The Free Christian Music Blog

James’ Top 10 Downloads Of 2008

So, it was hard, but I narrowed down my top 10 list. And I only included three of my own posts, unlike Matt, who listed ten of his. Nevermind the fact that I joined him late in the year and only posted one day a week for not even every week til the end of the year…

Anyway, I sorted through the 300+ posts and probably 1000+ songs and ended up with this list of favorites:

10: Tie Between Children 18:3, Children 18:3, and Children 18:3 – So, Matt had a tie at 10th, so I thought it was only fair that I do the same. Children 18:3 was a band I found near the beginning of the year and was the first band that year to show me that pop-punk could be something that I could enjoy if it was done right.

9: Sides of the North – This small band was one of Christian music’s best kept secrets, which is a shame because they were awesome. Six songs by them is definitely an awesome post and worthy of placing in the top 10.

8: Summer Slam Volume 2 – Indie Vision Music has been one of the top sources of free Christian music, and SSV2 is their biggest and best. It gave me free songs from Project 86, Stavesacre, Ocean is Theory, The Dark Romantics, and introduced me to a bunch of smaller bands, especially The Human Flight Committee, with their song “She’s A Car Destroyer.”

7: The Devil Wears Prada – I became a fan of TDWP when I saw them at Warped Tour (and crowdsurfed to them). So I was very excited when I found a free sampler containing “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?”

6: The Awkward Romance – The Awkward Romance was already my favorite local band before they came out with this CD, This Song Is Writing Me, but this CD caught me by surprise by how well produced it was. And the fact that they gave it away for free was an even bigger surprise.

5: Capital Lights – What Children 18:3 started was reinforced by the introduction to my of Capital Lights. And what we have here with “Can I Get An Amen” is Capital Lights at their best.

4: Stavesacre – Stavesacre is a band that I’d heard of a for a while but never listened to for the longest time. However, once I saw on here that they had a song (“It’s Beautiful Once You’re Out There”) up for download, I decided to give them a listen. I was far from disappointed, and I must say that I have found one of my new favorite bands.

3: mewithoutYou – As I’ve mentioned before, mewithoutYou is my favorite band. The only reason that this isn’t listed higher is that I already had the song long before I found the download that I featured. Still, they are my favorite band.

2: Tooth & Nail Fuel Sampler – Any Tooth & Nail sampler is gonna have awesome songs on it, but this one caught me by surprise with the artists that I enjoyed the most on it. Now, I already had the great songs from Children 18:3 and Showbread, but this sampler introduced me to Capital Lights and Oh, Sleeper plus it gave me amazing songs from Sever Your Ties and my personal favorite on the whole sampler, “Abracadavers” by The Classic Crime, which was a band I had long ago written off.

1: House of Heroes – Sure, I found it before I found this site, but the three free songs, in combination with the ones they streamed on myspace, held me over until their new CD finally came out in September. “In The Valley Of The Dying Son” has been in my collection since March and has yet to ever at any point get old, and neither have any of the others, which is why this places as the number one download of the 2008.

Honorary Mentions:

Everyday Joe’s – This sampler was no longer available by the time that I found this site, but anything that includes Listener Project is awesome.

Christmas Day 12 – Matt put a ton of work into this post, listing something like 2 dozen artists with Christmas songs up for download.

Tags: Capital Lights, Children 18:3, House of Heroes, mewithoutYou, Ocean is Theory, Oh Sleeper, Project 86, Sever Your Ties, Showbread, Sides of the North, Stavesacre, The Awkward Romance, The Classic Crime, The Dark Romantics, The Devil Wears Prada, The Human Flight Committee

Captive Mad Man Cries: Tooth & Nail’s Latest Sampler

Tooth & Nail Records have given away quite a few great samplers (see here, here, and here) and just released the huge Fuel Sampler a few months ago.  Now, they’ve teamed up with Amazon.com to offer another, smaller sampler entitled Tooth & Nail Records Amazon Sampler.

