Hrry Blog

If you're at all into music a service you should check out is Spotify. It's a music streaming service that you can use for free, you just have to endure some ads every now and then.

The downside is that Spotify is pretty popular so it can be hard to get an invite. I got mine a while back through spotify.rejected.se. They invites to distribute every day. It might help to try your luck after midnight or in the morning as I'm sure the invites run out every day.

Another option is to go straight for the Premium account which costs you 10 euros a month. I'm currently on the Premium plan as I wanted to get rid of the interruptions during my work days and wanted to try out the mobile version that just recently came out for S60 as well. Note that the mobile version won't work with the free account.

Looks like Apple will get into streaming music as well so don't know what will happen to their business in the future but they have a well working product I'm willing to pay for at least. 120 euros a year might sound much for people used to totally free music but I thought that cutting out the interruptions when I need to concentrate is well worth the money. The funny downside is that since I don't see or hear the ads any longer it's harder to keep up with new Finnish music and to monitor the trends in advertising in the service.

So if you for instance listen to music to block out the background noise while you work and would like to have some variation to your own music collection or radio stations I can warmly recommend Spotify. The mobile version is interesting as well but I listen to podcasts or my iPod on the go mostly so not critical for me.

P.S. As a Premium member I get 2 invites a month for the free version so if you know me and want one, let me know. There's a small queue of people already lined up so don't expect to get the invite right away. :)

Posted by Hrry at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A friend and collegue of mine Arto Lehtiniemi has a band that he's putting a lot of effort into in his free time. Pland has now released their first album "Things she said" which you can listen to on their website and order for yourself for 4 euros + 2,25 for shipping.

I haven't had yet time to listen to their full album but I've liked the songs I've heard already previously. At least "I talk to myself" rocks nicely, has nice melody and catching tunes. So I can recommend checking this out, you can listen to the songs for free online and even if you end up buying the album bit over 6 euros really isn't too bad.

Arto has recorded the album at his home studio and I have to say it sounds really professional. If you need to use a studio in Tampere area you can book some studio time too.

Pland has also appeared in some podcast via the Podsafe music network (e.g. I talk to myself). I might have had something to do with this. :) Basically the idea is that artist can give podcasters permission to play their songs in podcasts and get new listeners that way. The network also makes it possible to sell your songs online if you wish.

Posted by Hrry at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whatever happened to Poets of the Fall and Gwen Stefani? Both produced excellent first albums but failed to deliver on their second ones. They had some okay songs but the on the whole the albums weren't that exciting. I guess this might be a pretty common phenomena in music but still it's disappointing for a fan of both acts.

Bands and artists basically have to reinvent them for every record because producing exactly same kind of music record after record would be boring but this also means risking the things that made the music work on their previous record. Sometimes things go wrong and the second (n-th) album flops or things can go the other way as well, a band can find the thing that makes them a success.

Hopefully things go well for Von Hertzen Brothers and My Chemical Romance whose latest records were great (check them out!)...

P.S. Sweatmaster will release their next album in March or something. Definitely a must-buy for me.

Posted by Hrry at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now Poets of the Fall (also in Wikipedia) is a band really worth checking out. This Finnish band first became known for their song "Late Goodbye" that featured on the Max Payne 2 video game.

It's pretty rare to find an album where all the songs rock but PotF's first album "Signs of Life" is one of these exceptions. They will be releasing their second album "Carnival of Rust" 12th of April so a week from now. I'm gonna get that disc to myself as soon as it comes out. Meanwhile you can listen to some samples on the band's webpage.

Posted by Hrry at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, check out Sweatmaster's new video Good Looks, Big Deal, I think it rocks! It has some really nice animation like their previous video Song With No Words.

Sweatmaster is one of my favourite Finnish bands. I really like the energy and drive their music has and the catchy verses. I got myself two Sweatmaster shirts from their shop, actually my first ever fan shirts for any band. I feel so proud of myself walking around in a Sweatmaster shirt. ;)

The music videos for Sweatmaster have been done by Las Palmas Films, a Finnish studio specializing in animations. They seem to have done commercial work and music videos mostly. I wouldn't mind seeing more Sweatmaster videos and other work from these guys, they really seem to know what they're doing.

Posted by Hrry at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)