Music Video: Wye Oak - "Holy Holy"

I love this song.

p.s. Starting this week we'll be posting a music video of the week every Friday (yes, every Friday) at the KNAPSACKHEROES! blog.

Music Video: John Mark McMillan - "Death In His Grave"

I think contemporary Christian music has reentered a place it hasn't been since the seventies in that the best music it has to offer is coming from the Church. Worship bands such as Gungor, The City Harmonic, Rend Collective Experiment, and Jesus Culture are making music that is much more raw and interesting and passionate than the schlock that mainstream Christian labels are signing and putting out.

One of the most exciting success stories of the past few years has been John Mark McMillan. He's too good, too interesting, and too weird to be on a Christian label. And yet he is. And it's Integrity Music, seemingly one of the most conservative labels around. But because he wrote one of the best worship songs of the past decade, "How He Loves", he is able to put out music as excellent as the stuff on his album The Medicine.

John Mark writes worship songs that don't rely on cliches like verses that start with "I fall on my knees" or choruses that only contain the word "holy". His music has challenged me as a songwriter and I hope it's doing the same for others. And the guitars on the album are phenomenal. John Mark's lead guitarist James Duke gets some of the best tone I have heard.

Check out a great video, recorded live (I like it just a bit more than the album version), of the song "Death In His Grave".

Music Video: Eisley - "Smarter"

This song marks a new direction for Eisley. I've been a big fan of theirs since they were a teenage band known as Moss Eisley. I'm loving this more aggressive sound.

Music Video: Over the Rhine - Desperate for Love

Music Video - Kraak & Smaak - "Squeeze Me"

Music Video of the Week: David Crowder Band - "SMS [Shine]"

I am a big fan of David Crowder and his eponymous band. In an age when contemporary Christian music is (in my opinion) at a low point in the ways of creativity, DCB frequently challenges the status quo with its music. Not only are they inventive with their songwriting and recordings, they are even inventive with their instruments. Watch this video of David playing a modded out guitar hero axe.

They've been the same with music videos in the past, but their new one for "SMS [Shine]" is good enough to have been featured on the world's most popular tech news site, engadget just a few days after it was released.

From the band: Created, directed, and photographed by the band, this video was created by using a LITE-BRITE® branded toy board and 700,000 pegs. The LITE-BRITE® screen images are not computer generated graphics or effects.

Music Video of the Week: Columbus - "Lovemachine"

The melody reminds me a bit of Kenny Loggins' "I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man)" from Footloose. Always a good thing. The video reminds me of Videodrome meets Bladerunner meets Labyrinth meets the bone organ scene from Goonies .

Check out "Lovemachine" by German band Columbus.

Music Video of the Week: Jukebox the Ghost - "Schizophrenia"

Jukebox the Ghost played a show with my band, KNAPSACKHEROES! in Nashville a few years ago. If I remember correctly, the only audience Jukebox the Ghost had that night was KNAPSACKHEROES! and the only audience KNAPSACKHEROES! had that night was Jukebox the Ghost. Since then, JTG toured with Ben Folds and, this week, released their sophomore album, "Everything Under the Sun".

They're really great and it's good to see them doing well. Watch the video for their song "Schizophrenia" below. Then go download their song "Empire" for free at Amazon.

Music Vid of the Week: Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - "The Bike Song"

You may remember back in June when I featured Mark Ronson & The Business Intl's "Bang Bang Bang" as music video of the week. I said I wanted to hug Mark then. I want to hug him more now that I've seen the continuation.

Yes, "The Bike Song" is a continuation, not a sequel. Think of the months between as a really long commercial break.

"The Bike Song" features a bleach blonde Mark (well, his hair is white really) riding a bike. It also has Kyle Falconer of The View (the band, not the show; but you could probably surmise as much) singing, littering (twice) and riding a bike. And there's Spank Rock rapping, flirting and--you guessed it--riding a bike.

The whole thing looks like a French movie that was clearly transferred to VHS before being uploaded to the interwebs. Oh, and the song is great too.

Music Video of the Week: Master Shortie - "Bringing It Back"

Music Video of the Week: American Bang - "Wild and Young"

There's nothing spectacular or new about this video, I just really, really love this song! Check out Nashville boys American Bang with their song "Wild and Young".

Music Video of the Week: We Have Band "Divisive"

I love the videos We Have Band has created. They are a clear marker that the art of music video is not dead. Check out their video for "Divisive" and when you're done, check out their other videos online.

You can download a free track at the We Have Band official website.

Music Video of the Week: The Avett Brothers - "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise"

I love the sound of The Avett Brothers. So, it should be no surprise that I like the look of The Avett Brothers' latest video for "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise".

The animated clip was directed by Jason Mitcham. Check out his other works here.

You can download this video for free this week from iTunes by clicking here.

Music Video of the Week: Little Dragon - "After the Rain"

Watch this on your mobile device here.

Music Video of the Week: Brandon Flowers - "Crossfire"

I've long though Charlize Theron to be one of the most beautiful women on the planet. So, put her in a video with ninjas and The Killers' Brandon Flowers in his solo debut...well, it just doesn't get much better than this.

Music Video of the Week: Stars - "Fixed"

I saw Stars perform this song on Jimmy Fallon the other night and absolutely fell in love with them. I particularly fell in love with this song. Turns out the video is pretty great too.

Music Video(s) of the Week - A Double Dose of Darwin Deez

I love this guy! Both of these videos are great, but the second one in particular is groundbreaking and excellent.

Music Video of the Week: Mark Ronson & The Business INTL (w/Q-Tip & MNDR) – “Bang Bang Bang”

THIS IS PERFECT. I WANT TO HUG MARK RONSON.

Check him out with MNDR and Q-Tip in the grandiose "Bang Bang Bang".

Music Video of the Week: Sigur Rós - "Hoppípolla"

Before volcanic ash, Iceland was perhaps best known in pop culture for Bjork (from The Sugarcubes to her solo work) and Sigur Rós, both of whom have made some of the greatest videos of all time.

The video for "Hoppípolla" (Icelandic for "jumping into puddles"), from their 2005 album "Takk..." shows us that some people never grow up and that maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.



Watch this on your mobile device here.

Music Video of the Week: Francis and the Lights - "Darling It's Alright"

This video is elegant in its simplicity. Shot in one take and "edited with light", the dance at the end truly made me smile.