The key here is quality over quantity.  The sampler only has three songs, one from Haste the Day, The Becoming, and Sever Your Ties.  Remember the old cliche “good things come in small packages”?  Well, in this case it’s true.  All three songs are amazing!  The track listing:

• The Becoming – “I Cry”
• Haste The Day – “Mad Man”
• Sever Your Ties – “Captive”

“Mad Man” is Haste the Day’s first single from their latest CD Dreamer.  Solid speed metal song.  Both The Becoming and Sever Your Ties are fresh new bands on T&N.  Both are bands to watch.  “I Cry” is all about the feeling of guilt, and a plea for grace, well worth the download.  Finally, my favorite song, “Captive”.  I don’t even know how to begin describing it.  Just know it’s good.  Enjoy!

-Tooth and Nail Records / Amazon Sampler-

By the way, as James mentioned, there is one more sampler on the way.  Look for it later in the week!

Tags: Haste the Day, Sever Your Ties, The Becoming

Brand New Tooth and Nail / Solid State Sampler

This could very well be the biggest news in free music since MyFreeMusicFriday.com shut down.  Only this time, it’s good news.

Tooth and Nail and Solid State Records have teamed up again to create the ultimate free sampler once again.  (The last one was the Hey! sampler, last year.)  This time, it’s full of free new and unreleased songs from the latest and greatest artists on Tooth and Nail.  To save time, I’ll just post the track listing.  It speaks for itself.

• Children 18:3 – “LCM”
• The Classic Crime – “Abracadavers”
• Underoath – “In Regards To Myself (Live)”
• Capital Lights – “Outrage!”
• Ivoryline – “Be Still and Breathe”
• Sever Your Ties – “Captive”
• August Burns Reds – “Composure”
• Secret and Whisper – “XOXOXO”
• MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE – “HEADSHOT!”
• Oh, Sleeper – “Vices Like Vipers”
• Inhale Exhale – “I Needed A Spaceship (Instead I Got Problems)”
• Destroy the Runner – “Mr. & Mrs. Cuckoldom”
• Emery – “The Party Song”
• MxPx – “Shut It Down”
• The Becoming – “I Cry”
• Anberlin – “The Haunting”
• Demon Hunter – “Storm the Gates of Hell”
• Once Nothing – “The Dust of A Town”
• The Famine – “Scar the Earth”
• Advent – “Blackout”
• The Chariot – “And Shot Each Other”
• Soul Embraced – “Curtain of Deceit”
• Showbread – “The Pig”
• Search the City – “Son of a Gun”
• Family Force 5- “Fever”
• Run Kid Run – “Captives Come Home”
• Far-less – “A Toast To Bad Taste”
• Norma Jean – “Robots 3 Humans 0″

You can get all of the mp3s for free, in one .zip file, just by entering your name, email, and country of residence at the website.  Tooth and Nail will them email you the link for the sampler.

Standout tracks are Anberlin’s “The Haunting”, which is a hauntingly beautiful Cities b-side, Capital Lights’ “Outrage!”, which is so unbelievable happy and catchy, it should be a controlled substance.  Capital Lights is one of the best power-pop bands I’ve ever heard, and a must-hear for Hello Kelly and Eleventyseven fans.

For hardcore fans, “Vices Like Vipers” by new hardcore band Oh, Sleeper, is amazing.  Tons of lyrical depth, plenty of screaming, eerie choruses, the works.  And you can’t go wrong with Demon Hunter, Norma Jean, The Chariot, Inhale Exhale, and August Burns Red.

Actually, most of the songs on this are must-hear.  Packed with new and old songs, this is one sampler you don’t want to miss.  After all, it’s free!

-Tooth & Nail and Solid State Fuel Sampler-

Tags: Advent, Anberlin, August Burns Red, Capital Lights, Children 18:3, Demon Hunter, Destroy the Runner, Emery, Family Force 5, Far-less, Inhale Exhale, Ivoryline, MxPx, MyChildren MyBride, Norma Jean, Oh Sleeper, Once Nothing, Run Kid Run, Search the City, Secret and Whisper, Sever Your Ties, Showbread, Soul Embraced, The Becoming, The Chariot, The Classic Crime, The Famine, Underoath