More Christmas Gifts!

[EDIT: the songs below have expired from the site, but if you are interested in hearing them, just get in touch - ringrecords AT gmail DOT com]

Yup, you guessed it - cheery Christmas goodness for you and loved ones to enjoy!

  The holidays have arrived with gusto, and to tickle your highly-cultured musical tastebuds we have a couple of the more esoteric tunes which, due to time and other constraints, we failed to release last year on the highly-acclaimed 'Love >>> Begotten'. So, following the paragraphs below, which explain said delicacies, are links to each of the tunes where you can download (right-click and 'save target' if from PC, ctrl-click and 'save link' if on a Mac) or simply click to listen. We'd love to have your feedback!

Tune #1: How Brightly Shines the Morning Star
This reproduction of the Christmas hymn is a juxtaposition of familiar sacred elements with the more space-age-tendencies of modernity. Featuring the deep text of the original, the vocals of Cliff and Jen Lewis float over a bed of gossamer and silken yet edgy synthesizers following traditional chord changes (played by Matthew Monticchio). Through the music one envisions candy-coated consumerism portrayed by dancing elves in Christmas garb, yet in the words we are hauntingly reminded of the Child, the Son of Man who is the culmination of all creation - past, present, and future - and who delivers us from our selfishness.



  Download it here: http://www.hiramring.com/downloads/How_Brightly_Shines_the_Morning_Star-Pageant_Music.mp3

Tune #2: Once in Royal David's City
  Another re-done Christmas favorite, this arrangement evokes a sense of the earthiness and reality of our savior's birth. With the noises of a first-century village and the prophecy (in Hebrew) from Micah 5:2, we are immediately transported to the night in the stable with Mary and Joseph. Featuring the vocals of Katie Becker and the pitchy harmony of friends, travel back in time as we remember the One who fulfilled the law and the prophets, He who was what we cannot be - perfection.



  Download it here: http://www.hiramring.com/downloads/Once_in_Royal_Davids_City-Pageant_Music.mp3

Tune #3: O Little Child
  For those of you who missed this song a few weeks ago, you will have the opportunity to download it again on December 22 (Christmas Eve eve, eve) through http://www.itickets.com - a source of daily free downloads from all over the US!

Recording Sacred Songs Pt 2

The last few weeks (months, actually) I've been working steadily with my friend Matthew Monticchio on our albums of sacred songs. We recently recorded our friend Dan Kirby on the song 'I Hunger and I Thirst' - text that Matt put to new music. A really great tune that we are excited to be able to share with you - if all goes according to plan, we'll be able to do that early in January. Until then, check out the video below for a short voice lesson from Matt. =)

Recording Sacred Songs Pt 1

This past week I spent some time with my friend Matthew Monticchio. He came over and we worked on recording, mixing and trying new sounds for the collections of sacred songs we're working on. It was extremely productive on many levels. Here's some video of the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTO3E_eNC4U

New Recording Project

The other day Matthew Monticchio and I went out to our friend George Yellack's house to record some drums for songs we are working on for a new collection of sacred songs. We wrote some of the songs and re-worked old hymns for this project, much like our last two Christmas album projects. This album will be released again under Pageant Music, and features a bunch of local musicians (Cliff Lewis, Katie Becker, Claire Battle, myself, Matt, others to be named) in a folk/pop/indie vein. You can download a rough demo of one of our original tunes, 'Communion Hymn' HERE. I'll try to keep you updated on our progress - here's a short video of our journey to George's and what we did when we got there.

Video Blog Installment 3 (pre-tour)

Here's a couple videos I shot Thursday. The first one I shot Thursday morning on my way to work, traveling south through Lancaster, Willow Street, and finally arriving at Peach Bottom and Math-U-See headquarters, the "Math Barn". Math U See is a great place to work, and the curriculum really does benefit people, focusing on getting kids to master concepts before moving on. It should really be taught this way in most schools, but because teachers are all on schedules it seems to work best in homeschool situations.



The second video I shot Thursday night, but my brain was so addled I didn't realize what day it was. Thus the incorrect statement that this is my second Vlog - it is actually my third, if we count Wednesday's snippets. The song is by Matthew Monticchio, who I've worked with on the past two Christmas albums and various other projects that are not yet complete. He is the music director at Wheatland Presbyterian Church (where I'm a member) and is really gifted. Writing deep worship music is one of his many talents, and it's great to be able to spend time to learn from him. I really love this community.