Life together is way better then life isolated.  I know, I was a hermit for two years.  Sort of.  I lived 15 minutes out into the mountains west of Woodland Park, far enough to feel like it was sort of a big deal to go into town.  I remember some of the best feelings I had two years into that season were driving out of my neighborhood at the invitation of friends to share a meal and play a board game, nestled in a blanket with cocoa in one hand and dice in the other, prepared to absolutely lose perspective in the safety of deep friendship…the loss of perspective was usually a direct result of one of these treasured friends doing something unforgivable on the Settlers of Catan board, haha!

Yes, these were the moments I treasured as my hermitage was winding down.

Psalm 133 says “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”  This song was written from the perspective of community, from a Psalm that is rare in it’s communal focus.  The last section of the song simply says that no one is too far from the Love of God for Him to redeem and pull home.

Hope you like this crazy version.  It’ll be finished and mixed for the (I know, too many records!) Buffalo album due out in December.

Go get it for free at Noisetrade.

The lovely people over at Scripture to Music have put one of my songs up this week as a feature.  This song, ever since writing it in Ireland has just taken on a life of it’s own.  I brought it to Ben Pasley in the body of work I prepared for Chair and Microphone Vol 2 and he immediately loved it, commented on moving the capo and changing the melody of the chorus.  And there it was.  When I recorded it live in a cabin in a cold Colorado January at 10,000 ft altitude, I remember beginning the song not knowing exactly where it would go, what map it would have…and then it was my favorite.  Hope you’ve enjoyed the song.

Check out what these guys are doing, it’s a good thing.  Putting prayers from Scriptures into people’s mouths through song is maybe one of the best things ever.

Click here to check their page out.

Your Bride, she’s beautiful when…

She opens her eyes…

She’s been purified…

She sings Your songs…

Of deliverance…

The Bride, the Church with a capital “C” is a beautiful thing.  She encompasses more then we know here in the West, containing a beauty that would be utterly foreign to us if we were confronted with her one morning over a cup of coffee.  We’d probably find words like strange, exotic, or uncomfortable to describe her but at the end of the day our intellect and superficial perception would be defeated by the unnerving presence of Christ within her.

Or at least we all hope it would go like that.  Sometimes it doesn’t and our little corner on the market of the Bride is blinded, our sight being clogged with the dirt of religious and cultural expectation…

My friend Jason Roberson and I wrote this song so we could sing about a healthy Bride, one that we aspire to be a part of and it’s been an incredible thing to see people sing along and enter into that prayer.

It’s part of an album called the Resound Collective and it’s free up at NoiseTrade through Monday as part of what I’m calling the “Six Week Bird PreRelease Party” where I’m giving away a song a week.

Come to the party, it’s gonna be a brilliant time!

Go to NoiseTrade to pick up the song!

Need I say more?  Google Mr. Witmer, he will not dissappoint.  One of my favorite albums of all times was one of Rosie Thomas’ where he and Sufjan Stevens accompanied.  Beautiful night this weekend!  Click here for Tickets.

Well, I went with Apple when I purchased a 12″ Powerbook in 2004 or so.  I loved seeing that little silver thing hanging out on the table, beckoning me to work and be creatively productive.  A lot has changed at Apple since then, but I still LOVE the brand and get scores of things done because it’s so stinkin’ intuitive.  So it’s with that sort of respect and glee that I’m announcing that I will be playing the Apple Store on the 29th Street mall in Boulder this evening at 7pm – come on out – I’ve got a full band and we’re gonna put some new juice into some crazy Elephants and a couple others.  A short set, don’t be late – my friend Garret Shelsta will be opening with some great new songs as well.  Combined, we’ll play for 45 minutes – 7-7:45pm.

