Posts Tagged ‘Stereoreel’

Be Present

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

As it turns out the internet is full. Or should be. Too bad there’s not an internet lid or “F” like there is with our gas tanks (or a gag reflex that kicks in when get gluttonous).

Certainly our brains are full. Not that we don’t care about each other, but we DON’T CARE THAT YOUR GRANOLA GOT SOGGY! (We’d love to, we’ve even tried. We just can’t.)

We’re just as guilty as the rest. (And I quote from a past Stereoreel blog.) ” “HAROLD! YOU SENT THE WRONG SALAD UP HERE AGAIN! GET ME A SOUTHWEST SALAD WITH GRILLED CHICKEN!!”

See?

We offer this video as a challenge to you and ourselves. Let’s find some time this week to stop the craziness, forget about whether your friend posted a new video of their pet ferret, or if someone you don’t even know got an afternoon nap, and point our hearts toward the Maker.

May we suggest a reading of Psalm 27? Read it. Consider it. Chill out.

This call to worship came from a collection called Come and Worship. Read more here.

52 Weeks-Episode 8: The Whole World Waits

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Another Friday, another song!

This one inspired by a movie about the Star of Bethlehem (it’ll blow your mind), the sound of Nora Jones new album (The Fall, get it at Starbucks), the general sound and productivity of Ryan Adams (we’re trying to keep up), and the simple fact that God came to earth.

It’s a rough draft, but, given that it’s really too late for this year, maybe it’ll be ready by Christmas 2010.

Hear planets speaking and hear stars agree
The world’s ready for its king
The virgin mother’s wait is near complete
Crowned with stars and dressed in peace

Here’s the song!

This song is part of a Songwriting Exercise we’re calling 52 Weeks. Check in next Friday for yet another song. Listen and let us know what you think, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes .

We need you! If like one of these songs, please comment on our blog at Stereoreel.com. Your opinions will help us decide what’s on the next album. Even if you just want to make a suggestion, or accuse us of cryptomnesia we’d love to hear from you. (Don’t necessarily expect songwriting credit or royalties though. Sorry.)
All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC.

52 Weeks-Episode 7: Ring Out, Wild Bells

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Seth sings one! This week Caleb and Google collaborate to suggest an Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem as a worthy mate to a guitar riff of Mr. Dean, Sr.’s creation. (Names containing commas are certainly the best.) Ethan joins in with the low-strung guitar. Beauty ensues.

Here’s the song!

The poem:
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

This song is part of a Songwriting Exercise we’re calling 52 Weeks. Check in next Friday for yet another song. Listen and let us know what you think, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes .

We need you! If like one of these songs, please comment on our blog at Stereoreel.com. Your opinions will help us decide what’s on the next album. Even if you just want to make a suggestion, or accuse us of cryptomnesia we’d love to hear from you. (Don’t necessarily expect songwriting credit or royalties though. Sorry.)

All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC.

52 Weeks-Episode 5: Waiting For You (Tangerine)

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

There’s a tangerine glow on the skyline
An indistinct morning horizon
And still I am waiting for you
Still I am waiting for you…

HERE’S THE SONG!
And the chord chart…

This song is part of a Songwriting Exercise we’re calling 52 Weeks. Check in next Friday for yet another song. Listen and let us know what you think, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes .
We need you! If like one of these songs, please comment on our blog at Stereoreel.com. Your opinions will help us decide what’s on the next album. Even if you just want to make a suggestion, or accuse us of cryptomnesia we’d love to hear from you. (Don’t necessarily expect songwriting credit or royalties though. Sorry.)

All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC.

52 Weeks-4: All Who Are Thirsty

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Okay. I admit week three was a bit of a cheater. It’s a song I found on my laptop from last year. This week: something fresh:

I need God the way I need to drink water. Without either I’ll die. (Though the death that comes from being without God is worse than the death that comes from being without H2O.) In the book of John, Jesus several times says that His water brings life. One of those times he’s in the middle of the temple yelling after a feast. Funny. It’s the last and greatest day of the feast and Jesus says to the gorged crowd,” If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” (Jesus has a history of saving the best food for last. Remember the wine at the wedding?) I’m sure people were looking at him strangely. “What?” they wondered. (John 7:37-39)

On another occasion, Jesus meets a woman who has come to a well to draw water. She’s coming for a drink just like she has every other day of her life. This time though, everything changes. Jesus tells her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:1-32)

Here’s the song: All Who Are Thirsty.

This song is part of a Songwriting Exercise we’re calling 52 Weeks. Check in next Friday for yet another song. Listen and let us know what you think, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes .
We need you! If like one of these songa, please comment on our blog at Stereoreel.com. Your opinions will help us decide what’s on the next album.

All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC.

52 Weeks-3: Won’t You Bring to Mind

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Week 3. So far so good! I even have week 4 done. Look for that in a few days. Meanwhile enjoy:

Won’t You Bring to Mind

This song is part of a Songwriting Exercise we’re calling 52 Weeks. For the next year, we’ll write a song every Friday. Listen and let us know what you think.
Like it? (Or not?) Leave a comment at Stereoreel.com. Your opinions will help us decide what songs actually make it to the next album. We’d love to hear from you.

