For over the last decade, Bethel Music has written and fostered some of the most hope-filled worship anthems sung by the greater church. Their newest live album, We Must Respond, continues this trend. The 18-track project (the most tracks of any previous Bethel Music album) features the entire Bethel Music collective, as well as Brooke Ligertwood, Abbie Gamboa, and Aodhan King. There are plenty of standouts here for churches and avid contemporary worship music listeners. Seven of the tracks - "No One Like The Lord," "Holy Song," "He Has Done Great Things," "If The Lord," "Even Though I Walk," "Center," and "Made for More" - were released before the album's official release. Ironically, these seven prove to be the standouts on the project...

After last year's surf rock-infused album, Cannonballers, from Colony House, I was pleasantly surprised to see such a quick follow-up of music a short year later. That enthusiasm was tempered when I discovered it was to be Christmas music, but after giving it a shot, the Nashville indie rockers had won me over again. With the Every Christmas EP, they have served up a delightful seasonal appetizer of three brief, but excellent original Christmas tunes.

"Merry Christmas" kicks things off with a hazy 60s-era slow jam. This is the type of song you would listen to around the fireplace as the Colony House fellas...

Jason Martin must have been feeling extra nostalgic when recording Lust for Gold. On his newest release, he takes listeners on a time-traveling journey back to the 90s shoegaze wall of reverb sound. Straight away, "909" is a delightful call to crank up the volume and let the noisy guitars wash over you as he returns to the familiar theme of looking backward. The title track is another highlight that utilizes synth and a simple guitar riff to lament the foolishness of a life spent seeking earthly treasure singing, "In my lust for gold I feel like/I've gotten nowhere/In my lust for gold I feel like this...