Tim Casteel

Thoughts on Leadership and College Ministry

Music

Top Songs of 2016

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An annual tradition on my blog – My Top 100 Songs of the Year.

To further explore amazing music, here are my Top Songs from 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 (click “Follow” at the top of Spotify if you want to add any of the playlists to your sidebar of playlists)

There weren’t any clear “song of the year” candidates in 2016. I like every song in the top 8 equally.

2016 was the year of experimental/weird indie pop – with Yeasayer, Animal Collective and M83 all turning in a slew of great songs. Also really liked Phantogram’s album. But really, 2016 was Twenty One Pilots‘ year. By FAR my kids’ top album of the year. And as much as I’m a hipster music-snob and pretty much hate anything that is on the radio, I begrudgingly REALLY like Twenty One Pilots. Easily the best album of the year. Every song is different and good. Those two dudes have a knack for crafting perfect pop songs. AND their lyrics are super solid – with most songs referring to God.

Despite my hipster tendencies, my top 100 songs are actually really fun to listen to. If you follow indie music at all, you’ll find that most “Top Songs of The Year” are trying really hard to be cool and prove their hipster-ness. My Top Songs list is Indie Music for the Masses — Indie Music that’s actually enjoyable to listen to (not grating avant-garde or sleep-inducing-singer-songwriter).

Most of these songs are Indie-pop, Indie-rock, or Indietronica.

Here are my 100 favorite songs of 2016 (click to play individual tracks or here to play the full list in Spotify): 

100        Family And Genus — Shakey Graves

99        Swim Against the Tide — The Japanese House

98        The Moment — Tame Impala

97        Arizona — Frances Cone

96        Everything All At Once — Local Natives

95        Crazy Eyes — Brother Moses

94        Strangers — Psychic Twin

93        Gemini Feed — Banks

92        Waving Goodbye — Sia

91        Sunday Love — Bat For Lashes

90        Do You Remember — St. Lucia

89        Prophecy Gun — Yeasayer

88        Gold – Jorgen Odegard Remix — Imagine Dragons, Jorgen Odegard

87        Dead Alive — The Shins

86        Wings of Love — LIV

85        Time — Mint Royale, Tom Cane

84        LIFE — HEALTH

83        Drifting — On An On

82        Way To Go — Empire of the Sun

81        Never Going Back — Caveman

80        Cheap Thrills — Sia

79        The Sound — The 1975

78        Silly Me — Yeasayer

77        I Can Only Stare — Sleigh Bells

76        Human — Caveman

75        Free — Broods

74        80 West — Caveman

73        All in My Head — Porcelain Raft

72        Club Aso — Palmistry

71        Two Vines — Empire of the Sun

70        I Was Wrong — A R I Z O N A

69        Celestial Creatures — Wild Beasts

68        For U (feat. Charli XCX) — Miike Snow, Charli XCX

67        8 (circle) — Bon Iver

66        May I Have This Dance — Francis and the Lights

65        A 1000 Times — Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

64        High And Low — Empire of the Sun

63        Ablaze — School Of Seven Bells

62        Choose Me — James Blake

61        Bird Set Free — Sia

60        Don’t Let Me Down — The Chainsmokers, Daya

59        Broken Glass — Sia

58        I Feel The Weight — Miike Snow

57        Gone — Day Wave

56        Way Back Home — Cameron AG

55        Here’s To Us — Ellie Goulding

54        Lane Boy — Twenty One Pilots

53        22 (OVER S∞∞N) — Bon Iver

52        Easier — Mansionair

51        Conrad — SOHN

50        Tear In My Heart — Twenty One Pilots

49        I Need A Forest Fire — James Blake, Bon Iver

48        Same Old Blues — Phantogram

47        Sledgehammer — Rihanna

46        Mother Emanuel — Local Natives

45        Turning a Hand — Francis

44        Past Lives — BØRNS

43        Run Run Blood — Phantogram

42        Past Lives — Local Natives

41        Burn the Witch — Radiohead

40        Radio Silence — James Blake

39        Get Right — Jimmy Eat World

38        American Money — BØRNS

37        River — Bishop Briggs

36        Heathens — Twenty One Pilots

35        I Need Your Light — Ra Ra Riot, Rostam

34        Turn It Around — HAERTS

33        Warrior — AURORA

32        Doubt — Twenty One Pilots

31        Friends (feat. Bon Iver) — Francis and the Lights, Bon Iver – favorite part= “I’m Francis!”. Worth watching their goofy music video featuring Kanye

