Michael Koby

I honestly could not come up with a list for this weeks weekly List post. I racked my brain all week and tried and tried to come up with something that would be both interesting and informational. Since I could not come up with something that was either one, I have decided to take my the Top 5 of my Weekly Artists from Last.FM and write on why I was listening to them. I realize that music is important to everyone in some way and in my life it is one of my hobbies. I love to listen to and play music. I have a decent sized music collection (around 700 CDs) so I listen to a wide variety of tunes on a regular basis.

• 5) Bruce Springsteen – As a child my dad listened to a lot of “The Boss” and as I grew older and became a musician and a songwriter, I began to understand why my dad listened to him. Bruce Springsteen is good at what he does and can rightfully claim his place among the Bob Dylans of the world. His use of imagery and metaphors is hard to rival in today’s quick verse-chorus-verse pop world. I go through phases on listening to Springsteen and his music. How much I listen to him depends greatly on the political climate of the time and how vocal he has decided to make himself in that climate. When he did tours in support of John Kerry during Kerry’s presidential campaign, I listened to very little Springsteen.
• 4) Kevin Max – When I was a young Christian, DC Talk was a “band” that I looked up to. To me they were on the forefront of what I believed Christian musicians should be doing. And while my views on how Christian musicians should present themselves my view of DC Talk has yet to waiver. This goes for its members as well. While I do not think that Tait (Michael Tait’s post-DC Talk project) is up to snuff, Kevin Max and TobyMac can at times go beyond anything they have done in DC Talk. Kevin Max is less faith-spoken in his music, but that does not mean it is any less good. Kevin has a noticeable different approach to songwriting then his previous bandmates. Kevin for all other purposes is a poet and a very good one at that. His latest album The Imposter is is best post-DC Talk album yet. I can not seem to stop listening to it over and over again.
• 3) Plankeye – I have so much music that I can not possibly listen to it all within a weeks time so I will occasionally listen to stuff I have not listened to in years to remind myself why I listened to it in the first place. Plankeye is a band I saw live very early on in my appreciation of alternative Christian music. Seeing them live really increased my love for them as a band but nothing the band members have done since has lived up to what Plankeye did. The post-punk early to mid nineties rock sound is still fresh to my ears because of the melodies sung over it. If you were to listen to this band now, you would probably think “nothing special here” but to me it takes me back to some simpler times.
• 2) Relient K – When it comes to melodies and interesting lyrics, Relient K has them in spades. Sure these guys are Christian pop-punk, but they do it in a way that is neither offensive or arrogant and to me that is very important. Their latest effort MmHmm is an improvement over their previous efforts and shows that the band is growing stronger with each album. If you like solid lyrics with great melodies, these guys are the place to look.
• 1) Ben Folds – I think that the reason that Ben Folds made it to the top this week is because of the song “There is Always Someone Cooler Than You” from the new album entitled Supersunnyspeedgraphic The LP. The album is collection of tunes from Mr. Folds’ internet only released EPs. The song “There is Always Someone Cooler Than You” is a great look at some of the people in today’s society that place too much emphasis on the clothes people wear or how people act. I love songs like this and I especially like it when Ben Folds does them. Just like the song “Rockin’ the Suberbs” he makes his sarcastic remarks in such a way that the people he’s “attacking” completely miss the fact that he is, in some small way, insulting them. I love it.

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