Free Music

Ok so ive been looking around for some good music, and i stumbled upon a few sites which have some free music. Ah free,my favourite word. My first Link is this : http://www.hell-is-for-heroes.net/downloads.php 

Ive been floowing hell is for heroes for a couple of years now, although missed a chance to see them live at my student union, which i intially thought was a bad thing. There first album, The Neon Handshake is a very good piece of work, lots of drop-D guitars, almost grunge but very catchy hooks. The lyrics are something of the obscure not really sticking well with the music, but the rythm section makes up for that, something similar to American Hi-fi's self titled album although not a mainstream (Poppy), the production lacks some kick but well worth a listen. Unfortunately i lost my mp3's of the album, so im going to buy it hard copy, a recommended purchase for anyone. Their follow up album Transmit Disrupt comes as somewhat of a dissapointment, i was expecting big things, better prodcution came at the cost of the songs. They lack impact, with only two songs sticking out "They may call us savages" trying to conjure up some of their glory from the first album, and "One of us". This is the free download that im linking. 

It start has a kicking introduction, with a thumping and steady drumline leading into off centre guitars. The chorus is where is really punches it weight, overlayed with uplifting guitars. – So well worth giving it a listen from the link above.

 

http://www.thefaint.com/audio/ 

My Next Link are "The Faint". I first heard of them whilst using the Stumble Upon application for firefox, i grew tired of that, when it kept sending me to the same sites over and over again. There are roughly 6 album tracks available to download from their first 3 albums. All of them showing diversity and progression from techno influences to dance and grunge guitars, culminating in their best work from " Wet from birth" their 3rd album. Their second album Dance Macabre doesnt show a continuity throughout although key tracks such as Call Call and Worked up so sexual stand out from the rest.

They are literally my new favourite band, offering something different to modern rock music, and something in between grunge and techno/dance tunes your hear genericly in clubs.

 

My last track that i found for a free download, came from Drowned in sound.com . This is really something you should pounce on as its a week only download. ending this sunday i think. The track available from this link http://drownedinsound.com/content/view/841569 
is a track called damage, and is a single coming off the new Cooper temple clause album. Ive only heard a few songs from their previous album, although with their last album "Kick up the fire and let the flames break loose" was a more polished, and mainstream release with kick ass single including "promises promises"(offering drop-c guitars – i jest not) and "blind pilots", sporting a fabulous music video.

Black Holes and Revelations

Ok so i thought id write abuot the new muse album which has been quickly spread around and on peoples lips in recent months. There have been some very strange and somewhat in teresting decisions from the muse camp. For a start the album titled has been confirmed as Black Holes and Revelations, which is a somewhat tangent in terms of album names for muse, compared to Showbiz, origin of symmetry and absolution, althouhg any muse fan would know that matt bellamy is really into his strange and paranormal literature.

Next i move onto the new single, Supermassive black hole, which seems to fit in well with the whole black hole element matt bellamy seems to have going on. By the way its released as a download only single over at their official website muse.mu . The amount of uproar from musers over at the official and unofficial sites, some say they were boycotting the album and the single, and that what was floating around the internet was a fame leak to throw people off the scent, or it was a remix. But no, its the real deal, its very different, a groovy guitar dance song, with layered vocals and a pumping bassline in the chorus and a very catchy tune. To be honest when i first heard it, it made me laugh but ive got used to it now and actually like it. Go and download for yourself, its only 79p, not available in america i think though.

The big news so far is the play of three of their new songs at Radio 1's Big weekend festival in dundee this weekend, with please from management to not download any of the live songs, being flaunted. Head your way over to http://invictus.softmeg.com/index.php or muselive as its better known, and have a search round for the songs, i doubt whether they will be there for very long. Some videos of the event are on there, buried deep within the forums. 

Out of the new songs, the new single certainly seems to have redeemed itself with a live performance showing off many good merits to it funk inspirations and vocoders rounding off the chorus triumphantly. What really stood out was the new song Starlight, rumoured to be the second song on the tracklist for the album. It does sound like it has potential for being a second single, with an uplifiing verse and starry rythum. Theres still some of the good old harmonised piano like from bliss and stockholm sydrome. Matt bellamy declaring "hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations" in its chorus. It seems somehwhat to have similarities with falling away with you, with its steady stream of bassline, wailing vocals and catchy rythm similar to the part in time is running out.   

As for knights of cydonia, the live version is a very weird song at first, with matt bellamy showing off once again his lack of balls, no really i mean it he must still be in puberty as the notes he reaches within the first minute are staggeringly high, much like Microcuts. No sooner has he hit those high notes does the sound rip into a high tempo bass and drumline, and the guitar having wailing qualities and straneg techno almost sci-fi effects mixed in. Which i suspect matt bellamy using his new korg expression pad on his new manson guitar. The verse is difficult to make out, but the pre-chorus keeping strong to muses steadfast layered vocals and harmonies, as we have seen in past albums. The chorus and its lyrics reminds me of butterflies and hurricanes, with the music building a crescendo overlayed with some sci-fi effects, and then ripping into a hook, similar to the newborn opening riff.

All in all i think that the new album is shaping up to be something very different, strange and almost ghostly, with the stregnth of their lyrics showing strong, with influences such as the oil crisis shwoing through in Supermassive black hole (glaciers melting in the dead of night). The new album is out july 3rd, with a hard copy release of their new single coming out mid june.

One more point, months ago NME the magazine we all hate, stated muse as emo, whereas just recently a review of the single calling the prog-rockers, make up you mind NME you narrow minded fucks.

 

Jesus christ!! they can read our minds

Taken from bbc news:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4751501.stm

 

Women 'sense qualities in a man'

Women are fine tuned subconsciously to detect the qualities they are looking for in a man – just by looking at his face, US research suggests. Women can spot subtle signs of interest in children in a man's face, and accurately assess his level of the sex hormone testosterone, it claims.

Child-friendly men were rated as good long-term bets, masculine men as ideal for a more short-term fling.

Details feature in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

study was carried out by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Researcher Dr Dario Maestripieri said: "Our results show that women are surprisingly accurate in judging a man's masculinity and his interest in infants by looking at his face.

"Our results also show that women value masculinity as a desirable trait for short-term relationships and interest in infants as a desirable trait for more stable long-term relationships."

Lots of information

Dr Maestripieri said the results suggested there was more information in the face about the potential value of a man as a mating partner than previously thought.

"I don't think that evolution has given women a second sense in this area but has made them very good at using every piece of information at their disposal when making decisions about mating and relationships."

The researchers recruited male undergraduate students, who underwent saliva tests to determine their testosterone levels.

They were also shown a series of pictures of adults and babies, and asked which they preferred.

Pictures of the volunteers were then shown to 29 female undergraduates, who were asked to rate the men according to whether they thought they liked children, appeared masculine, physically attractive, or kind.

The women were then asked to determine men's attractiveness as short-term romantic partners or as long-term partners for relationships such as marriage.

The men women chose as being most interested in children were the same men who had expressed the most interest in children in the photo test.

The women also accurately rated the men with the highest testosterone levels as being the most masculine.

Most women said they were attracted to the men who tested high for testosterone.

However, the results also showed that they tended to opt for men with a greater affinity for children when considering who had the greatest potential as a long-term partner.

Dr James Roney, who also worked on the study, said: "The research suggests that men's interest in children may be a relatively underappreciated influence on men's long-term mate attractiveness."