30        Chariots — Paper Route

29        In a Black Out — Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

28        What Is Left to Solve — Rogue Wave

27        Cruel World — Phantogram

26        Golden Gal — Animal Collective

25        Divine Simulacrum — Yeasayer

24        If You Should See — Wye Oak

23        Hocus Pocus — Animal Collective

22        Trouble — TV On The Radio

21        Fairly Local — Twenty One Pilots

20        33 “GOD” — Bon Iver - pretty disappointed with Bon Iver’s album, overall. But a few solid songs.

19        You’re Mine — Phantogram

18        Malachite — Lydia Ainsworth – Lydia opened for Yeasayer when we saw them this fall in Tulsa and had some great songs. Eagerly anticipating a full length album from her.

17        Loan Shark Blues — Yeasayer

16        Ride — Twenty One Pilots

15        Warning Call — CHVRCHES

14        Lying in the Grass — Animal Collective

13        You Don’t Get Me High Anymore — Phantogram

12        Polarize — Twenty One Pilots

11        Used To — Mutemath

10        Watching the Waiting — Wye Oak – got to see Wye Oak in Kansas city this summer. She’s super talented and amazing live.

9        Fountain Of Youth — Local Natives - this song reminds me of the crazy election season with it’s lyric “I have waited so long, Mrs. President”.

8        Go! (feat. Mai Lan) — M83, MAI LAN

7        I Am Chemistry — Yeasayer – you’ll never hear a better song about the gas C4H10FO2P (sarin gas) and other toxic chemicals

6        Dream Awake — LIV – an early single from one of my most anticipated albums for 2017 from supergroup LIV – made up of two of  my favorites, Lykke Li and Miike Snow

5        Do It, Try It — M83 – give this song a chance. Super weird at first progressing to what M83 does best – epic soundscapes

4        FloriDada — Animal Collective – another super weird song. But you can’t help but have a smile on your face and tap your toes as you listen to it. And surprisingly deep song on the Dadaism and the elite’s snobbery toward Floridians.

3        Take Me Home — Phantogram – easily the best cover song this year. Who knew Phil Collins could be so cool?

2        Hometown — Twenty One Pilots – a great song from the best album of 2016. They did a smaller concert in NW Arkansas (which is an absolute miracle – NO ONE comes to Arkansas). I took all 5 of our kids to the show and they LOVED it (It was a few days after we got back from our summer in East Asia so we didn’t have tickets – we just scrounged up a few at the gate!). Those two dudes are legit entertainers and great musicians. My kids wouldn’t let me play anything but Twenty One Pilots in our van ALL fall. Seriously. “DA-AAD, can you put on Twenty One Pilots – this music is boring!”

1        Cold Night — Yeasayer – we got to see Yeasayer in concert in Tulsa and they were absolutely amazing – cementing their status as our #1 alltime favorite band. I thought their new album was pretty disappointing – but still a few gems on it.

Would love to hear – What were your favorite songs from 2016??

Stuff You Can Use – First Week on Campus – 2015

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An annual tradition on the blog – a ton of stuff you can use on campus these first few weeks. Hopefully it saves you some time or gives you ideas.

Cool Music


Here’s an all-new 2015 Spotify playlist that we use at all of our freshmen cookouts and our weekly meeting.

It’s a mix of Indie Rock, Pop/Dance, and Christian Hip Hop.

