Samsung Omnia 7 - Phone Review

Right then time for a phone review. I have owned the Samsung Omnia 7 for long enough to deliver an honest verdict, and that's what you'll get. Perhaps it is somewhat fitting, today it was reported that Samsung has overtaken Apple in the highly competitive smartphone manufacturing market.  Anyway, the Omnia 7 utilizes the highly attractive Windows Phone 7 interface, which personally I highly approve of. The interaction feels silky smooth, the button areas are perfectly sized on the main screen, and the slightly offset positioning works very well both functionally and aesthetically. The theme itself is pretty much everywhere you look in terms of apps, which themselves appear to be limited in quantity but not quality for WP7 handsets. The...

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The Wombats - This Modern Glitch - My Take

'Indie Landfill' is a term often associated with Liverpudlian three-piece The Wombats. Bands commonly classified as this genre include The Pigeon Detectives, The View, The Kooks and Scouting for Girls. The bands are characterised by a softer, less aggressive sound than earlier bands (compare with The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys). - Wikipedia But whether you classify them into that group or not now appears to be irrelevant, after an even catchier, even more fun follow up to A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation was released earlier this year. The deliciously fetching past guitar parts in the style of Moving To New York and Let's Dance to Joy Division are almost completely...

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Foam.

This is going to be something of a departure from my usual posts. On Monday night I went to my first foam party in a club in Oxford. It started pretty slowly but by the end it was pretty crazy, the whole foam out of a cannon at people dancing thing is ridiculous fun. The thing is, the people who care how they are dancing stop caring because you're knee deep in bubbles any way, it ends up like a close range snowball fight disco blur. Everyone generally has a great time and there is way more interaction between people who don't know each other. I highly recommend trying something like this at your local venue, but prepare to freeze your ass off when you leave! I'm interesting to hear about some interesting parties and party formats you've been to, so don't hesitate to...

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Foster The People - Torches - My Take

I'm not entirely sure how the LA trio emerged into radioplay in the U.S., but for us in the UK it is likely we all share a similar story. Radio 1 is playing, it's about 2pm and Greg James, despite being a talented DJ, has little choice but to play the commercial club garbage that Radio 1 are paid to play. He announces his record of the week as Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks enthusiastically and proceeds to play it. The gentle playful bass line is catchier than anything played all day, these are musicians playing actual instruments for a change. The chorus hook is even more addictive and the song goes down a treat. The promising signs persuaded me to investigate their upcoming album further, and what I found was more of...

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It is worth noting that I'll be posting up a review of this album within the next couple of days. Apologies for my slow updates I've been doing university work amongst other commitments. Stay tuned for my take on one of the albums of the year so f...

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Why The Music Industry Is How It is

In your heart of hearts you all know the reason. The reason why no one can get recording contracts except the likes of Jessie J, Kesha and [insert generic popstar who can barely sing]. Even when contracts are handed out these days, the majority are what is called a '360 deal'. The 360 deal is all encompassing, the traditional deal involved giving the artist an advance to record an album, then the company taking most of the proceeds from sales and the artist taking a significant chunk of live performance revenue. This is no longer the case, the 360 deal again sees an advance and expenses for recording an album, but the record company then takes most of everything. Album sales? Check. Live performances? Check. Television and film royalties? Check. The average pop star is likely to make less...

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Endtroducing 2

Music that speaks to the soul is not what you expect to find, but it is indeed what you get with Endtroducing. I swear I just heard a wookie over a breakbeat. The range of sampling in the record is so diverse and so creative that you have no idea what to expect next. Shadow has not just created a piece of art with this record, but an environment, a universe of it's own. Merely a collection of notes can invoke emotions and feelings, granted, but the real talent here is how Shadow can make the listener feel through the use of sampling, there is no 'I've heard this before' or 'This sounds familiar' whatsoever; the record is completely unique, ground-breaking and ahead of it's time, some may need reminding this was released in the mid 90's where...

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Endtroducing

I've just embarked on the journey of listening to DJ Shadow's Endtroducing. So far I have been exposed to a clever intro piece, a haunting piano floating under and over fast, but well spaced and not entirely in your face drumming, and a flanging wah-ing guitar section creeping in and out. I'm in no position to give a true opinion on this album and won't be for a few more listens, but it's completely blowing me away. This sounds fantastic on an overcast Saturday lunch time, making me wonder what would be the perfect environment for listening to such a record. Go away and listen to some of this if you haven't, I'll enjoy discussing it at a later da...

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Good evening friends, As you might expect this will be used for several things. I'm happy to review albums, movies and games, and  will be posting personal updates too. I guess it's worth mentioning that my goal in life is to become an audio engineer and or producer, with other music related projects intertwined. Currently experience the drastic change of going from full time work to full time education. More free time, much less cash. That will do for this evening, I promise to post more interesting discussions in the coming da...

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