Genre: Metal/Metalcore/Synthcore/Screamo/Emo/Punk/Indie rock/Alternative rock/Rock

If you've been following this blog since square one, you might remember me featuring a couple of huge samplers miraculously still up for grabs many months or even years after their announced expiry dates. Well, one of those samplers—the Fuel MP3 Sampler by no less than Christian heavyweight Tooth & Nail Records—just got updated! Now packing an even stronger punch than ever with the latest from front liners The Chariot, August Burns Red, Underoath, Emery, As Cities Burn, and mewithoutYou, this certainly is THE must-grab sampler for the season! And man, did I mention there is a special UNRELEASED track from Oh, Sleeper tucked in between the sheets? By special I mean it's a song from their most anticipated up and coming sophomore effort. By unreleased I mean it's NOT EVEN ON MYSPACE YET! So if you're a huge fan of purposeful metalcore then you must be out of your noggin to pass on this one!


Grab the freebie!

Tooth & Nail official site

No freebies for now. Time to mourn (or laugh, depends on whether you're a real fan or not). Take a look at how Jacko evolved from his Jackson 5 days to his death bed.

Genre: Electronic/Trip-hop/Chillout/Ambient/Downtempo

Mary Poppins. Boooring. Or so I thought.

If ever you have the same opinion for that oh-so-gloried musical of the yesteryears, better think again--at least after seeing this amusing video, and hearing its amazing accompanying track by no less than Pogo a.k.a. Faggotron in the land of Youtube. This guy has a talent I've not seen among electronic artists in years: to make something so soothing and so refreshing from something so old and so boring, and I must add, in a way that doesn't sound cheesy at all. No, it's not a remix. No, it's not a remake. It's the delicate art of sampling Pogo seems to have mastered in his short time as a young weaver of tunes.

With this masterpiece in particular, he took sound clips from the mentioned classic, put in some ambient drum beats, liven it up with some fluid bass runs and dreamy synth lines, and *walah*, you get a rare gem of a song. Coupled with a sleekly edited video, I know you'll find it even more irresistible as I did. Just watch. Chill out. Enjoy.



If you liked what you just heard, here's a bonus you might just love--grab it for free here.


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Pogo at Last.fm

Genre: Indie/Alternative rock/Piano rock

I would have to say I love their previous releases better, but whatever Sleeping at Last did on Capture and Ghosts that literally captured the attention of rock icon Billy Corgan* surely has not dissipated as ghosts in their latest endeavor, Keep No Score. The band is currently in the studio, and to keep fans aflame as well as to ignite new ones, they've done what seems to be the wisest thing to do: offer this album for free. That is, if you choose to tell 5 of your friends about it through the widget below. However, you may also opt to pay whatever you want to show some love and support for this talented trio.

Lush instrumentation, ambient atmospherics, soaring vocals, intelligent imagery, a sound and a message distinctively their own--these are few of the many things that got this band on endless repeat on my iPod some years ago. Add to that list the fact that it's free, and they've had me doing it again. I urge you to do so as well.

I recently came across an article that explains how doing your searches in Google can emit 3.5 grams of carbon dioxide per query (the same probably goes for Yahoo too, since they use a similar interface). Albeit still a factoid denied by the company itself, it's quite alarming as that's approximately the same amount of energy consumed by an 11-watt light bulb in a measly hour. Also, doing it twice is enough to boil a kettle of water, so they say.

However, I must clarify I'm not here to make a fuss out of it. If like me though, you want your googling free of any guilt, or you simply want to be more certain you're not heating up this already hot planet of ours in any way, there is a good number of search engine alternatives you can resort to, two of which I highly recommend.

The first would be Blackle, the search engine that utilizes an all-black background so as to lessen the use of light on your screens. To date, Blackle has apparently saved 1,262,522.652 watt-hours already. A blogpost dated January 2007 even proposed the theory that with Blackle, we can save 750 megawatt hours in merely a year.

The other alternative which is easier to the eyes yet equally energy efficient is Znout, cleverly named as such because it promises zero negative out every time you hit that search button. Unlike the former though, this search engine does the Captain Planet without sacrificing readability--instead, it saves energy through the purchase of renewable energy certificates. Doing so, it claims to have saved 4,307,432 watt-hours so far.

Mind you, both are powered by Google Search thus ensuring you of search results as efficient as we're all used to. Also, just like Google, both have localized versions for whatever country you come from. Along with their other facets mentioned above, that leaves you virtually no reason why you wouldn't want to use these green alternatives. And that makes it rather an easy decision to make--I've made mine, have you?


Go to Blackle / Set Blackle as homepage

Go to Znout / Set Znout as homepage

Install Znout search plugin

Genre: Indie/Rock


Free and fresh and on a golden mug. That's exactly how I want my music brewed for me. For you too, I assume! So as promised, here's part 2 of our House of Heroes Freebies Special. This time, let's take from their most recent endeavor, The End Is Not The End. As I pointed out well before, new material or not, theirs is music that always sounds incredibly fresh yet always sounds distinctively them. As the guys from HoH themselves say, this is just an offer too great to pass because it's not just one song--not even two--but three, yes, THREE songs up for grabs. And it's easy. Just hit this link here (or below), and follow the instructions written therein.


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Mikal Shorts simply amazes me. It is really inspiring to know that despite how hectic college has rendered his schedule, this passionate friend of mine still manages to get those creative juices flowing wild and free.

The result? One immersive aural masterpiece that has garnered some good feedback from around the web--to be featured at a later post--and one equally amusing coloring book which easily drew out the kid in me.

