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MTV News reports that San Diego rockers Switchfoot already have over 40 songs written for the follow-up to The Beautiful Letdown. Frontman Jon Foreman describes the new material as having an "Eastern feel" and being "a bit of a darker record," inspired by their relentless life on the road in support of their Columbia debut. The foursome is slated to return to the studio this month alongside producer John Fields, and are eyeing a possible summer release.

Jars of Clay are putting the finishing strokes to their latest CD, Redemption Songs, a collection of reinvented ancient hymns and brand-new spiritual songs, all culled from the desire to understand the story of redemption through the timeless depth of early hymnology. Redemption Songs is due on March 22. Meanwhile, in a letter to its Blood:Water Mission partners, Jars outlined the details for the ministry's upcoming projects for 2005, including the 1000 Wells Project. For 1000 hours, February 16-March 27, artists, bands, audiences, students, youth groups and others will mobilize the people in their communities to donate $1 each toward building and/or repairing wells in 1000 different African locations—one of many ways to help fight the AIDS crisis.

In a rather unexpected move, emo rockers Further Seems Forever will be reuniting with former vocalist and founding member Chris Carrabba (now of Dashboard Confessional) for a single show during the Bamboozle Festival April 29-May 1 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The festival will also feature Relient K, Alkaline Trio, Thrice, The Starting Line, and many other pop-punk/emo/post-whatever bands.

John Tesh, wife Connie Sellecca, and family are in Sri Lanka representing Operation Blessing International, a humanitarian organization based in the countries that were hit by the recent deadly tsunami. Tesh and Co. are delivering $4.3 million worth of antibiotics, and are working alongside medical doctors to provide critical help to those hardest hit by the disaster.

According to the Gospel Music Association (GMA), Christian music sales in 2004 remained virtually flat compared to 2003, at a little over 43 million units. The top 10 selling Christian albums for 2004 according to SoundScan were Switchfoot, The Beautiful Letdown (1.7 million); Clay Aiken, Merry Christmas with Love (1 million); Casting Crowns, Casting Crowns (673,121); MercyMe, Almost There (470,035); Various, The Passion of The Christ Soundtrack (405,625); MercyMe, Undone (403,928); Various, WoW Hits 2005 (397,864); Various, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (373,255); Third Day, Wire (359,160); Various, WoW Gospel 2005 (337,535).

Ever wondered what happened to ethereal vocalist Michelle Tumes? Or the long-absent Susan Ashton? Ot what Christine Denté is up to these days? UK record label Kingsway Music got all three vocalists on one worship compilation titled Kisses from Heaven: Streams of Worship. Although it's a UK-only release, the good news is that Worship Together will distribute the project stateside in March, though with a new title, Lost in Wonder: Voices in Worship. The bad news is that all of the songs are worship covers, many of them somewhat generic-sounding. If you can't wait for it to come to the U.S., click here.

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