]]> http://aaronstrumpel.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/apple-store-show-tonight/feed/ 0 aaronstrumpel Screen shot 2011-07-06 at 9.44.12 AM http://aaronstrumpel.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/josh-dillard-the-whale-the-sea/ http://aaronstrumpel.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/josh-dillard-the-whale-the-sea/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:20:14 +0000 aaronstrumpel http://aaronstrumpel.wordpress.com/?p=353 ]]>

I’ve been a fan of Josh Dillard for years now, singer-songwriter from Fort Collins, CO.  He’s always written with depth and heaviness intertwined with beauty.  His newest work, “The Whale & The Sea” is no different and has been in my car stereo for a couple weeks, taking me to and fro.

One of my personal favorites, “Wrecking Ball” is a narrative of a son trying to become his own man under the weight of a tough father.  In one verse, Dillard says the old man was hurt really bad as a kid and in the next he calls him a pharisee…I think it’s this mix of accusation and grace that makes this song so complexly human, gorgeous and wrenching.

“Kingdom Built On Sand” finds Dillard using his voice in a way that freaks me out in the best way possible…the slow and content entrance to the song being abruptly expanded by an acknowledgment of imperfection that could take anyone’s breath away, Dillard takes the listener on a ride to understand personal emptiness, hence the title of the song.

Songs like “Trick Candle” and “Dandelion Clocks” finding me loving the fun, electric imagination of Pete Schottleutner who played guitar on the album.

All in all, the album was recorded really well at St. Ida’s in Lafayette, CO by Dave Wilton, the musicians were awesome, and it’s just a wonderful listen.

I highly recommend it – go over to Josh’s BandCamp page to listen and buy!

Tonight is a big night.  Karla and I will be performing the majority of our new songs this evening in Ft. Collins as part of a double cd release.  The other part of the release is from The Blackthorn Project, Tim and Laurie Thornton and their band of rascals – their album “Reckless” was one that I got to produce and record in my studio in Woodland Park, so the night is particularly special to me.

Come on out, essentially the entire cast from Enter the Worship Circle’s Fourth Circle will be gracing the stage, all for a measly $5 door.  And bring some friends, life’s always better with friends!

7pm || $5 door || Everyday Joe’s Coffee || 144 S. Mason St. || Fort Collins, CO 80524 || 970.224.4138

“Old Hickory” – this track was a simple pass through meant to whet the appetite – the finished project will be much thicker, yet simple, old school and will contain beauty that is found in dusty corners, layered and cracked in wisdom and memory…hence our name, The Emporiums.

Click the picture or right here to go to our site – the track is right-clickable and under the updates tab.

And THANK YOU to everyone who has partnered with us on kickstarter.  We have met the kickstarter goal (!) but are at about 40% of our total album budget, so go grab a pre-order if you haven’t yet, cause we’re know you’re gonna love this record!

A special thanks to Joanne Abraham for her great photography!

I was on the phone with my sister the other night and she mentioned some super interesting stuff she’d heard regarding pure perception and interpretation…I really like what she said:

Artists minds intrigue me.  They set the bar for thinking outside the box.  Somehow they tend to see the world in a way that the rest of the population doesn’t and then they create something magical for the rest of us to engage with.  I’ve always wondered why that is, why a certain person is able to express a vision of reality so far from what I tend to live in.  One day, I was listening to NPR and they were talking about a piano composer who has a rare condition called synesthesia.   With this neurological ‘condition’ her brain actually associates each note with a hue of color.  She not only hears notes, she hears colors.  She’s not making up colors to go with her music, she’s not putting something on to be more than she is, it’s just how her mind works.  And I finally got it.  Not to say that all artists have neurological conditions, but it finally dawned on me that each artist who is creating something boundless and beyond reality, really does see the world with an amazing twist.  They aren’t trying to come up with something artistic, or even edgy, they are simply putting substance to what is in their mind.   Life may be full of sound, or light, they may see more colors, or feel more textures.  Whatever it is that inspires them, they create a world for the rest of us to ponder, where we can begin to see our world in a new way too.  That expression is bold.  It suddenly isn’t just a painting, or a song, it is instead the laying bare of a person’s soul to show us something new.