A word from my good friend (if only) Tullian Tchividjian

In his (quite good) book "Unfashionable," Tullian Tchividjian talks about the unity that Christians should be developing among each other, basing his arguments heavily on Ephesians 4:1-7. He talks about having traditional versus contemporary worship services and he makes this really interesting point I never thought about:

"I understand the good intentions behind these seemingly harmless efforts, but they evidence a fundamental failure to comprehend the heart of the gospel. We're not only feeding toxic tribalism; we're also saying the gospel can't successfully bring these two different groups together. It's a declaration of doubt about the unifying power of God's gospel. Generational appeal in worship is an unintentional admission that the gospel is powerless to join together what man has separated.

Building the church on stylistic preferences or age appeal (whether old or young) is just as contrary to the reconciling effect of the gospel as building it on class, race, or gender distinctions. In a recent interview, J.I. Packer said, 'If worship styles are so fixed that what's being offered fits the expectations, the hopes, even the prejudices or any of these groups as opposed to the others, I don't believe the worship style glorifies God.'"

wow. quite interesting, though (I think) profoundly true.

It's Blitz! and Full Moons

Every full moon, an artist changes their style completely and releases an album that catches you by complete surprise. Goldfrapp did this when they went from the tense electronic music of Supernature to the melodic, yet magnificent Seventh Tree. Dido also did this with incredible success when she ditched electronic sounds for pure instruments and more minor key music on Safe Trip Home. For more information on Safe Trip Home, see my earlier blogs (and, yes, just as Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls sings of referencing your own songs within songs, I am referencing my own blog within my blog posts). Although I am not sure to what full moon the Yeah Yeah Yeahs responded, their newest album, It's Blitz! is a drastic change of style.

At first, I was shocked that Karen O. would so recklessly abandon her emotional, and at times semi-screaming rock music and encourage (legendary) guitarist Nick Zinner to lay down his guitar and pick up the synthesizers (which did have their glory days, such as on the album Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen). What results, however, is an album just as raw with emotion and diverse in songs as both Fever to Tell and Show Your Bones. Much akin to Ray LaMontagne's newest album, It's Blitz! starts with songs (in this case two--Zero and Heads will Roll) that are quite upbeat and prepare you to dance your way through the album. However, the album quickly settles down with Soft Shock and pretty much remains on a mellow, chill-out mood. Karen O's desires to just bellow reveal themselves on the fifth track, the Dull Life. My personal favorite on the album is Runaway, an emotional saga about the inability to make love stay (a popular theme of the book Still Life with Woodpecker--again, see a previous blog entry). The song also maintains a steady build until it just explodes with goodness.

Overall, everyone should check out It's Blitz! It won't give you the same feel as playing Maps on guitar hero or listening to Show Your Bones will give you, but it is still a most excellent place to start (or resume) listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.