Said festival took place this past weekend. I have been wondering how things went for Mr. Strumpel. Luckily, Bandspotting judge Andy Whitman maintains a wonderful blog – Razing The Bar – and took time this morning to recant the festivities. He has this to say in regards to Aaron’s set:

“We hung out with Aaron Strumpel, from Colorado, and Todd and Angie Fadel, from Portland, Oregon, who somehow got together to lay down the most outstanding musical set of the conference, a raw, punk-like, discordant, and often strikingly beautiful take on The Psalms. Or, the Wail.”

The rest of the post that brackets this statement says some good things regarding pain & love & God. Read the rest here.

Further:

• Razing The Bar

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This past Friday night, I decided to check my e-mail one last time before shutting down the CPU for the day. I had basketball to watch and sleep to get. My inbox held a pleasant treat for me.

I had a message from good friend/good man Aaron Strumpel…and it involved a download of his forthcoming album Elephants. Immediate giddiness came over me causing my wife to tell me to calm down. This is the album that recently won him the Bandspotting contest. This is the album I have been hearing him talk about since September…maybe longer. This is the album where I’ve been told he pushes himself. This is the album that other musicians I listen to almost obsessively have gone ga-ga over.

Ga- ga.

Excited as I was, I was also tired and wanting sleep. I decided to listen to a couple of songs and save the rest for the next day. Eighty-six minutes later I had listened to the album twice. The elephants were in my mind and spirit. They were charging through my body gently holding my heart with their trunks. I went to bed, falling asleep in true peace. Elephants has things to say & you need to hear it & your heart needs to hear it. I wouldn’t tell you this if I didn’t believe it.

There is not much more I can say here…mainly because I can’t seem to find the words. My wife describes Elephants as tribal. This is a good word for it. It has heavy beats at parts and mandolins and strings and voices of other friends all over it. Elephants run together. They are a parade. This album is a parade…the songs walking together tail-in-trunk like that scene in The Jungle Book. They belong together.

You will be able to order Elephants online here. Aaron Strumpel will be celebrating the release of the album with a show at Everyday Joe’s on May 1.

Further:

• Listen to 2 songs from Elephants
• Order Elephants
  

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I’ve long recognized our dear friend and brother Aaron Strumpel as one of the hardest working musicians to ever enter the profession. I can remember almost 3 years ago when he was releasing his first album and he worked so hard to promote his release shows and his music…all on his own. No agents. No managers. No paid promoters. Just Aaaron Strumpel and his arsenal of gumption. Well, now we can officially say that hard work pays off.

Mr. Strumpel has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Calvin College BandSpotting competition, part of the Festival of Faith & Music. Not sure what most of the things in that last sentence are? Here are rundowns:

The Festival of Faith & Music at Calvin College is a biennial conference that brings together musicians, critics, journalists, musicians, artists, and listeners for three days of discussing and celebrating insightful music that explores, in some significant way, issues of faith. Please read our mission statement for more information.

Don’t worry, got you covered there:

Mission Statement

The Festival of Faith and Music is the gathering of a community of pilgrims who are on a journey to hear, promote and create the music of epiphany—music that catches our breath with its discovery of delight in the ordinary, eternity in the exceptional. We seek to revel in the mystery of the art form, comprehending it better through shared stories and experiences, allowing it to surround and teach us. We seek to discern the ways grace, love, compassion and the Christian faith are expressed in the world of popular music. We seek to be conscientious listeners, agents of renewal and prophets of the Light.

Now about the whole Bandspotting dealy:

In an effort to support newer bands and musicians, the Festival of Faith & Music is sponsoring bandspotting, a new music spotlight. Bandspotting is an opportunity for selected artists to receive feedback from respected critics, gain exposure to festival participants, and even perform at the festival itself.

The winner of the 2007 competition was Ryan Lott aka Son Lux who I would say I am absolutely ga-ga over. He had the opportunity to play a show at that year’s festy with the mighty Sufjan Stevens. This year, Strumps will have the opportunity to rub elbows with and blow the musical minds of David Bazan, Over The Rhine, Lupe Fiasco, The Hold Steady, and Vic Chesnutt to name a few.

In closing, here is a good looking picture of our newest hero:

If that isn’t a closing argument, I’m not sure what is. Way to be Aaron. We love you.

Further:

• Official Bandspotting Page claiming Aaron the victor (includes a couple tunes to listen to)
• Official FFM09 Page
• Aaron Strumpel Official Website
• Free Song from Son Lux

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