There was nothing during my time in college that would make me turn off a station faster on my car radio than to hear �Jesus!� blaring out. It�s a shame, too, because they had one of the most vibrant five seconds of rock music that I could bear to hear each time I hit the seek button before realizing where I had landed. In any case, here are three tracks that are about religion that don�t make me immediately turn away without even giving it a chance.

CJ Bolland� The Prophet

There�s an enormous tradition of dance music mixing with religion. Dance music being a religion, even. I remember reading a paper while in college, in fact, that (if I remember correctly) talked about how because gay black men were not welcome within their home churches after coming out, would substitute the club for their religion (with the DJ acting as preacher). While this isn�t my favorite track of all-time, I think it�s a good one and representative of the idea.

[visit the official website here, buy stuff here]

The Trees� Psalm 45

But don�t get yet: the last two tracks today are some of my absolute favorites (whether Christ is involved or not). I should mention immediately about the Trees that it is scheduled to be reissued in a four(!) disc-set sometime in the future on Timothy Renner�s Some Dark Holler label. As you can hear the record crackles on this, it needs it. And I�m sure Renner will do a stunning job.

In any case, The Trees were a strange band that combined lyrics from the Bible with Eastern instrumentation. Sounding like Fairport Convention meeting the Maharishi with a little dash of The King James thrown in, The Trees were original freak-folksters.

[visit the Some Dark Holler website here, read a review here]

Lift to Experience� Falling From Cloud Nine

It�s hardly a surprise that Lift To Experience broke up after their debut album. That album was a concept double album in which Texas was the center of the apocalypse. Lift to Experience make a deal with God to help usher it in�in exchange for a hit record. I think I have that right. Anyway, this song is one of the most straight-forward on the record. Many of the tracks tend to meander, both furthering the narrative and delivering some crushing rock along the way. Couple this with some ridiculous pen and pixel cover art and it�s a no-brainer to say that this is easily my favorite record released in 2001.

[visit Lift to Experience’s website here, buy The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads here]