This past weekend I watched the best music documentary I've ever seen. I guess I can't admit to seeing very many, but this one is definitely the best.
This documentary highlights the timeless band, Buena Vista Social Club, from their homes in Havana, Cuba, to Amsterdam and then finally New York City. It's chock full of amazing Spanish-language music and the rich history of Cuba's capitol.
Apparently there is now something called "Gospel Music Association Canada" -- a new international affiliate of the American GMA. Being as I'm Canadian and have dabbled in Christian music journalism, you'd think I would know this. I did not.
I jumped over to the GMAC website today, however, and happened across this sentence: "Starfield and Ali Matthews led the list of winners as GMA Canada presented the 28th Annual Covenant Awards October 27th in Calgary."
A recently released book, Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside The Phenomenon of Christian Rock by Andrew Beaujon, apparently is an interesting look at the Christian subculture from a non-Christian's perspective. I hope I (or maybe someone else on the staff) will be able to take a good look at this book, because it seems insightful to have a different perspective on the industry. (For example, he said his week at GMA was a pretty dark time for him, but I found it kinda fun - maybe I need to act professional.)
If you were ever wondering about the guitar prowess of Phil Keaggy or if you wanted to hear the music he's been playing for the last 40 years, then get on the The Phil Keaggy Show podcast (via iTunes or RSS). The first couple were nice tracks, but this month's podcast is amazing.
Apologies to Provident about my last post; I checked my mailbox the next day and I found a copy of the Good Monsters album. I gave it a cursory listen during work and it sounds great, although, like every release, it sounds like a whole new style for Jars of Clay. I read CCM's cover story on it, and I hope I get to give it a listen sometime soon.
First of all, the first song I played today was "August 30th" by delirious?. It was great to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the terrible car accident that brought the band to the world. I then continued by listening to the anagram of "Radio One Loves Us", their most artistic album to date.  Now for fall new music....
Well, we have a rough version of the first-ever inReview.net podcast up and running. Dan's hosting, producing and directing it. Apparently he also wrote the screenplay and comprises the entire street team.
He's working to finalize it, and then we'll make it public. STAY TUNED, folks. It's great stuff.
Site news tidbit no. 2: inReview now has a bunch of new editors. Here are the names of our new department heads. They're the folks you'll be dealing with if you want to submit a review, news item, feature or other piece of writing to the website.
So today is the release of the long anticipated Leeland CD. I have had a pre-release copy since I was introduced to the band at GMA week in April. But since then, I have been promoting this new band from TX using my own little street team. Me. It helps to be a youth group leader. Stick the kids in my car, hit play, and introduce them to some good new music. Experiencing good new music is so rare these days. But I digress...
I have been attending music festivals for well, let's just say many years. And more recently I have worked as a volunteer for most of the festivals I have attended. With that, I have learned to appreciate all that goes in to putting on such an event. Plus, the more engrossed I become in the music industry, the more I understand what is involved in the making of a festival.
I want to apologize for not blogging about Indie Artists as promised just yet. I'll be getting to that in the fall. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy reading the many updates that have been posted on the site in the month of August.
-Matt Durlin, News Editor