Sorry for all the music related posts, but there’s not really much else to talk about right now. Working and keeping an eye on two almost-two-year-olds doesn’t really leave me much time to feed the creative muse.

I was pretty excited when Anberlin hit #1 on 99X earlier this year with “Feel Good Drag” (which, by the way, is a rocking awesome song) because I felt a little bit validated. A lot of days I feel like nobody listens to the music I listen to, but that was a small victory for faith-based music that’s not CCM (much like previous bands like P.O.D., Sixpence None the Richer, Chevelle and others that made a blip on popular radio). Now, here are five more artists that I hope will eventually make it onto radio or at least play to some larger audiences sometime soon. If you’ve been around me, you’ve probably heard me talk about these artists, but I thought I’d put out some little summaries on each of them:

Paper Route
Thus far this year, Absence is running away with title of “favorite album of the year.” It’s not even close. There’s a lot of electronic gadgetry in the songs, but the melodies underneath are memorable and make the songs great even without all the techno beeps and boings. The sound is lush and I catch myself humming the tunes all the time. The lyrics are so earnest, it’s teenage longing and musing about greater things like eternity. There’s a lot of updated technology in the sound of these songs, but this is 80’s music revived. Some of the songs on this album could easily fit into a John Hughes movie soundtrack.

All The Day Holiday
The vocals are similar to Chris Carraba’s crooning, but the songs are not nearly so emo-ish. The Things We’ve Grown To Love is the first full-length album by this band. There’s more of a feel of a brisk march to many of the songs. It’s an album filled with joy as tight drum patterns propel the songs along. It’s hard to not to listen to this one without a smile on your face.

Deas Vail
Do you remember the hair-metal bands that had the singer who could hit those ridiculously high notes that no one had any business singing? That would be Wes Blaylock, but instead of fretboard runs backing up his high-pitched singing, it’s bright melodies on keyboards by his wife Laura and strong guitar, drums, and bass forming a sound that rocks just a little bit, but is more pop music. Much like All The Day Holiday, this band exudes joy and it makes them a pleasure to watch live.

Nitengale
This band has signed on to Word Records, which I found interesting because they don’t really sound like a band I would expect to hear on CCM radio. Classically-informed piano with haunting vocals power along this band. They hail from Fairbanks, Alaska and you can almost feel the cold expanse fill in between the lyrics and music. Theatres is their indie release, and I’m curious to see what happens when they produce an album on a label.

Brooke Waggoner
I’m just starting to get into this artist, but so far I’m loving what I hear. Heal For the Honey is her latest album. It’s piano backed by an ensemble of her friends on strings and it’s beautiful, light, and different. Best of all, it’s music produced by women who do more than shake their hips and wear as little clothing as possible. Pop music needs more intelligent music written and performed by women.