July 2013

In this week’s music news: HillsongChurch tops the charts again, Nathan Tasker set to tour Australia, and Sydney band New Empire nabs ‘Song Of The Year’.

Within hours of HillsongChurch releasing its 22^nd live album online late last week, Glorious Ruins topped the iTunes Inspirational chart with the deluxe version, and came in at #2 with the standard version.

On the all-genre (mainstream) chart, Glorious Ruins deluxe version quickly hit #2 on iTunes behind Bliss N Eso, and ahead of Harrison Craig, Kayne West, One Direction and Pink, with the standard version making the Top 15.

Physical copies of Glorious Ruins were released earlier this week with conference and Christian retail sales expected to take it into the Top 5 this weekend on the national ARIA charts.

Meanwhile, Hillsong’s latest youth offering, the band Youth & Free has debuted on the iTunes Inspirational singles chart at #1 and #2 with a live and studio version of their song Alive. The live version was just outside the Top 50 on the iTunes mainstream singles chart over the weekend.

Tim Whincop from Hillsong Music says Young & Free is a band creating “cutting edge music for this generation”.

“Young & Free is really the current expression of our youth movement. There’s a bunch of really young guys that have been writing songs and leading worship for their generation. Headed up by Laura Toganivalu [Brian Houston’s daughter], they’re definitely on the cutting edge of what we’re hoping to see for the next generation. And just seeing the next generation so passionate about worshipping God is really amazing.”

Nashville based Aussie singer/songwriter Nathan Tasker is sure getting itchy feet again. And this time, he’s heading home with new album of songs to share. Nathan’s best known for the songs ‘Eternity’, ‘Something Beautiful’, and ‘Love Is The Compass’. Tasker says his new album, The Bell Tower, is a collection of “re-imagined hymns”.

“When I say re-imagined I mean the great old lyrics… and I’ve found myself wanting to play new music to them.”

Nathan says he’s looking forward to presenting songs from the new album–as well as his best known songs–in a series of concerts throughout metro and regional areas next month.

“I’m so excited about coming back to Australia. We play in Campbelltown with my band and I’ll be playing in Newcastle and Taree, and then we head down to Canberra with my band again, and then we’ll drive onto Melbourne and do a couple of churches in Melbourne before heading onto Adelaide and finishing up in a great old church in the centre of Adelaide city.”

More details at nathantasker.com

Sydney band New Empire has nabbed Christian Media Australia’s inaugural ‘Song Of the Year Award’ for One Heart/Million Voices. The award was presented by the peak body representing Christian Leaders in Media and the Arts at its annual conference. CEO Mark Reddy says CMA created the award to honor the band for its achievement impacting the general marketplace.

“It was exciting at our recent CMA to have the opportunity to honour the guys from New Empire with ‘Song of the Year’. And it was the first initiative that CMA has put out in terms of honouring a ‘Song of the Year’ type of format and in New Empire’s case we were delighted to see Christians out there having a huge influence; this particular song having an Olympic-themed coverage. And we felt it was a worthy recipient of something that said, ‘Look, these are Christians having a high watermark of their cultural impact and influence.’”

Reddy says in previous years CMA has honored Christian musicians for lifetime achievements.

“CMA’s always had an attitude of honouring those who’ve made an incredible contribution to the sector and in the past we’ve honoured artists like Roma Waterman and lots of great artists who’ve gone onto pioneer and lead the way. This is the first year I guess where we’ve honoured a merit-based award or an award that says this is a song that’s current and that’s having a current impact and current influence. And New Empire certainly measures up and certainly has that influence across Australia at present.”

Finally, a reminder to check out all your favorite songs on the Australian Christian music chart at therockacrossaustralia.com.

Listen to this edition of TRAA with Cam Want: