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TEAM PODCAST 7

Arguably the very best one yet! Yinka, George, Angel, Faith, Karl and Phil talk about the things we all talk about but never admit!
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I stopped doing music reviews ages ago.

About 5 years ago, to be exact.

The reason was quite simple, really. Music streaming was becoming increasingly pervasive. MySpace (remember that?) became one of the main places to be if you wanted to sample music from artists for free.  

The web presented myriad opportunities for anyone wanting to try out music before they shelled out their hard-earned cash on a purchase (or just indulge in some illegal downloading. But we don’t do any of that. We’re Christians, right…?)

PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT

It occurred to me long ago that the best way for anyone to discover new tunes was to actually engage with the music themselves, without the need of a third-party filter. In other words: given direct access, you don't really need a reviewer.  

You don't need me to tell you if a song is any good when you can hear it and subsequently make up your own mind.  The more I rolled the idea around my head, the more it made sense.

As a result I threw myself into setting up the UKG SoundClick page, where you could (and still can) hear and download over 100 mixed preview/showreels of the great UK music you can buy on UKGShop.com.  

I even took the concept further with video music previews (it'll make sense when you see it) on the UKGospel.com YouTube Channel. Here's Sammy G and Guvna B, for example...

So, everyone wins. You get to hear the music first hand and decide if you like the tunes enough to go any further without me having to employ a single sentence or superlative. We’re all happy.

How wrong I was...

Almost immediately after I stopped, I had PR people as well as artists themselves requesting UKGospel.com still review their music. That caught me by surprise.

TRUSTED SOURCE 

What I had forgotten was that artists (and the promotions machinery behind them) consider reviews a key element of their marketing. The right word from a trusted source was worth its weight in marketing and PR gold.

I'm not promoting myself as anything other than one man with an opinion, but you get the underlying principle, I'm sure.

DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

In recent years a second, hugely critical factor has also crept up on us: not only have the barriers to creating and distributing music come down, we also find ourselves in the middle of a glut. Music is everywhere. And - if we're going to be honest - a lot of it isn't that good.  

So - like most things in the digital age - the easy creation of content became a double-edged sword: we're blessed with a huge amount of great stuff that we would otherwise not have had, but the same wave also swept in the dross. Sheep and goats, anyone...?

THE FILTER RETURNS - WITH BITE... 

Invariably (perhaps that should be 'inevitably'), the need for a filter has returned. The contributing factors might be slightly different, but the fact still remains that we all need pointing in the direction of the good stuff...

Besides, it's significantly easier to write a review than it is to create a 10-minute mini mix. 

I still won't do that many reviews, but the UKGospel.com Team is brimming with writing talent. So when the excellent Mr Henry Yanney suggested we have a look at a lot of the material that's come out from the last quarter of 2009 to date, it just made sense to revisit things. 

To that end, I'm glad - I think - to announce the return of (ta-dah!) the UKGospel.com Music Review.

A word of caution, though. This time it's back with a bite, as we're grading each project we review over the usual 5-star allocation system. 

As lead UKG bald guy, my editorial policy had always been to showcase only the strongest material from the scene. That meant - in principle at least - you only got the best stuff reviewed here.

But the UKGospel.com universe is something of a democracy. The team chooses what they want to write about. If in their opinion the music on offer is rubbish (yes, that does exist in Christian music - and you know it) then, rubbish it is.

Is that too harsh...?

FIRST REVIEW - BREWER. 
  We kick off the new review series with Henry's
  review of Brewer's debut mixtape 'Alone With
  My Thoughts'.

  It’s been very well-received and hugely
  popular on the street music scene.
 
  I wonder what Henry made of it…?

  You won't have long to wait before you find
  out. Click here to read the review...

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Ekklesia - Happy (new single)

In March 2010 Ekklesia wrote and performed a new song HAPPY with over 2000 children at the Queen Elizabeth Hall - its success led to Ekklesia rerecording it for release on 23 May 2011 - Get it on iTunes!!

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