Posts Tagged: Review

From the 6.10 System Update. Awesome program! You now dont need an iPod if you’ve got a PSP!

Polarity/1, the multi-genre artist best known for bold, honest, hard-hitting songs, has released a brand new instrumental record titled ‘Music From the Other Side’. The new CD continues the opinion-filled musical legacy of Polar: fitting to the title, the album consists of smooth, jazzy tracks much different from louder albums like ‘Yankin’ The Food Chain’. Proving that this album is no less diverse than his others, Polar once again shows his ability to spread his talent over a wide variety of genres; his music has been incorporated by dance theaters and documentarists, including Danny Schechter’s feature-length film documentary ‘In Debt We Trust’ and Battery Dance Company’s 26th Annual Downtown Dance Festival last year.

‘Music From The Other Side’ is the soundtrack for a dance performance by Lisbon’s Quorum Ballet, fusing the style and art of the dance of Lisbon and New York. A collaboration of choreographers Daniel Cardoso, Jonathan Hollander and Thaddeus Davis, artistic directors of Quorum Ballet, Battery Dance Company and Wideman/Davis Dance, respectively, this dark, moody, erotic and aggressive album explores the theme of oppression, which has always been an issue for the people on both sides of the Atlantic. The thought-provoking record examines the roles of the many different characters in life, including the instigator, the oppressor, the oppressed and the observer.  Read more...

Itunes is the distribution software used by Apple to download mp3 files to their IPod devices. Free music downloads for Itunes would therefore mean free music for MacIntosh computers only, except they also offer a Windows version for the Microsoft PC. The Microsoft world also uses its Windows Media Player to distribute mp3 and mpeg files to PDA and other similar devices to Apple’s IPod.

You can freely download free tunes from the Apple Itunes website. There is website that appears like it might be the grail of free downloads, Napster it allows the registered member to listen to each song in a 2,000,000 catalogue free for five times. After listening to 10,000,000 songs or each song five times, you must take a subscription. However, the subscription fee is pretty decent so most of us can afford it. This will allow you to listen to more songs and download those you wish listen on your IPod or PDA. There is another subscription called “Napster on the Go”, allows you to download your playlist and to refill your mp3 player with unlimited songs for $14.95. That’s what I will call a reasonable fee.

When I hear the phrases ‘music downloads’ or ‘mp3′ I always think about hip hop, rap and rock music. Why is that? My imagination tells me that it is only young people like teenagers and student who downloads this kind of music and that all downloadable music is of this kind. And my impression is that most people think that way too. But I’ll tell you one thing: I couldn’t be more wrong. Itunes and similar web sites are offering all kinds of music for download.  Read more...

One would expect mushy love songs to be played in the background of a hospital love drama in soap. And that’s just what you will get from Grey’s Anatomy. But of course the choices are not the cheesiest ones. The show does have some good taste in music actually. And if they ever choose cheesy music it is meant to be ironic or funny. If you are a rabid fan of the medical series, then you would probably already know that the Grey’s Anatomy Music Soundtrack I and Soundtrack vol. II are just small simple samples of the great mix of songs that were used in the hit episodes in the series. With that said, let’s list down some of the best (according to my criteria of course) that where heard. A lot of Grey’s Anatomy Music are gives you both a feeling of dread and of being uplifted at the same time. A lot of them are melodic, entrancing, emotive, and makes the best use of silence.

The show achieves these peculiar effects by using songs from the Cardigans, Tegan and Sara, and Keane. Now if you have never heard any one song from these groups then you would have hard time imagining what the heck I am talking about. But if you have, at least one song, they you would know just what kind of a trance I am talking about. The melody is primarily melancholic and yet very beautiful at the same time. These are not love songs that are bound by the aesthetic of the power ballad. They are however, more similar to folk ballads, only they are drenched in the modern angst of urban isolation and are characterized by a high consciousness of the self that is imperfect yet willing to lose itself for love. Beck for example is a recurring band through out Grey’s Anatomy music.  Read more...

“French Kicks” are a four-piece indie rock band based in New York. They are Nick Stumpf (Vocals and Drums), Josh Wise (Vocals and Guitar), Lawrence Stumpf (Bass and Backing Vocals) and Aaron Thurston (Drums and Backing Vocals). Two formers bandmates, Jamie Krents and Matthew Stinchcomb left to pursue their own interests. French Kicks’ music genre are mostly regarded as garage rock and post-punk revival.

Swimming gives you the feeling that you’re actually in a gig listening to French Kicks live. Sounding unique and as if they were playing in their own garage or basement, you’ll gradually like them through their consistency in their own music genre and rhythmic draggy vocals.

Swimming let us in with the well-performed “Abandon”. I like the way the guitar opens with the handclaps, giving you indication that this song will instantly click with you. In the chorus, Nick let it go with “Ah…” while the remaining French Kicks continued playing their instruments to make sure they hit the listeners straight at this first track. Abandon is a great start!

“Over The World” has really nice verses. Nick sings effortlessly throughout the verses and the music just have great timing. “Awful, you’re making it awful…”, goes Nick when singing the first verse. At some points in Over The World, it slightly reminds me of “Cloche” from previous album Two Thousand. Like an evolution of “Cloche”.  Read more...