It’s December, which means one thing for a guy like me: list making. I’m starting my “best of the year” series on my blog with my picks for best albums of the year. Here they are: my top ten list and honorable mentions for the best music of 2011. (You can listen to all 15 hours of this music on Spotify here).

10) Panda Bear, Tomboy: In his sophomore solo effort, Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) simplifies (if that’s the right word) from the sprawling ambitions of Person Pitch and yet creates an album that is equally layered and beautiful and I daresay more cohesive than his groundbreaking debut. Listen now: “Slow Motion,” “Friendship Bracelet.”

The English have the 12 days of Christmas in song.  The high churches have the 24 (ish) days of advent.  At Crave Something More, and here at Conversant Life, I’ll be writing a series called the “21 Days of CSM Christmas.”  Starting December 5 and finishing on Christmas Day, I will write once a day about all things Christmas, in the hopes that we will all continue to see Jesus as the greatest satisfaction to our soul’s deepest cravings.

Day 6:  Beautiful Christmas Gifts

We know this:  Christmas is about giving.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  Jesus was the greatest of gifts.  But God still gives gifts today.

After having spent many years of my life leading worship (high schools, colleges, vocationally, etc), a problem that was always personally vexing were the 2 camps warring with one another – classic vs. modern.  Anything the worship leader did was immediately met with criticism.  Then in the late 90’s, there was a blending of the two that begun to erupt, and it was good.  It would be modern worship leaders playing hymns with their modern musical arrangements, which was usually “Be Thou My Vision” or "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by way of Coldplay B side.  It seemed to satisfy theology heads –they got to sing words that were penned in a poetic, longer-than-30-second made up journal entry that repeated constantly, but it gave the modernist digital delay guitar effects ever present in their songs.

What a weekend. Highs, lows, drama, love, death, destruction, trending topics, presidents, princes, terrorists, tornadoes, Twitter. Let’s take a moment to breathe… Another weekend in the world.

On Friday morning, as the U.S. South reeled from the second deadliest tornado outbreak in American history, the world turned its eyes to Westminster Abbey to enjoy a moment of old school romanticism. A prince marrying a princess. All the hype may have frustrated some, but the event seemed to me to be a rare occasion of hope and idealism in a world so mired in cynicism and malaise. It was a beautiful, happy day. In a world of so much tragedy, there’s clearly a hunger–an almost eschatological instinct– for images of regal, grandiose love and peace. The Royal Wedding offered a vision of this for millions around the world.

This is the third and final segment in my interview with Bobby Duran on The Soul of Hip Hop. Here we talk about engaging an unreached people group that is more spiritual and global than you might think.

This is the third and final segment in my interview with Bobby Duran on The Soul of Hip Hop. Here we talk about engaging an unreached people group that is more spiritual and global than you might think.

Daniel Hodge Part 3 - "Engaging the Hip Hop Culture" from ConversantLife on Vimeo.

Hip Hop is the soundtrack of forgotten streets that defy our forgetfulness. Its tones are sometimes inspired, sometimes enraged, sometimes despairing, sometimes hopeful.

So begins a fascinating new book by Daniel Hodge, a long-time ConversantLife.com blogger and the author of The Soul of Hip Hop (InterVarsity Press). Bobby Duran, Events Production Manager for Urban Youth Workers Institute, sat down with Daniel for a three-part interview that will inform and inspire you (even if you aren't a Hip Hop fan). In this interview, Daniel gives a birds-eye view of this cultural phenomenon. "Rap is something that's done, but Hip Hop is something that's lived," Daniel says. "People have a story and they want it to be heard. How do we engage that?"

Association is a big deal.  We all do it – certain films are unwatchable because we associate them with negative experiences, certain places will always be unbearable because of memories they are associated with, and certain music?  Well, that takes association to a whole other level.

Part of the reason I love music is for its ability to stir up a feeling inside me.  Certain songs make me express joy more directly, as well as sadness, anger, or the unknown.  I love wordless music, because the songs retain a certain feeling that words just can’t communicate.  Some things are better left projected, or unsaid.

Below are several albums that I have a nostalgic, fond attachment to.  Sure, there are many better albums out there, but listening to these albums brings me to foundational places in my faith, my life, and with my friends.  Sharing these albums with you is a way of showing you who I am.