. Michael from Public Vigil wrote in and informed me of the following. Me, in my delinquence, failed to post this before Christmas began. The good thing about Catholic Christmas? I'm still in the octave! It counts! ;0)
I have a pro-Life song with a Christmas theme that I would appreciate if you could share with your readers. You can find HERE it at my blog.
. So I've recently become a fan of Owl City. It's a newer sound and it's not standard Catholic fare, so you may or may not be a fan. In any case, Adam, the man behind Owl City, recently said the following on his blog:
I was up late last night and decided to record a “cover song” of sorts.
Not for anything special, just for fun.
I’m twenty four years old, yet something about this song makes me bawl like a baby. The way the melodies and lyrics swirl together is so poignant and beautiful. If I were to count on one hand, the number of songs that have ever deeply moved me, this one would take the cake. Last night I probably spent more time actually crying at the piano than I did recording it. Such are the secret confessions of a shy boy from Minnesota.
I dig it. Figured you might, too. You can listen to it at this source. At the very least, it's nice to see someone who's Facebook posts get 2k+ "likes" in 20 minutes make something like this.
Here are some songs I grabbed from my "competition" over at CatholiciCast:
[A] beautiful song sung by Angelina, “The Deer’s Cry,” an arrangement of St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Also from Catholic Planet, from Angelina’s album Wake Up Call. (Click to Listen, Right Click to Download)
Yup. A Cajun version of the Ave Maria. It's pretty darn good, too! Give it (and several other tracks) a listen and, if that's the one you choose, get the MP3 for free -- all you need is an e-mail address for them to send it to.
Got this in the ol' e-mail inbox. Figured I'd share:
Starting tomorrow, we are teaming up with My Catholic Voice (www.mycatholicvoice.com) to offer a free music download each Wednesday through June 10. The direct link to the item will be www.mycatholicvoice.com/aogentes
You have to be a registered user to download the item - there's no cost to join/register. Below is our PR.
The first free download will be ‘Alleluia Omnes Gentes’ by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos in their inimitable style of freedom and expressive power of love and faith.
Enjoy all this good Catholic music!
God Bless, Stefan
Jade Music / Milan Entertainment, Inc. www.jade-music.com www.milanrecords.com www.youtube.com/jademusic54
Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life. End over end, neither left nor to right. Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights. Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life.
Make me, oh make me, Lord, more than I am. Make me a piece in your master game plan. Free from the earthly tempestion below. I've got the will, Lord, if you've got the toe.
Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life. End over end, neither left nor to right. Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights. Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life.
Bring on the brothers who've gone on before. And all of the sisters who've knocked on your door. All the departed dear loved ones of mine. Stick 'em up front in the offensive line.
Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life. End over end, neither left nor to right. Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights. Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life.
Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life. End over end, neither left nor to right. Straight through the heart of them righteous uprights. Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life.
[ Fade. ] Yeah, dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal posts of life End over end, neither left nor to right...
Here are a couple of versions of the Ave Maria. I'm particularly fond of the neo-trad version called "Ave Maria XXI Century" - hauntingly beautiful. Found the first two here. Do give them a listen.
Ave Maria Bach Gounoud (Coro San Marco) (3:11) Date added: 06/16/04 - an interesting piece with a cappella rather than instruments for background music
So I got the following e-mail the other day, and I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed. First, it's better than most of what I hear on Christian radio day-in day-out (particularly Tara's vocals). Second, I'm doubly impressed at the quality coming from a group of Cath-a-holics not yet legally able to throw back a cold one. Here's the skinny:
I wanted to send you a message regarding my catholic/christian band named Full Armor. Full Armor is unique in the fact that it is made up of 6 young catholics, ranging in age from 15-20. Full Armor writes and records all original music. [We] were recently honored to play at the pope's youth rally in yonkers in front of 25,000 people....I would love for the band to gain some exposure through your website. The band's website is www.fullarmorband.com
So, yeah, color me impressed. I'm not going to deep-link to their audio because I think you should all go to their site - but you should know there are 10+ tracks available for free download. You should go get them while they're still free. ;0)
Oh, and if you're in the NY/NJ area you ought to try and catch a show. Check their schedule for a list of upcoming appearances.
The USCCB alerted me to a site which appears to be leading the way in compiling the WYD '08 audio - MyCatholicVoice. Here is some audio from WYD '08, as given by MyCatholicVoice (listen free, download for about a dollar each):
I've given some of these a listen. They're not my favorites (well...perhaps the Pater Noster below - quite good!), but they're better than most of what I listen to at the typical Sunday Mass here in the States.
We have released a parish version of the official Mass Setting commissioned by George Palmer. The official Mass Setting will be performed during the major WYD08 Masses.
The mass setting is for parishes to learn and perform in the lead-up to WYD08. This will also help parishes to familiarise themselves with the official Mass Setting when it's performed for His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and the hundreds and thousands of youth in July.
A score and recording of the Parish Setting is available [here]. The recording is by the choirs of St Ignatius College, Riverview and Loreto Kirribilli with organist Christine Moriarty and conductor Noel Debien. The recording includes the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen and Agnus Dei and was engineered by Jonathan Palmer.
The spirit of the Mass is Rejoicing, with the congregational parts in the Parish Setting identical to those that will be performed by the cantor, choir and organ at the Opening and Final Masses of WYD08.
The Parish Setting is designed for performance by a parish cantor or unison choir with congregation.
The score is downloadable and may be reproduced for teaching purposes and performance within a parish. A separate version of each movement is also available for inclusion in parish service sheets.
