The Best Music of 2007

This installment in the Best of 07 series looks at the best music releases and music tours of the year.

Tobymac- Portable Sounds
This cd certainly took me by surprise. While I expected more of the stereo typical Toby MacKeehan , he turned around and delivered a cd with strong pop-rock roots. For those of you who are tobyMac fans, you know that he has always done a rap-hip hip sound, and very well I might add. While he DID sing with dcTalk and HAS sung on some of his past cds, it was a major surprise to hear a cd that was almost entirely singing. Toby, we love you man!

Relient K- Five Score and Seven Years
Relient K has always been a band to innovate the punk rock sound, releasing cds that outdid all of their previous works, yet somehow remaining connected. This time, Relient K went a different route and incorporated air tight harmonies, clever instrumentations, and an overall newer-edgier sound with Five Score. This was my favorite release of 07 because of the overall listenability of the cd. It is one of those projects that you just never get tired of!

Casting Crowns- The Altar and the Door
Casting Crowns burst onto the Christian music scene a couple of years ago with their self titled debut. Each cd they have released to date has been absolutely amazing, with deep lyrics and a musical knowledge that has the music theorist in me smiling. With The Altar and the Door, CC took an already seemingly perfect formula and made it even better by adding some hard-hitting punches at the church. This is definitely going to take people by surprise the first time they hear it, because of the shocking quality to the lyrics. BUT, it is most definitely worth the listen...particularly for the hit East to West.

Phil Wickham-Cannons
Phil Wickham released a debut a couple of years ago that while being a solid record and artistically original, still lacked that thing to take it to the top. This time, Phil and producer Peter Kipley deliver a record that is VERY artistic, and VERY listenable. At times sounding like a cross between Coldplay and Dave Mathews, Cannons is an awesome addition to any CD collection.

Jars of Clay-Christmas Songs
Jars of Clay + Christmas Music= A nostalgic musical look at the holidays through music that is typically skipped over. Need I say more? This Christmas record is awesome...combining the artistic style of JOC with some Christmas songs that really needed to be recorded. Plus, they wrote a few originals that capture the Christmas feel perfectly. This is incidently their first release on their independent record label-Grey Matters.

Switchfoot/Relient K/Ruth- The Appetite for Construction tour
This tour was AMAZING. All three bands were great live, particularly Relient K and Switchfoot, and they donated a portion of their proceeds to Habitat for Humanity.
All I can say is there is nothing quite like hearing Oh Gravity live!

That is it for the Best Music of 2007 post! Once again, if you have any comments or suggestions, let me know! Signing out, The Buckland Fiddler