Reviews

“Superheroes Of Space” from the Intercontinental Music Lab

The Intercontinental Music Lab (IML) is a world-wide music project whose aim is to promote musical collaboration. The core contributors, originally from Cambridge, England are now writing and recording music all over the planet - and new international collaborators are being enlisted every week. IML Collaborators submit backing-tracks to IML H.Q. where they are randomly redistributed to other collaborators who write lyrics and record vocals. The subject of IML's first album was "Superheroes of Science", second "Superheroes of Sea" and the latest ones' is "Superheroes of Space".

The FranzDiego EP – authentic & personal rap from Minnesota

The FranzDiego EP is a solo debut album from Franz Diego - a Minnesota rap artist and member ILLUMINOUS 3 band. I don't really remember how I came across this EP, but I remember that I fell for the smart, sincere lyrics and tracks full of rhythm and base. A fellow Minnesota MC, Kyle "Guante" Myhre, wrote about him: "an indie rapper with personality, he weaves through each track spitting lines that are at once insightful, honest, funny and original. And his flow is smooth and conversational yet technically precise; it’s a joy to listen to."

Fhernando “Sweet Addiction” – a free Creative Commons licensed dance album, now on FrostWire

Fhernando is a great young Mexican DJ whose most recent album, "Sweet Addiction", got some amazing reviews on free music download websites and social networks. Fhernando, or Fernando Ramires Rios, has been composing music since he was a teenager and has already released several EPs and singles. "I Love New York", his previous release, was a house/trance/electro composition. "Sweet Addiction" falls in between the disco/house/funk genres, with more complicated arrangements and "sexy & glam" style. Both are happy, energetic and capturing.

Warrior Epic – Not Your Average Free Fantasy Action MMORPG!

Warrior Epic is amazingly well reviewed free MMORPG game that let's you direct an army of warriors through the wilderness to "recover ancient artifacts and fend off barbaric tribes carrying the wicked heritage of the warmongers of ancient times". The 3D fantasy world is very imaginative and the graphics look amazing the 50 something levels and tons of characters will keep you happily occupied for a long time! You can take "take command of a variety of Warriors through solo, PvP, and multiplayer dungeon-raiding adventures."

Picasa – a free photo editor & organizer from Google

Picasa is a great free beginner to intermediate software for photography enthusiasts from Google. It allows you to do almost everything imaginable with your pictures - import from digital devices, automatically organize into albums by date, print, edit, compress, create collages, slide shows and even edit with the short videos you've taken with your digital camera. You can even email your creations directly from the build it mail client or upload them into either the Picasa Albums Online or YouTube to share with friends and family. Picasa works with JPGs, GIFs, PSDs, BMPs, couple of popular video formats and MP3 music files.

Free 2009 Summer Sampler from Fearless Records

Fearless Records has just released a free 2009 Summer Sampler which includes unreleased songs from Breathe Carolina, The Word Alive, and Lets Get It. Other featured artists include Eye Alaska, A Skylit Drive, Sparks The Rescue and Artist vs. Poet. You can download the 7-song digital album from the above link and from their MySpace page. I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised when I heard the entire compilation - it's a first class, varied & funky rock sampler. Great set of bands!

Mushrooms Suck by Jupiter Skydive – a high energy dance/electronica

Just recently I came across some tracks from this album on thesixtyone.com and couldn't resist digging more. Mushrooms Suck is a very energetic compilation of breakcore/electro/industrial/drum 'n' bass tracks that will just keep your head moving. It is Jupiter Skydive' (Nick) second (out of three) albums and, in my opinion, the best. Every track of the album is different and interesting - my favorite is "Off Road Ice Cream Truck", but it is a close call.

The Johns’ foresight/poorsight free album now under Creative Commons on FrostWire

The Johns is a Chicago based indie rock band composed of four life-long friends who are determined to keep their music independent of popular trends and opinions of others. "[They] aim to proceed as an undefinable sort of pop music, drawing from a history of playing metal, jazz, funk, blues, folk and art rock and pulling from influences as varied as Neil Young, Mike Patton, Television, tin-pan alley jazz, The Police, Les Paul & Mary Ford and onwards and upwards."