Reviews

Erdbeerschnitzel helps clean out your ears with Pathetik Party

A lot has happened in recent years that is making me give electropop another chance. You might think there's only so much that can be done with dancey club-type music, but the advent of IDM as a distinct "listening" genre (i.e. stuff you might actually play at home) has really opened doors for musicians like Tim Keiling, also known as Erdbeerschnitzel, to spread their wings and explore a bit.

Cinelerra – capture, compose and edit high quality video

Video editing and capturing can get quite expensive - especially if you decided to purchase the most popular commercial grade software to produce high quality videos, films and movies. Cinelerra is a free video editing suite for GNU/Linux which lets you capture, compose and edit videos. It also has a video compositing engine which allows you to do operations like matting and keying.

ED3-STUDIO e-Vibes – complex and curious electronic trance tracks

e-Vibes is a great mixture of various electronic, techno, trance and ambient tracks made by the French ED3-Studio. With 13 tracks of great variety, e-Vibes is one electronic album which would make you think that such music can really bring you to some kind of trance - in a good way. Dance, chill, and do whatever you want to do with this diverse electronic music album.

Alive and Well at The Trash Bar – a music documentary on NYC rock, punk & metal scene

In 2006 New York City lost two of it's most beloved and influential rock and roll music institutions. But CBGB and Continental were merely victims of a larger epidemic - the corporate takeover of lower Manhattan. Little did anyone know at that time that a seemingly run-of-the-mill music venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, would, by a series of fateful events, take over to carry the torch and continue a longstanding New York City tradition. In an age when big business rules all, it's true that a rock and roll club can still manage to live up to a core set of values held near and dear to the hearts of thousands of music fans, the legacy of the NYC rock and roll movement, and the idea of what that movement represents to those who have only read about it. Welcome to The Trash Bar!

Markovich/A.M.P.’s Emotive Force – project-based alternapop

It's nice to see Creative Commons licenses being used for undertakings that push the limits of collaboration and remote recording technologies, and Markovich/A Music Project (A.M.P.) are doing their best to test those limits. As the name suggests, they are a music project more than a band, and although they aim to make pretty straight-up downtempo and trip-hop, there's still enough variation in there to make for some very interesting listening.

Robin Sloan’s “Annabel Scheme” – free novella download licensed under Creative Commons

Robin Sloan, a San Fransisco-based writer best known for his short stories and writing at culture blog Snarkmarket, recently completed work on his first novella, Annabel Scheme. Sloan used Kickstarter, a social fundraising platform, to garner patrons for Annabel Scheme prior to publishing. By offering a number of incentive levels with varying amenities, Sloan was able to raise just shy of $14,000 for the project – over $10,000 more than he had originally asked.

K3DSurf – Open Source 3D Surface Generator

I can bet that K3DSurf would be a dream to have for any math geek if they would only know about it. This nifty application allows you to visualize and manipulate Mathematical models in three, four, five and six dimensions. K3DSurf supports Parametric equations and Isosurfaces.

MixGalaxy’s Various Artists “Winter Tales” Compilation Album

Here is another great release from this fresh new netlabel. Filled with 15 very different tracks from an array of independent artists, "Winter Tales" has a track for everyone. This winter Mixgalaxy Records prepared for you this very special compilation full of mystery and fairy-tale spirit with snowy scent of cold winter nights spiced with catchy melodies and grand arrangements.

MuseScore – make music sheets in an instant

For some musicians making a music sheets by hand is quite a horror. How else can you perfectly draw those lines & notes, and then manage to understand it all afterward? We've found just the perfect software for you. MuseScore allows you to input notes using mouse, keyboard or through a MIDI sequencer, and gives you the perfect looking music sheets each time. Best part for most musicians - it is a user-friendly, open-source and a FREE.