I am a sucker for piano driven Rock/Alternative.  I have had this cd in my car for about 4 months and I still don't think I'm very sick of it.  I really have to thank my friend Cam for turning me onto it.  Their songs are just powerful, emotional, and beautiful. 

So check them out!

Barcelona - Its About Time

If you want to check out more, check out their full album here: http://wearebarcelona.com/listen/

This week, I wanted to share a band from Boise, ID.  I discovered them totally not through any local channels, but I absolutely love them.  My favorites of them are "Crippling Machine" and "Fight" (I find myself singing "Fight" all the time).

Check them out on their myspace page.

Sometimes when I come across a new band, they win me over with their catchy sound.  But every once in a while, there comes along a band that wins me with something that I just don't understand.  It might not be something that I listen to all the time, but it is definitely "mood" music.

The National fits in this category.  I was actually reminded of them this week as Emily & I watched the first season of the show Chuck.  They play pretty good music during that show!

Anyways, The National is a very vocal, bassy, mellow kind of music and I just totally relax when I listen to it.  Check it out.  If you want to buy their album, it is available on Amazon: Boxer by The National .

The National - Fake Empire

The National - Slow Show

Being a Christian, I highly value any music that comes along that is not only uplifting and good, but also stretches the bounds of style.  A lot of Christian bands make it solely because they can do what everyone else does and say Jesus in the midst of it.  I'm not too stoked that that is true.  I look forward to the day when Christians can be the pioneers in art, music, and culture like they were back in the day.

Family Force band that I have appreciated for pushing the limits while adding some already established styles, but pushing their forward with some great sounds. They mix a lot of alternative and hip hop/dance influences to create a rough, catchy, and upbeat sound that you don't really hear from Christian music.  Check them out below.  They aren't for everyone, but I love them. If you like them, you can get them for free on Spiralfrog.com: Family Force 5 on SpiralFrog.com

Family Force 5 - Dance or Die

Family Force 5 - Fever

Last night, Emily went out to hang out with the ladies at church.  I got the pleasure of staying home with Maddox.  We have a home inspection today, so I wanted to do as much cleaning as I could tonight, and so I put on some upbeat tunes (mostly from a couple of future NMM candidates) and Maddox and I danced and cleaned.

We danced,

We played,

We cleaned,

We danced played and cleaned.

Until the wee hours of the night...

Or bedtime

Whichever comes first.

I love my boy!

 I grew up in the 80s.  I loved my Saturday morning cartoons.  I still enjoy New Wave music way too much.  But many of the tunes I know from the 80s are nothing new to me.  But a couple of weeks ago I heard a band that sounded like they were straight out of the 80s.  I had to check multiple times to make sure I wasn't just discovering some old band.

 After I got over some of that, I discovered that M83 is a band with great dreamy melodies mixed with a bit of that new wave sound.  A fun listen.  Check out a sample below.  You can get the whole album for free on SpiralFrog.com: M83 on SpiralFrog

M83 - Kim & Jessie

My brother-in-laws Kevin & Tyler are both starting a thing called "New Music Monday" where they share some of their favorite music with everyone. I thought I would join in and give my own flare to the mix.

To start off though, I want to share with you not some music that I like, but rather a music service that I just discovered. The best part about it is that it is completely free. It's called SpiralFrog.com.

Here's how it works. You sign up for an account and you download a small client, and then you can start downloading from their over 1 million song catalog. It is not as big a catalog as iTunes, but heck, its free (and legal for all you Limewire peeps - this is my way of shaming you into stopping - there are plenty of good alternatives now - there is no excuse).

But you get your music and you're good to go and you can listen to it. You can even transfer it to most mp3 players out there (unless you're one of those weirdos with an iPod or a Zune). I already have like 100 new songs that I have on my mp3 player.

The only catch is that you must fill out a short survey for advertisers. You have 60 days to keep your music active, and 30 days if you want to keep downloading regularly. Its a small price to pay - a lot less than the $99 you would pay for 100 songs from iTunes.