The Free Christian Music Blog

Some Really Good Picks

Picks.  It’s the name of the latest free compilation from Huntington University (the same university that released the stellar Youniversity CD last year), and it rocks.  It features almost entirely new, indie, or under-the-radar artists, most of which are really good.  The first track, “Wait On You”, for example, is by a band called Attaboy, a very talented pop-rock band along the lines of Stellar Kart.  “Wait On You” has a great message too, and is probably my favorite song on the CD.  Other highlights are Heath McNease’s hilarious song about video games, “Nintendo Thumb”, and The Contact’s eerie but good rock track “My Divine”.  Really, though, all of the songs are quite good.  Here’s the tracklisting:

1. Attaboy – “Wait On You”
2. The Contact – “My Divine”
3. Red Umbrella – “Boompop”
4. Heath McNease – “Nintendo Thumb”
5. Hello Kelly – “Favorite Arcade”
6. Attaboy – “California”
7. Sinclair – “You Found Me”
8. Adam Cappa – “Jesus Song”
9. Sevenglory – “The Best Is Yet To Come”
10. Betsy Walker – “Great Big Savior”

Also, if that’s not sweet enough for you, Huntington also has 4 other songs available, “Blind Man” by The Fabulous, “Remembering” by Alisa Turner, Eleventyseven’s “Trying”, and another great song from Attaboy, “Shout”.

Now, to download the music, you’ll need to sign up at HUzic website, and request an access code.  When I first signed up, I got my code in the mail on a neat little sheet of paper – which I promptly lost.    I signed up again, and the next time, I got my code in an email.  Either way, once you get the code, you just need to visit the HUzic website and log in with your information and the special code, and you can download all 14 songs, for free, just like that.

Just so you know, this is a promotion from Huntington, so don’t be surprised if you get mailings from them in the future.  Personally, I think it’s totally worth it, but it’s up to you.  Enjoy!

-Huntington University’s Youniversity HUzic Studio-

Tags: Adam Cappa, Alisa Turner, Attaboy, Betsy Walker, Eleventyseven, Heath McNease, Hello Kelly, Red Umbrella, Sevenglory, Sinclair, The Contact, The Fabulous

Free Sampler from You to You

Well, kind of.  What I’m talking about is a free sampler CD featuring a trendy combination of independant & signed artists, almost all of them being currently under-the-radar.  It’s available free as a promotion from Huntington University, the “Youniversity” (and thus the “You” in the title), a Christian college in Indiana.

I stumbled on this accidently while I was researching the band Attaboy after Gospel Music Channel featured one of their songs.  To be honest, the major reason I signed up to get the CD was Hello Kelly.  Once the CD arrived, however, I got a pleasent surprise.  The first track, Attaboy’s “Ready to Run” was catchy, anthematic, and clearly featured on Christ.  After the pop-rock track, Red Umbrella comes on with “Straitjacket”, a much rockier song, but still good.  Immediately after that, The Contact comes on with a eerie and driving song called “Black Sea”.  It kind of weirded me out the first time I heard it, but after that I really started to enjoy it.  I think it’s one of the best songs on the whole CD.

I suppose I could just go on and review the whole thing song by song, and as much as I’d love to do that, it’s getting late, so I’m going to need to hurry this up a bit.  Right after The Contact, a name that should be familiar, Inhabited, rocks out with a song from their latest CD Love.  After that, there’s a dramatic genre switch to the hip-hop beats of Heath McNease.  I had never heard of Heath before, and “Where I’m Not Wanted” left a good first impression.  Then Hello Kelly came on.  Now, the whole reason I signed up for the CD was because it has Hello Kelly and Attaboy, so I had high hopes for the song. Unfortunately, they were only partially fulfilled.  The song itself is fine, sunny and fun, but it’s also a love song.  Until that point, all of the songs had kept the focus on God, so  “Simple Love Song” just felt out of place.

After that small hiccup, Betsy Walker and Alisa Turner offer their respective tracks, both of which turn out to be soft, acoustic piano songs.  They are followed by another Attaboy songs, The Fabulous, One Life Lost, and Sevenglory, who wrapped the CD up.  One the whole, I was impressed with the quality of the music and production.  All around, it’s a worth-while album, particularly since it’s free.  I’m going to get quite a few more listens out of, for sure.

Wow, I just realized how long I’ve been typing here.  I guess I got carried away.  Sorry!  Anyway, to get a free copy of the CD in the mail, open the link below, and then click on the brown boy, furthest to the right.  That should pull up the track listing.  Once you get that done, located the button that says “Get Your Free CD”, and click it.  Fill in your information, click submit, and in a couple of weeks you should get your music in the mail.  Not as a cool as an instant download, but I guess you’ll just have to be patient.

-Huntington Youniversity-

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I haven’t gotten any other mail from Huntington since I signed up.  I know some colleges can be a bit “aggresive” when it comes to marketing, so I’m happy to announce that Huntington has yet to flood me with promotional material.  That said, don’t worry about sharing your information.

Update:  Ugh, it appears I spoke too soon.  Since I wrote this up, recieved several letters and emails from Huntington, trying to convince me to attend there.  It’s what I was expecting when I first signed up, but I wish they would have started mailing me before I wrote the above paragraph.

Tags: Alisa Turner, Attaboy, Betsy Walker, Heath McNease, Hello Kelly, Inhabited, One Life Lost, Red Umbrella, Sevenglory, The Contact, The Fabulous