Featuring endearingly bizarre artwork implicative of wildly imagined childhood fantasies exploring the thin line between the odd and the fascinating, the Imagitoons Coloring Book is a must-have for those who want to exercise their cramped creative muscles, or for those who simply feel the need to be a child again--like me! The namesake says it all; among other things, imagination is something which sets us apart from the rest of creation. And this digital volume dares you to do just that: to let out that long-forgotten child from time to time, to set free that long-encaged muse on her wings--even just for once.

Wait no more friends. Get it now!


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The Imagitoons artblog

Shoppers out there have always struggled over readjustments to canvass for the right products to buy. In one way or another, they’ve bested the roundabouts just to locate and go through lengthy and tedious searches. Not only does it physically tire shoppers, shopping could as well be a time –consuming bustle. Until now, several shoppers have redundantly exercised their shopping routine despite the hassle.

For shoppers who will to break off from the hassles of old –school shopping, a better and convenient way of going about for goods and products is through ShopWiki. Not to mention with this fast and newfangled pace of reaching about almost everything beyond grasp, ShopWiki provides shoppers the search of almost anything and everything for sale on the web. Shopping is just made a click away. Through this innovation, doing rounds to several shopping malls isn’t the wisest thing to lean on.

ShopWiki lists online stores compatible for interested buyers. Beauty products, health products, and even men’s grooming are among those commonly sought by regular buyers online. You don’t have to go through extensive searches and postpone appointments because of the hassle of shopping. Canvassing has been made easier, and shopping has evolved to its modernistic way of providing convenience to everyone.

Genre: Indie/Rock

I'm always on the lookout for fresh music, those that cut their own niche among billions of other songs. And when I say fresh, I mean either a new band, or an old band but with new material. For the former category, it is not that hard to search among the thousands of new talent coming out recently. For the latter, it's another story. Usually if old bands (i.e. those in the scene long enough to produce more than one album) is the case, should they have new material, it just doesn't sound new at all--more often than not, the ideas would sound recycled. But there are a few artists who are simply exceptions. Not only do their new material really sound novel, even their old stuff sound equally fresh despite being a few years old.

Rock quartet House of Heroes is one of the said exceptions. Every time they come up with new stuff, it always sounds novel. It's always aurally new, something not (if not only a bit) reminiscent of any of their past songs all the while retaining a distinct feel that is totally theirs, a sound that lets you easily determine it's them alright. Well, there's really a fine line of distinction between a band having a trademark sound and a band merely recycling ideas but when it's House of Heroes I guess you'd say what I just said--new or old, it always sounds fresh while it always sounds them. To know exactly what I mean, you just got to taste both.

Fortunately, you can do just that with this 2-week House of Heroes Freebies Special we have prepared just for you. For this week, it's time for their old yet never stale material off their older album Say No More (actually a re-release of their sophomore self-titled effort circa 2005 thus even much older than it seems), particularly the songs Friday Night and Serial Sleepers, both of which are offered FREE at Gotee's official site. With but a short registration form to fill out, this is really worth the time checking out as personally, both songs have been landmarks in my journey through music and life--Friday Night in particular is an indie head-bopper talking about someone getting tired of his old life thus wanting to embrace a new one ("I don't wanna spend this Friday night, like I had to spend last Friday night...dying by the record machine"). Serial Sleepers on the other hand is a brief yet passionately dynamic and tastefully climactic wake-up call for the idle and the apathetic, which is exactly what I have been until my life took a U-turn partly because of the urgency the song conveys ("Wake up, dead. Serial sleepers, slay with words instead").

Wait no more friends--these songs have been life-changing for me as much as they were fresh-sounding. Who knows? They might do the same for you.


Sign up for a FREE account!


Grab the freebie!

The tattoo may be one of the most costly art ever done, costly for the reason that the canvas which it is to be painted on is priceless--the canvas is your body. It's just like deciding to have a new mole be added to your face; it stays there forever. Thus, the success of the masterpiece depends not only on the artist, but equally (or even more) on the canvas, on the one paying for the tattoo. Of course, modern technology has made the removal of this supposedly irremovable art possible but that just adds to the expense, only making it more valuable than ever. The tattoo is art unlike any other. It's art that loses its beauty when the canvas it has been painted on starts to lose confidence in it, that is, when you start regretting why it was done on your skin in the first place. In the same way, its beauty only shows when you are proud and confident about it. For that reason, much thought and preparation is required before one decides to get the obra maestra done, reason why consultation is very much an important part to the process of getting it. And on whom could you rely more for advice on tattoos other than tattoo enthusiasts and artists themselves?

Tattoo Chat Rooms is there to provide you just that: an online community who shares a common passion for the beloved art of tattoos. Indeed with a bunch of chat rooms to choose from, it is definitely a place to meet other pintados from around the world. Through the user-friendly private messaging mode, it's never been this easier to consult guys who've got years' worth of ink on their skin, and even request designs from tattoo artists you will get to meet. Boasting a pretty much intuitive profile system, viewing your newly-met friends' galleries is just a few clicks away so you can easily take a look at shots of their tattoos . And if think yours is also worth the view, flaunt yours too! Do these and even more on Tattoo Chat Rooms.

Becoming a part of this community of tattoo lovers is simply indispensable if you're one into skin art. And it is not only because of its very nifty features, but equally because joining the gang is totally FREE and easy--registration is only 5 entries short I must add.


Sign up for a FREE account at Tattoo Chat Rooms!


(This is a sponsored post. For more details, read the WeHeartFreebies Disclosure Policy.)