We pay $10 for the month of August to get Spotify Premium so you don’t have annoying commercials.

glow sticks and beach balls1

As I’ve said before:

While cool, upbeat music may be #27 on the list of important things about a Cru meeting, it’s important nonetheless.

What’s the first thing students encounter when they come to your meeting? Your music that you’re playing before the meeting.

And what happens when they hear Newsboys or Rebecca St. James pumping out of your speakers? You immediately confirm their worst suspicions that you are cheezy and out of touch with their reality.

As much as I am not a big fan of hip hop nor dance music, at our weekly meeting we include quite a bit of hip hop/dance. I run the music at our regional winter conference and can conclusively say that hip hop & dance makes a marked difference on the “vibe” of the crowd. It makes your meeting a party. Literally. People dance. Especially if you add beach balls and glow necklaces (we have our first 2 weekly meetings outside – beach balls may be a little less fun indoors).

Here’s a bonus playlist – Cru Hangouts - upbeat indie music to put on at more chill events (Leadership meeting, Leadership Retreat etc).

Cru Intro Video

Here’s a video we show at the beginning of our meeting the first few weeks. It serves two purposes:

  1. It functions as a cue to sit down and be quiet (there is intentionally space at the beginning to give everyone a chance to sit down, and music at the end to give MC’s time to walk up).
  2. It communicates a little about who we are and what we’re about

Spiritual Interest Survey

We’ve put a lot of effort into streamlining our Spiritual Interest Survey card. We do it with 3000 freshmen/students the first week of class – so we want it to be quick and effective.  Click for an adapted version we use at a Community College - pdf or Photoshop. And here’s one we use with athletes for AIA - pdf or Photoshop.

1 Minute Questionnaire

And this is NC State Cru’s sharp looking survey card (click to download – unfortunately it’s in Apple Pages – so Mac’s only):

Cru Freshmen Survey Card (NCSU)

Cru Card

Our Cru Card that we use for our weekly meeting is similar but a bit different from the survey. You can download the editable PDF (open in Photoshop – it’s set up 4/page and it uses “smart objects” so if you edit one flier it changes all 4 fliers) file here.

1 Minute Questionnaire

Simple Cru Flier

Nothing special. But I always think it’s fun to see what other campuses do for promo. Here’s the editable PDF for the first (open in Photoshop – it’s set up 4/page and it uses “smart objects” so if you edit one flier it changes all 4 fliers). And the Photoshop file for the color version.

Dorm studies 2015

generic dorm studies 2015

We used to do them in color but have found that b/w is just as sharp looking IF:

  • You print them on card stock
  • Have them “cut to bleed” (so that there is no white border)

First Week Events Flier

A few ideas from across the U.S.:

Florida Cru:

cru at UF welcome week events

Christian Challenge – Chico State – Paul Worcester:

worcester first week events

Fall Retreat Brochures

Here’s our 2015 brochure (designed by Cru’s amazing Libby Slaughter!).

Fall Retreat outside

Fall Retreat inside

Here’s our 2014 brochure and a post with 4 different (older) Fall Retreat Brochure designs we’ve used. Photoshop file

Just front of brochure

Campus Brochures

A leaving piece that explains everything we do offer in Cru. See here for more details and to download.Arkansas brochure

Arkansas brochure inside

First 4 Weeks Calendar

Always fun to see how other ministries operate. So here’s an overview of what our First 4 Weeks calendar looks like. Here’s a template you can use.

first 5 week calendar

What about YOU?

Do you have any stuff your campus uses that would be helpful to share? Link to it in the comments!

Top 100 Songs of 2013

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This is Indie Music for the Masses — Indie Music that’s actually enjoyable to listen to (not grating avant-garde or sleep-inducing singer-songwriter).

To further explore amazing music, here are a few bonus lists:

Click “Follow” at the top of Spotify if you want to add any of the playlists to your sidebar of lists.

