Radical Face

Up until today, this blog has been devoted to visual media. However, finding great music in today’s fragmented and leaderless musical landscape is also a passion of mine. When I grew up, the radio stations told us what to listen to. I always saw their playlists as starting points to find what I liked. My tastes usually landed just outside the mainstream. Today, we don’t have a common starting point to find what we like to listen to. We’ve all been left on our own to search for great music. I personally have learned to enjoy the search. As I listen to my Pandora stations and check out samples in the ITunes store, I occasionally stumble upon truly great music. When I find these gems I’ll do my best to communicate my discovery to my readers. Why not? Online communication has replaced radio as the new starting point.

My most recent discovery is Radical Face, out of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Their origins were of particular interest to me as I’m from Jacksonville, Florida. However, I fell in love with this band solely due to their original well-crafted sound. The album is called “Ghost”, released in 2007. It's a concept album about houses and how the things we do in those houses will leave ghosts in the walls. The lyrics are very creative and well thought out. The song are all catchy and brilliant. The thing I love most about Radical Face’s album is the subtle weaving of acoustic guitar, violins, accordion, civil war type drums, flourishes of electric guitars, Ben Cooper’s haunting voice, and a myriad of sound effects. Nothing dominates here, it all works perfectly together to paint images of soldiers marching or chains jangling in the attic. I hope Ben Cooper and Radical Face can find their audience. I’ve been listening to this album for several months now, and it’s turned out to be one of those rare finds that keeps getting better over time.

The Bright Spots

First, a little bit about myself. I'm a family man with a beautiful wife and four wonderful kids. I'm also a born again Christian. These two factors will have much bearing on my writing. My topic is things relating to entertainment. But, have no fear kind reader. I don't plan to tire my fingers writing about how horrible entertainment is. On the contrary. I plan to point out the bright spots. Those works of digital art that are doing it right. The ones that entertain us with great writing, solid production, and an emotional connection that I can walk away feeling good about for days and weeks later. You see, I love movies. I love television,and I love music. I grew up watching and listening to great stuff, and there's still great stuff out there today. It's just harder to find. I'm always on the watch for that gem of a show or song. When I find it, I'd like to share it with you. I'll tell you why it's good, and where it falls short.
I hope to reach two kinds of entertainment fans. The first is parents of kids who are old enough to understand what's on t.v. That's something like 3 and up. Adults without kids can't really appreciate how much it matters what your kids are watching until they have kids of their own. I can't tell you how many times I've asked adult friends who either don't have kids or their kids are grown and married, about a movie. I'll ask them if it's appropriate for kids and they'll say, "Oh, yeah. There was hardly any bad stuff in it." Then I get it home and the family are watching it and we have to turn it off 15 minutes into it. Those adults just don't see it with the eyes of a parent. I'd like to help you adults out there who need a review from the eyes of a parent.
The 2nd group is Christian adults who love movies or t.v. or music like I do, and want to be careful what you allow into your head. Even though I'm a parent, I do watch different movies when I'm alone or with my wife that I wouldn't watch with my little ones. I think that's a normal distinction for Christian parents. But, even when the kids aren't around, I still want to be careful. I think there are plenty of other Christian adults out there who are in the same situation.