweet.

140 characters. Awesome.

@JohnPiper

Check out the video and let me know your thoughts on Mark and the ministry of Mars Hill Church in the comments below.  I think it’s pretty cool, personally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oyHtsU5z9U

A couple of quotes that I found particularly convicting:

We desperately seek to contribute – to be significant.  Blogs give us this chance, and so does YouTube, and Twitter, and Facebook, and the rest.  Suddenly we have things to say and — more importantly — people who are listening.

But these ways of “reaching out” or “giving back” to culture are still predominantly about me.  About how I find meaning by bouncing ideas off of the wider web world.  About feeling important, validated, useful, interesting.

I’ve never really thought about it this way, but the “Social Networking Revolution” is, fundamentally, something about “me.”  In broadcasting what is going on in my life (and seeing what is going on in the lives of others), Twitter/blogging/whatever speaks to my pride, my desire to “feel important” or be respected.

Even when it comes to finding new music, a voice in the back of my head considers the satisfaction and the affirmation I receive I find something my friends haven’t heard of before.  I used to check the stats on my webpage often to see how many people visited daily, and from where.  Seeing lots of hits made me feel important, as though people somewhere looked to me for insight or information.  It was a good feeling.  

Looking to the outside world to affirm that can be very, very dangerous.  In attempting to feel connected with others, we increasingly abstract ourselves from real relationships, selfishly focusing on ourselves above all else.  We end up creating our own truths and realities.

It appears that ultimately we’re retreating further inward, to the “i” world of our personal computing universe.  Under the guise of increasing our levels of connectivity, these technologies are ultimately just tools to help us isolate, insulate and unshackel from the outmoded constraints of having to answer to anyone other that ourselves.

“Social web” applications such as Facebook or Twitter by nature open up a multitude of possibilities and capabilities for digital interaction, and I’ve incorporated a number of them into my daily routine.  It is important to balance these digital interactions out with “real” relationships, however.  There is no substitute for grabbing breakfast or coffee with a friend, looking them in the eyes, and really communicating without feeling the need to show off.

Accountability is refreshing; it’s funny how we can find ourselves silently sitting in front of a screen for hours on end, wondering why we still feel empty. 

The end of the article frames the issue well from a Christian perspective:

In times like these – when it’s easier and more alluring than ever to be or feel important –  Christians must remember that we’re not called to be viral superstars, we’re called to be living sacrifices.  We’re not instructed to make ourselves look as good as possible in front of the largest audience we can; no we are instructed to deny ourselves and humbly follow Christ.

It’s our best friends that remind us of that, anyway.

Edit:  my friend Harrison has some good commentary on this article over on his website, as well.  I recommend you go over and read what he has to say.

I will not take my love away.

It’s Easter Sunday!  Christ is risen!  Hallelujah!

High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the shadows were shot through with light
When the mouth of the tomb
Shouted, “Glory, the Groom is alive”
So long, you wages of sin
Go on, don’t you come back again
I’ve been raised and redeemed
All praise to the king
The victor of the battle
High noon in the valley
In the valley of the shadow

Happy Easter.