Here are my 100 favorite songs of 2013 (click to play individual tracks or here to play the full list in Spotify): 

        1. Andrew Belle — Pieces
        2. Empire Of The Sun — Alive
        3. Dwntwn — Stood Me Up
        4. Deptford Goth — Union
        5. Foals — Bad Habit
        6. St. Lucia — The Night Comes Again
        7. Autre Ne Veut — Counting
        8. Widower — Oh Catherine, My Catherine
        9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. — If You Didn’t See Me [Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor]
        10. Jose Gonzalez — Step Out
        11. Lucius — Don’t Just Sit There
        12. Anna Meredith — Nautilus
        13. POLIÇA — Smug
        14. Say Lou Lou — Julian
        15. Vancouver Sleep Clinic — Vapour
        16. MS MR — Dark Doo Wop
        17. Young Galaxy — Pretty Boy
        18. Big Black Delta — Into the Night
        19. Leagues — You Belong Here
        20. Röyksopp — Running To The Sea
        21. Major Lazer — Get Free – feat. Amber of Dirty Projectors
        22. Haerts — Wings
        23. Young Galaxy — New Summer
        24. Phoenix — Entertainment
        25. Dustin Tebbutt — The Wolves (Reprise)
        26. Alpine — Gasoline
        27. Junip — Line of Fire
        28. Dustin Tebbutt — Where I Find You
        29. City Calm Down — Pleasure & Consequence
        30. Widowspeak — Ballad of the Golden Hour
        31. CHVRCHES — The Mother We Share
        32. Social Studies — Terracur
        33. Sir Sly — Ghost
        34. Phosphorescent — Song For Zula
        35. Wildlife Control — Different
        36. Phoenix — Chloroform
        37. Yeasayer — Don’t Come Close
        38. Arcade Fire — Here Comes The Night Time
        39. Phantogram — Never Going Home
        40. London Grammar — Wasting My Young Years
        41. Arcade Fire — Afterlife
        42. Lovelife — Your New Beloved
        43. Phantogram — Celebrating Nothing
        44. Sia — Elastic Heart – From “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” Soundtrack
        45. Active Child — Evening Ceremony
        46. M83 — Oblivion (feat. Susanne Sundfør)
        47. Telekinesis — Ghosts and Creatures
        48. Local Natives — You & I
        49. CHVRCHES — Now Is Not the Time
        50. Phantogram — The Day You Died
        51. Vampire Weekend — Diane Young
        52. Caveman — Chances
        53. Cults — High Road
        54. Phoenix — Don’t
        55. Arctic Monkeys — Do I Wanna Know?
        56. Lana Del Rey — Young And Beautiful – would have been higher but I hate the line “oh that body, oh that face makes me want to party”. So lame.
        57. Volcano Choir — Byegone
        58. Arcade Fire — Reflektor – somebody read some Kierkegaard…
        59. POLIÇA — Tiff
        60. Cults — I Can Hardly Make You Mine
        61. Justin Timberlake — Mirrors – Radio Edit
        62. The National — Don’t Swallow the Cap
        63. Drake — Hold On, We’re Going Home
        64. Youth Lagoon — Dropla
        65. Portugal. The Man — Plastic Soldiers
        66. Daft Punk — Doin’ it Right
        67. Radical Face — We’re On Our Way
        68. The Boxer Rebellion — Diamonds
        69. Autre Ne Veut — Play by Play – wait for it. Get past the weird first 1:45.
        70. Sky Ferreira — Ain’t Your Right
        71. Vampire Weekend — Hannah Hunt – some would say this is the culmination of VW’s career. In particular: 2:35-3:20
        72. The National — Demons – one of the greatest lines from a long list of self-deprecating, depressing lyrics from the Eeyore of indie music – Matt Berninger: “When I walk into a room, I do not light it up”
        73. High Highs — Open Season
        74. Phoenix — The Real Thing
        75. CHVRCHES — ZVVL
        76. Sky Ferreira — Everything Is Embarrassing
        77. SOHN — Lessons
        78. Caveman — Where’s the Time
        79. Active Child — Silhouette (feat. Ellie Goulding) – beautiful music from two great singers (trying to out-falsetto each other)
        80. Ivan & Alyosha — Running for Cover – not sure if these guys are Christians, but a great song re: the Garden of Eden and original sin
        81. The National — Sea of Love
        82. Beck — I Won’t Be Long
        83. Cults — Shine a Light
        84. Haerts — Hemiplegia
        85. Volcano Choir — Comrade – Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Enough said.
        86. Arcade Fire — It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus) – love this new sound for Arcade Fire in this pair of songs
        87. Arcade Fire — Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)
        88. CHVRCHES — Tether – beautiful as it builds to a synth-dance ending
        89. Cults — Were Before – Madeline singing “I like it like the way we were before” at :28 is one of the best moments in music in 2013
        90. Vampire Weekend — Don’t Lie – especially love the sound of 1:15-1:35
        91. Phantogram — Black Out Days – one of my favorite bands – great combo of synth-beats and vocals