PS- We’re the proud parents of a baby iTunes podcast! Subscribe here.

All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC.

52 Weeks-2: Quintessential Question

Friday, October 16th, 2009

52 Weeks: Song number 2.

Here’s the second installment of the songwriting exercise we’re calling 52 weeks. Enjoy it. It’s called Quintessential Question.

We do need you! If you hear a song you like, please comment on our blog at Stereoreel.com. Your opinions will help us decide what songs actually make it to the next album and which ones end up on the studio floor. Even if you just want to make a suggestion, or accuse us of cryptomnesia we’d love to hear from you. (Don’t necessarily expect songwriting credit or royalties though. Sorry.)
All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC.

52 Weeks-1: I Will Not Go

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, aliens, pets, and music-loving house plants. We offer this offering: A song. Written just for you. But it’s not just the song, but the promise of more. Fresh. Each week. For a long time. Yes, we plan on writing a song every week for the next year. It’s a Herculean undertaking, but we, being descendants of Hercules (and you though he was a Myth), think we’re up to it.

In fact, we relish the challenge (though we might rather say “pudding” since that’s what our brains sometimes feel like after writing an entire song in a single day). So, we offer to you this: SONG NUMBER ONE. It’s a song inspired by the heart of King David, a certain Hummingbird guitar, the God who protects and sustains, and the key of Bb (including a very cool Em7(b5) chord.

We’d love this project to be a conversation with you so…leave a comment. Let us know how we did. If you’ve got ideas for improvements, we’re open to hearing them. Your opinions will help us decide what songs actually make it to the next album and which ones end up on the studio floor. Even if you just want to accuse us of cryptomnesia we’d love to hear from you. (Don’t necessarily expect songwriting credit or royalties though. Sorry.)

Coming soon: an iTunes podcast.
Don’t feel like watching the video? Love this song so much you want to download it to you iPod? Here’s the audio:

I Will Not Go

All songs copyright 2009-2010 Stereoreel Music, LLC. (Legalese for “Don’t steal our stuff.” …though really we’d be honored if you liked it enough to steal it… We know, it’s a weird schizophrenia.)

Want to play along? Here’s the chord chart. And the capo chart.

Please Welcome Stereoreel and their Amazing Invisible Audience!

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Few people are afforded the great honor and privilege of playing outdoors at a car show on the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival, but we can proudly stand out among the crowd as a band who can lay an indisputable claim to that fame! And on a day where it was 94 degrees in the shade, we can proudly say that we were among the fewer to remain standing in the oppressive heat that scorched the land at Five Forks, PA on the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival.

The sweat pouring out of our pores, we set up our equipment on the back of two flatbed trucks overlooking a sea of muscle cars glistening in the afternoon sun as waves of humidity rose visibly above the gathering of mechanical nomads. When finally the time came to play, we set ourselves to playing with all of our melting hearts. And mightily (or meltily) we played for all who drew near to hear! However, there was no crowd to be seen. For a total of 45 minutes we played, and not a soul materialized.

We later theorized that with the powerful combination of a 120 degree heat wave and a fantastic Stereoreel performance, the overwhelming sonic-heat caused anyone within 30 yards of the stage to be instantly vaporized. Another possibility that we’re floating around is that we were playing to a sell-out crowd of human beings who discovered the secret to turning themselves into pure energy. Regardless, we knew that people of some sort were present since we received an incredible amount of verbal praise through the word of mouth trickling down the shriveling grape-vine.

They may have been invisible, but they were as real as the sunburns on our faces.

The sun then demonstrated its power over music by causing Caleb’s laptop to overheat, tripping the thermal protection unit and causing his computer to shut down, rendering his piano useless for the remainder of Same God. The irony was that Lord, Help Me was the next song on our list. Quite fitting for a band on their way to losing a collective total of 30 lbs in water weight. It was during this lull that we noticed several people scramble out of the shade and run to the lemonade stand. This gives credence to our Vaporization Theory, since they quickly dove back under their cars before we began playing again.

So let it be known that Stereoreel holds one half of the key to the most destructive thermomusical weapon on the planet, but we prefer playing with air conditioning. That way we won’t be tempted to roll around in ice cream afterwards.

Here We Go Again

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

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Friends young and old. Greetings from Stereoland. (Where all your binaural dreams come true!) We’ve been busy doing summer things like jumping over sprinklers and defending our domiciles from marauding raccoons. (What they want with used diapers, we’ll never know.)

Even with all of the summer celebrations and defenses we find time to play music…and lots of it. We’re still play every Sunday night, most Tuesdays and a fair number of Fridays and Saturdays.

We’re excited about an upcoming gig were playing with Restless Street on July 24th. It’ll be at Blue Ridge Bible Church in Purcellville, VA. Get your tickets here.

Want to watch a video that inspires us? Check out Chris Quilala singing the classic “I Exalt Thee.”