My Own Little World

I recently fell in love with House of Heroes after listening to their 2010 album Suburba  (which is the most fun I've had listening to music all summer). Their alternative rock sensibilities absolutely refreshed me, while their musical complexity reminded me of the Beatles in its simplistic nature. Their new EP Smoke  doesn't come out until August 19, but because I supported their IndieGoGo project I got it a little early, so I felt it was only right to share my thoughts on it with you. Lyrically, Smoke  carries a theme of overcoming intrusion into our lives from good and bad influences by the knowledge of our salvation in Christ. This begins with "Bottle Rocket," as it conveys the invasion of a catastophe intending to consume our souls. "Wake Up Screaming" is about searching for a lost purpose in our lives, while "The Worst Kind of gods" discusses false belief and hypocrisy and adds some spoken word about not seeking our own devices to hamme

Some of you may not believe me, but I actually have a schedule for reviewing music. I look at upcoming releases and preorder what I can on iTunes so I can stay on track. However, this time I deviated from the norm. I had no intentions of reviewing Swoope's new album Sinema , but several sites had it rated so consistently high I just had to take a look. I can tell you right now that I am extremely glad I did so. What Swoope has done with Sinema  is create an incredibly appetizing concept album that only gets better with more listens. The central story deals with themes of temptation, consequences, and the struggle between our flesh and our Godly nature. I find this notable and quite risky, as most Christian rappers deal with rejecting the status quo of Christianity instead of more relevant topics such as this. It revolves around Swoope and his relationship with a fictional character, Mya Desirae. The story is kept running by phone calls between the various tracks. I like t