Actually, the guy who did the engineering for this song, John Tanner, also engineered the Violent Femmes’ album, “Violent Femmes”. And the present song is brought to you by the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, which is also pretty sweet. So here's the lowdown:
“Come Holy Ghost/Enkindle” begins with a ’summons’ to Sydney, played on an Aborigine Didgeridoo. Just as Catholic youth from around the world will bring their own culture and gifts to Sydney, it incorporates different rhythms, from Catalonian to Congolese, and instruments from around the world. Some include an accordion from Germany, electric guitar and dulcimer from the United States, kalimba from Angola, a saz, or lute from Greece, shaker from Peru, rain stick from Guatemala, harp from Ireland, trumpet from Mexico.
In deference to Pope Benedict XVI’s favorite composer, it even includes a brief passage from Mozart’s ‘Rondo Alla Turca’. Also, there’s a bit of Gregorian Chant.
In Mark’s Gospel, the Greek word Kataluma designates a “Dining Room” where the Last Supper takes place (and, some suggest, the same room where Pentecost occurred). More commonly, it describes the ‘breaking up or reprieve of a journey’. In this instance Kataluma designates the occasional coalescence of Milwaukee area musicians and creatives: John Tanner, Sue Bruk, Bob Monagle and Mark Kolter, who fashioned the transglobal approach to the hymn “Come Holy Ghost/Enkindle”
So yeah...it's something unlike everything else. Or really, it's a lot of everything combined to make something special. Which is sorta' like Catholicism, which incorporates various cultural elements to make something truly 'catholic'.
Stumbled across this Archival Website (brought to you by the Catholic Music Express) which hosts all their old programs - each about an hour in length. If you're looking for contemporary Catholic music, you don't have to look farther. Do check them out.
I got an e-mail from a Catholic rap artist, DJ 86, whose flow I greatly respect. Here's the gist:
Check out my new mixtape "Catholic Rap-The Remix Vol 1". It's a bunch of old Catholic rap verses over my beats. It's a free download, so please feel free to burn it, and pass it along to anyone and everyone.
First I get this email from Jeffrey Mark Ostrowski, a Liturgical Composer in Corpus Christi, TX:
What if I told you that clicking a button would show you a Catholic website that contains (among other things) newly composed Catholic Responsorial Psalm scores based on Gregorian chant with Organ/Vocalist scores for the entire Catholic Liturgical year ??
And what if I further told you that these are offered ** COMPLETELY * FREE * OF * CHARGE ** to anyone who wants them, and the PDF scores can be downloaded *instantly *without even a login ??
* If I told you this, would you take five seconds to go check out the website, download PDF scores, and listen to the mp3 samples??*
* Guess what? It is true!!! No joke, and * absolutely * no strings attached.*
*Who in the world would provide such a thing for absolutely no cost?*
Corpus Christi Watershed would !!! We are a 501(c)3 non-profit Catholic Institute dedicated to promoting the Catholic arts. Watershed Liturgical composer Jeff Ostrowski has composed more than 850 scores since August of 2007, and all offered online completely free of charge.
Here are twoarticles which explain the project in greater detail:
Finally, to show the compositional techniques employed to create this truly Sacred Music (which Pope Benedict wrote about when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger), please see this article:
A while back I did a post on a fella' I really like named The Apologist. He's an exceptionally talented Catholic rap artist. Apparently, he found the blog and writes in:
I am that artist, and am no longer a member of that order Miles Jesu and have gone back to school. I still am doing my music ministry though so you may want to update that post to reflect the new information. My website and everything else remains the same. Also my new rap name is D-Major, but some still call me "the Apologist" you can hear my new music at www.d-major.net or at www.catholic-rap.com
God bless and Happy Easter. D-Major aka The Apologist
His www.D-major.net site has a number of tracks you can listen to for free through his embedded player. If you want a good sample from that playlist, I recommend "Catacomb to ya' dome" or (linked in my previous post) "53 Beads on a String".
It's not my style of music, but you've got to respect what he's doing. He writes:
Download 51 MP3s (7 FREE CDs) with the artist's blessing!
Why are they free? My goal is to spread the Word of Christ in song, and to reach as many as I can, as deeply as I can, for as long as I can. By offering free downloads, I am able to reach thousands of people around the world who simply can't afford to buy Christian music.
You may burn as many copies of the CDs as you like for family and friends. I only ask that you give them away free of charge. Freely you have received, so freely give...
Here are the two CDs he's made for Lent. Please go to his site for the rest!
Presented to all who hunger and thirst for the Presence of God. Drink deeply of these mysteries. The songs are little, but the truths they contain are not. Every song presented here should be thought of in its Eucharistic context. May God grant us light as we contemplate.
This compilation CD, released on Ash Wednesday of 2008, consists of four new and three previously released songs. It is intended to help listeners reflect upon our Lord’s suffering, death and resurrection, especially during the season of Lent. Make copies for members of your church. May our hearts burn with love for Him.
This blog is dedicated to bringing you free orthodox Catholic audio. If you have a tip or would like to report a broken link, please e-mail me by clicking the link above.
"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ."
Rom 10:17(DRV)
If you see a product review on this site it's because the Catholic Company is giving me stuff to do it. They don't ask me to be kind, but I do get stuff. FYI.
I have a pro-Life song with a Christmas theme that I would appreciate if you could share with your readers. You can find HERE it at my blog.
This blog is dedicated to bringing you free orthodox Catholic audio. If you have a tip or would like to report a broken link, please e-mail me by clicking the link above.
"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ."
Rom 10:17(DRV)