Android G1 Metronome

The Android G1 phone offers several applications for musicians. One of these is Metronome by Akshat Aranya. A free app, it offers a metronome with variable time signature and speed settings--a wide enough variety to cover any number of situations

The major drawback to Metronome is its volume. You can set an exact speed and time signature, but the volume isn't loud enough to hear over the music, making it difficult to use to maintain a steady beat during a performance or a rehearsal. The intention is good, but the usability is lacking.

Review--Snowsera

Snowsera’s website styles them as “neo soul space rock.” I don’t really know what that means, but I do know the music is fun. It’s infectious, energetic, and it doesn’t try too hard to squeeze itself into one genre—not that music genres make that much sense these days, anyway.

The members of Snowsera joined up in 2007 at the University of Illinois—my alma mater—and have been performing in various live venues since then, opening for the likes of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Company of Thieves. For their second EP, they teamed with producer Brian Zieske, who’s worked with personal favorites The Academy Is… and The Hush Sound.

Snowsera’s music is available for free download at their website, snowsera.com.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/snowsera
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/snowsera
Blog: http://snowsera.blogspot.com/