        92. Dustin Tebbutt — The Breach – can’t wait for a full length album from Dustin. Beautiful song.

        93. The National — Graceless – a rare upbeat (though still depressing!) song from The National.

        94. Vampire Weekend — Step – this easily could have been song of the year. Witty lyrics. Beautiful, unique music.

        95. Local Natives — Heavy Feet – a sad, lonely song with an upbeat, driving background

        96. The National — I Should Live in Salt – at first the repetitive nature of the lyrics turned me off to this song. But ended up being my favorite off of a great album. A moving song about regret and brotherly love through conflict.

        97. CHVRCHES — Recover – the best pure pop song of the year. Upbeat but wears well over time unlike most too-slick pop songs

        98. Caveman — In the City – anthemic, rich indie-rock.

        99. Vampire Weekend — Ya Hey – I wrote an entire blog post about this song. Incredible music. Even better lyrics.

        100. James Blake — Retrograde – beautiful and sparse. One of the best moments in music 2013 when at 1:23 he drops from falsetto to sing in baritone “We’re alone now.”

Would love to hear your top songs. What are your favorite songs of 2013?

 

Top 10 Albums of 2013

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2013 was a great year in music with several of the best indie rock bands releasing albums. Here are my 10 favorite albums. I’d love to hear from you what are your favorite albums of 2013.

Click links to play in Spotify

Volcano-Choir-Repave10. Volcano Choir— Repave

Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon’s side project. Similar to Bon Iver, though not quite as good. Two great songs from this album: Comrade and Byegone

 

artworks-000057602816-6qit5q-t500x50019. Phantogram — Phantogram EP

One of my favorite bands. All four songs on the EP are great. Two standout songs: Black Out Days and Never Going Home

 

homepage_large.843c2ed58. Local Natives — Hummingbird

Best songs on this album: Heavy Feet, You & I, Ceilings.

 

 

90fa25fe7. Phoenix — Bankrupt!

Good indie pop. Not real substantive (I don’t find myself going back to this album that often – but I like the songs when I hear them). Definitely some fun songs. Best songs: The Real Thing, Chloroform, Don’t and Entertainment.

 

 

CHVRCHES Debut

6. Chvrches — The Bones of What You Believe

My favorite new band of 2013. Love their sound. Top songs: Recover (one of the best songs of the year), Tether, The Mother We Share.

 

2013-10-07-cults_gif_630x802_q855. Cults — Static

Great sophomore album from Cults. Some are put off by the 50’s doo-wop sound but there’s so many great songs on here. The best songs on the album: Were Before, I Can Hardly Make You Mine, High Road, So Far, Shine a Light.

 

artworks-000039552194-inuahw-t500x5004. Caveman — Caveman

In the City is one of the best songs of the year. A great swinging-in-the-hammock chill album. Two other great songs on the album: Where’s the Time and Chances

 

sticker,375x3603. Arcade Fire — Reflektor

Not as good as their previous Grammy-winning-album, The Suburbs. Reflektor is pretty uneven. With 5 of the best songs Arcade Fire has ever made. A few decent songs and a couple very forgettable songs. Here are the 5 amazing songs: Reflektor, Here Comes the Night Time, Afterlife, Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice), It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus).

