I’m not terribly impressed by much of what people call “Rock” these days and so when I get a link to listen to someone I usually am disappointed by what I hear.  It seems that its always a barrage of badly crafted rythyms, no melody line to speak of, and the vocalist just croaks his lines.  Seems that everyone wants to be in a band these days but no one wants to work hard at it.

So now that you know how generally unimpressed I am, I want to recommend that you listen to the band “13th Floor”.  I’m not sure where the name came from (reminds me of an odd movie I saw once) but the music will grab you.  I’m not even sure how to describe it except to say it gives off a good hard rock vibe.  The drummer is more than holding it down with some great tom rolls and a solid groove.  The guitars are crunchy and in your face…nice and fat chords with some straight forward, old school solos that in todays scene are a nice change….not too much flash, just meat and potatos here! Great use of soft passages without losing the grit and crunch.  Good use of dynamics too.  They really make good use of timing too…not too many notes.  Empty space can be used well by good musicians, and these guys do it well.

My favorite part of their music though has to be the vocalist.  I think it’s really hard to get a vocalist in a rock band, who has a lower voice, to do something other than growl.  This guy can do that too but does it only occasionally for effect, not to saturate the song.  He also sings smooth and has control over his higher range too….he doesn’t have to croak/growl his higher notes.

Check ‘em out.  If you like good classic hard rock, I think you might like these guys.  Rock on “13th Floor”!!!

http://www.myspace.com/13thfloormusic

I use all of these under Linux

1. Linux
2. Ubuntu
3. Firefox
4. Gmail
5. Google
6. Open Office
7. Picasa
8. GIMP
9. VLC Media Player
10. UltraVNC

(Lifehackers) The 46 Free Desktop Software Applications, Webapps, and Projects We’re Most Thankful For (includes Windows apps)

1. Firefox (see also: The Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3)
2. VLC Media Player (see also: Master Your Digital Media with VLC)
3. Ubuntu (see also: Hardy Heron Makes Linux Worth Another Look)
4. Open Office (see also: A First Look at OpenOffice.org 3.0)
5. Pidgin (see also: Ten Must-Have Plug-ins to Power Up Pidgin)
6. Launchy (see also: Take Launchy beyond application launching)
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8. Gmail (see also: Our full Gmail coverage)
9. Adium (see also: Adium Chat Improves Menu Bar Item, Corrects Your IM Grammar )
10. CCleaner (see also: CCleaner 2.0 Decrapifies Your PC)
11. Picasa (see also: Organize your digital photos with Picasa)
12. AutoHotKey (see also: Turn Any Action into a Keyboard Shortcut)
13. Google
14. Quicksilver (see also: A beginner’s guide to Quicksilver)
15. GIMP
16. Foobar 2000 (see also: Roll your own killer audio player with foobar2000)
17. Thunderbird (see also: Eight killer Thunderbird extensions)
18. 7-Zip (see also: Top 10 Windows Downloads, #10: 7-Zip (file archive manager) )
19. DropBox (see also: Dropbox Syncs and Backs Up Files Between Computers Instantaneously)
20. uTorrent (see also: Our complete uTorrent coverage )
21. Winamp (see also: Our complete Winamp coverage)
22. Google Apps
23. AVG Antivirus (see also: AVG Free Anti-Virus 2008 Released, Much Improved)
24. Evernote (see also: Expand Your Brain with Evernote)
25. IrfanView (see also: Download of the Day: IrfanView (Windows) )
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27. Chrome (see also: The Power User’s Guide to Google Chrome)
28. Google Calendar (see also: Black-belt scheduling with Google Calendar)
29. HandBrake (see also: HandBrake Media Converter Gets Even Better)
30. Skype (see also: Our complete Skype coverage)
31. Linux (see also: Our complete Linux coverage)
32. Paint.NET (see also: Top 10 Windows Downloads, #3: Paint.NET )
33. Ad-Aware (see also: Cleanse thy PC with Ad-Aware)
34. Avast Antivirus (see also: Download of the Day: Avast anti-virus)
35. Google Docs (see also: Our complete Google Docs coverage)
36. LogMeIn (see also: Use LogMeIn for remote tech support)
37. Transmission (see also: Manage Your BitTorrent Downloads with Transmission)
38. TrueCrypt (see also: Secure your data with TrueCrypt)
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40. FileZilla (see also: FTP File Transfer Across Platforms with Filezilla 3.0)
41. Notepad++ (see also: Top 10 Windows Downloads, #6: Notepad++)
42. PortableApps.com (see also: Download of the Day: PortableApps Suite 1.0 (Windows))
43. Rocket Dock (see also: Download of the Day: RocketDock (Windows))
44. Spybot Search & Destroy (see also: Spybot Search and Destroy crushes evil)
45. UltraVNC (see also: Tech support with UltraVNC SingleClick)
46. VirtualBox (see also: VirtualBox 2.0 Adds 64-bit Support, Updated Interface)I