Hey everyone! Recently, we jumped in the studio (Glassjar of course!) to record a song I wrote for a specific message from a pastor and friend of mine (John Witte). In doing this recording we just wanted everyone to have the song; those that may have heard it, and wanted a recording of it, and of course generally for everyone to hear. It's a simple and intimate recording, with just guitars and pads - well I won't spoil it. Just take a listen and download here! (The track is free, but allows for the option to give if you want to. Just put the amount to zero for the free download)

Enjoy!

It's an important time of year as we remember the Savior, Jesus Christ, and His birth from a virgin into this broken world. We cannot be reminded enough that God would love us enough to send His only son to rescue us sinners by His death on the cross. Take some time to remember His sacrifice with family and friends this season.

On a side note, we wanted to gift you with a free download of our EP this Christmas season! Already have it? Share the link with friends! To download go HERE and click on "FREE DOWNLOAD" or remember newsound.bandcamp.com and tell a friend if you already have it! (Doing this up until the new year, so be quick!)

I wanted to share with everyone the notes I prepared for a workshop I did with a good friend of mine. We taught on worship, and about singing and playing music in church. I have never really done this before, but I think it went well enough for the first time! There are 7 pages here, and some book recommendations on the last page. I'm sure there are many more books out there about this topic too, but these are the ones I'm currently reading or have read. I would love to hear of some of your recommendations! I also probably could have written more, as "worship" is such a loaded word, but there was only so much time in this case. Anywho, my notes can be downloaded here. Enjoy!

I can say that I am guilty of having more songs memorized than I do scripture(I'm trying to do better!). I can imagine many of you may be in the same boat. Words with music, for the most part, is naturally easier(if it's catchy enough) to memorize. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for it, but I won't get into that (however, I do find it very interesting, and worth understanding). First, what I'm not suggesting here is that we start memorizing songs that contain scripture as a replacement for memorizing scripture or reading scripture. As many songs as there are out right now, not all are truthful, and most likely with all of those that are, combined they simply cannot contain all of the truths represented in the Bible. Hide the Word of God in your hearts. Don't wait for the next hit or catchy song to do it for you. I am suggesting that because it may be easier to have a song stuck in our heads, than God's word in our hearts, that we should be careful with what a song says. Also, that perhaps more of the songs we sing should contain more scripture, and/or biblical truths. Second, it's okay to use the bible's text in song as long as nothing is taken out of context. And by context, I don't necessarily mean 'historical'. I mean more 'literary'. As cool as it is to have a song about how to make an ark, I'm not sure how enjoyable it will be to sing or listen to. For example, the bible has many instances of Israel crying out to God for rescue. One of the cool things about the Bible is that it will always be relevant to it's believers no matter the culture or time period. In my song 'Restore Us' I grabbed the chorus from one of these moments. While historically irrelevant, the act of crying out for rescue is very relevant. I suppose there's a bit of wisdom to be used in choosing what to use, and how to use it as well. Third and lastly, I may be wrong on all or some of this, so don't take my word for it. These are just my thoughts and ideas. Test everything with scripture, always... now onto the scripture(s) used in and that inspired these songs:

The Lord Reigns

Scripture:Psalm 96-99

Lyrics:The Lord Reigns

Let Your Mercy Fall

Scripture:Hebrews 4:14-16

Lyrics:Let Your Mercy Fall

Restore Us

Scripture:Psalm 80

Lyrics:Restore Us

You Baptize Me

Scripture(s):Mark 16:16; Luke 3:21; John 3:5; Acts 1:5

Lyrics:You Baptize Me

You can still grab these songs on iTunes, and Bandcamp, and the song 'You Baptize Me' is still going for FREE!

Hey everyone! Haven't got our EP yet? Saving up for that venti latte? Well that's understandable, because we know what it means to be without your favorite pick-me-up in the morning, and also because we like to give, we will be offering up the track 'You Baptize Me' for free, for the next 50 downloads! Just go to http://newsound.bandcamp.com click on "You Baptize Me" and then "Free Download", choose your file format if you'd like (it's ok if you don't know what that means, it is MP3 by default), click "Download" and that's it! You don't need to input any personal info, just click, download, enjoy, and spread the word! 

(We also have it for download at our "Music" link, and on iTunes for you non-CD types!)

So you can now buy our EP on iTunes! Click on the image above, or the "Download on iTunes" icon below! (Yea, we know we're not "New Age", and we will try a new method in the future, but for now it works as is. If you're as finicky about genre's as I am, and use a ton of genre playlists, you can change it just as easy in iTunes once you get the music :) If you need any help with that, just ask.)

Hey all! Nate W, here bringing you some updates!

The final artwork is here from the man Nicholas Jackson. Super talented dude.

AND, as of now (or a couple of days ago), streaming clips of the tunes are up on the top left of the site, from Grooveshark. Very cool social music site. Check it out.

Also, thanks also to Jeff Gudenrath at Audiointegrity for the mastering. He is certainly a master.

Lastly the full EP to buy will be soon, so stay tuned!

~Nate W.

Well, the time finally came to lay down some tracks in a studio. It was a hard week, went by fast, yet was really satisfying. For the first time being in a recording studio my expectations were all over the place. I didn't know where to start or honestly what in the world I was doing. Was everything going to sound good to me? What if I hated everything and it was a disaster? What if we had to scrap a song, or two? What if I couldn't pull off singing in tune, or keeping on the beat? All I knew is that the songs were there.

I guess sometime after or during all of this panicking, I started to just let go and realize that these aren't 'OUR' songs, and this isn't 'OUR' project, but the Lord doing His work through us. These songs were always His anyway, but we just had to step OUT of the way of being IN the way.

I was never really into writing chart-topping songs, or being well-known, but I am in love with the process of creating songs that are glorifying God, telling His truth and are for the most part singable (or what I perceive as "singable" or "memorable"). I hope we accomplished this, and wish all of you would be blessed by this music. Perhaps even use it someday in your own church.

Thanks to Glass Jar Studios(Preston Cox & Dakota Gray) for having us, and even going as far as being a part of these songs. Thanks to Kevin Peters for creating and laying down awesome beats and foundations for the tunes. You're worth way more than we payed for you. Thanks Noel Laws for your great musicianship and your bass-playing skills and giving your time to this project. Thanks Nathan Dillow for your creative mind and awesomely fantastic whale sounds. And before all of this turns into that section in a CD where everybody thanks everybody... see ya on the flipside in like a month or so with some of the actual tracks!

P.S. Check out the twitter feed on the left and Flickr images on the right for images and videos of some of our time in the studio.

~ Nate W.