 

5_21_The-National2. The National — Trouble Will Find Me

I didn’t think The National could ever come close to High Violet (the best album anyone has made in the last 5 years). “Trouble” doesn’t quite match High Violet but it is an amazing album with only a couple minor flaws. Some particularly great songs: Sea of Love, I Should Live in Salt, Graceless, Demons, Don’t Swallow the Cap.

 

Vampire_Weekend_-_Modern_Vampires_of_the_City1. Vampire Weekend —

Modern Vampires of the City

An amazing album from start to finish. Beautiful music with profound lyrics – nearly every song dealing with God and our looming mortality. A sample from the song Unbelievers:

“If I’m born again I know that the world will disagree

Want a little grace but who’s going to say a little grace for me?

We know the fire awaits unbelievers

All of the sinners the same

Girl you and I will die unbelievers bound to the tracks of the train”

In maybe-the-best-song-of-the-year “Ya Hey”, Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend’s secular-Jewish lead singer “flips the script of the old question ‘If God really loves us, why do terrible things happen?’ Ezra seems to be asking ‘How can God love such terrible things?’” (quote)

Pitchfork (the de facto king of indie music blogs) puts it this way:

Koenig stages a plaintive confrontation with his higher power, listing its non-believers, and shrugging: “America don’t love you/ So I can never love you in spite of everything.” This isn’t a breakup, but an attempt to see the other side in hopes of reconciliation: why should you show such love for the people who go such lengths to deny your existence, when you can’t even get any credit for it?

The scrambled, mutated voices on the hook play off the inpronounceable name of the Lord while flipping the title of perhaps the most beloved pop song of the past two decades. Such is the scope of “Ya Hey,” but Vampire Weekend put it within the grasp of anyone who wants it with another impossibly catchy song that skips along while carrying the weight of the universe.

 A few of the best songs (though, seriously- there are 10 really good songs on this album- all very diverse yet cohesive):

 

Who did I miss? What were your favorite albums of the year?

 

Yahweh’s Unrequited Love

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The new Vampire Weekend album is streaming for free on iTunes and will be released Tuesday, May 14.vampires of the modern city

“Step” and “Ya Hey” are two of the best songs I’ve heard all year and will definitely be going on my “Top Songs of 2013” list once they’re released (you can watch the videos for these two below).

“Ya Hey” (read: Yahweh) is particularly intriguing.

In “Ya Hey” Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend’s Jewish lead singer “flips the script of the old question ‘If God really loves us, why do terrible things happen?’ Ezra seems to be asking ‘How can God love such terrible things?'” (quote)

Pitchfork (the de facto king of indie music blogs) named it a “Best New Track” and said:

Koenig stages a plaintive confrontation with his higher power, listing its non-believers, and shrugging: “America don’t love you/ So I can never love you in spite of everything.” This isn’t a breakup, but an attempt to see the other side in hopes of reconciliation: why should you show such love for the people who go such lengths to deny your existence, when you can’t even get any credit for it?

The scrambled, mutated voices on the hook play off the inpronounceable name of the Lord while flipping the title of perhaps the most beloved pop song of the past two decades. Such is the scope of “Ya Hey,” but Vampire Weekend put it within the grasp of anyone who wants it with another impossibly catchy song that skips along while carrying the weight of the universe.

The lyrics wrestle with God’s unending, unrequited love and grace for a people prone to wander and disregard a God who does not seem to answer:

And I can’t help but feel, that I made some mistake, but I let it go

Through the fire and through the flames, you won’t even say your name,
Only I am that I am.

Oh, good God,
The faithless they don’t love you,
The zealous hearts don’t love you,
And that’s not gonna change.

And I think in your heart, that you see the mistake, but you let it go

Here’s the video for “Ya Hey” with lyrics:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-BznQE6B8U[/youtube]

 

And here’s the phenomenal song “Step” off the new album:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mDxcDjg9P4[/youtube]