Michael Jackson, RIP

The news is reporting he died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, but it's still a bit early to be sure how and why he died so young.

Tragic in life, tragic in death, King of Pop, RIP.

The Free Sound Project

Just make a username and password and you can download any of their free, Creative Commons licensed audio samples. You can also upload yours. A community project that focuses on sounds, not music.

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, ... released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to

-browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a "sounds-like" type of browsing and more
-up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license
-interact with fellow sound-artists!

We also aim to create an open database of sounds that can also be used for scientific research. Many audio research institutions have trouble finding correctly licensed audio to test their algorithms. Many have voiced this problem, but so far there hasn't been a solution.

MacHeist Bundle - 3 more days only - Mac apps for charity

The MacHeist bundles are always a good deal, but this one is the best ever. Buy hundreds of dollars worth of new, full Tiger and Leopard apps for only $39 (Tiger apps also work on Leopard. If you're running Tiger, download the Leopard apps too for later on.)

No joke. $25 bucks from each sale goes to important humanitarian and conservation charities.

Things you may find interesting in the bundle include:

- iSale for making eBay pages (Tiger)
- Kinemac for making 3D animations (Tiger)
- PhoneView which lets you work with your iPhone or iPod Touch like a hard drive (Tiger)
- Little Snapper (Leopard) and Acorn (Tiger) image editors
- WireTap Studio (Tiger) which can record and convert any audio your Mac plays

There are also some games, a newsreader and other good stuff.

You get 12 applications today for your $39 and 3 more are possible, depending on how many people buy the bundle in the next 3 days. BoinxTV is the next one to be unlocked, a TV studio program that sells for $199 normally. These are full versions too, not demos.

You can download the 12 free and unlocked apps immediately after you pay. Everyone who buys the bundle is entitled to all the apps that unlock during the event, so there's no reason to wait until the end to buy them. Remember to print your receipt with your unlock codes and bookmark the receipt page so you can go back and get any apps that unlock over the next couple of days.

Japanese experimental music - Sony Walkman CM

Taeji Sawai

Atsuhiro Ito

Both of them
via Cnet

Origins of Break Dancing, and a battle

via Kottke.org (who links to more of these), thanks to Andy


Battle of the Year 2003 Gambler (Korea) vs Fireworks (Japan) - some of the best moves happen after the 6 minute mark.

Hilary Hahn vs Beardyman in Munich

Hiphop with the Sims on YouTube

Too bad that some of these were pulled by short-sighted rights holders (not that web-deletion works, given everyone's diligence about reposting stuff - so it's probably still there if you look around a bit).

You can't buy this kind of internet love.


M.I.A. - "Galang"


Lil Mama - Lip Gloss


Beyonce - "Irreplaceable


UGK (feat. Outkast) - "Int'l Player's Anthem"


Ice Cube - Down For Whatever

More Sims hiphop on YouTube

BeatBearing Drum Machine

NIN - Seattle show 2008

I saw Nine Inch Nails on this tour, and no recording technology of today could do the show justice. I sincerely hope NIN tried to capture it for us to see later on DVD anyway. So this youtube vid is just to give you a tiny little taste of the mind boggling things that concertgoers experienced. It was stunningly good and used technology I've not seen before, such as something that looked a lot like a mesh LCD screen (stage size) and some, well, interactive 3D visualization topographical mapping software merging recorded and live ... well have a look.

Thanks to Joker for digging up the video link.

Here's Wired's technical explanation and more photos of the hardware.

Official NIN site and tour info.

Guia Rivera does "Graffiti"

Thanks to Breaker Ray for the tip!

How "Rock and Wrap It Up!" helps rock stars feed the hungry in 500 cities worldwide

Volunteers redirect food to where it's needed most, one catered gig or lunchroom at a time. This idea is catching on like wildfire too. Now in 500 cities worldwide.

Rock and Wrap it Up is "an independent anti-poverty think tank based in New York."

LWO light drawing

LWO calls this "graff video" but again, I think we need a new term. Anyone? Love the industrial hardcore music on this one by Tosaka and Brian, at the "Night of terror" party, at La Générale de Manufacture à Sèvres (France).
You can see more at LWO's site, which is devoted to this art form.

TOPR - The Marathon of Shame CD+DVD

Topr's new project kicks ass. The Marathon of Shame has not only a full CD of music, but also a DVD with interviews, performances, graffiti slideshow, and time-lapse painting, and it's all covered in Alex Pardee artwork. Here are some videos from the 'tube to get you going.

The link above goes to the accesshiphop store where you can buy it.







Topr's MySpace

DJ Z Trip - Free music download: The Obama Mix

"DJ Z Trip, recently named in the top five DJs in the United States by DJ Times, has created a free downloadable mix for all to share called "Obama Mix". Perfected over months, the Obama Mix is one masterful 54-minute mp3 track. "

"Presented along with the now iconic Shepard Fairey Obama HOPE print, Z Trip's Obama Mix showcases exactly how Obama is changing the way youth culture views and engages in politics."

"In a note to his fans, Z Trip urges people to get informed and to vote, 'Please share the message. Educate those who may not know what is really going on. There is still time. I encourage you to make it a priority to speak to your friends, family and co-workers. Speak to anyone who will listen. This election is WAY too important for anyone to not get involved. Together we will vote to change our current course and reclaim a leadership of which we can be proud' "

DJ Qbert on YouTube - Thud Rumble

Qbert, king of turntablism, is up for best DJ of 2008. You can find the place to vote and a whole lot more from Thud Rumble's YouTube page.

What if one of the world's most famous violinists busked in the subway?

This will come as no surprise to you, but maybe it will be some comfort.

Three days before he appeared at the Metro station, Bell had filled the house at Boston's stately Symphony Hall, where merely pretty good seats went for $100. Two weeks later, at the Music Center at Strathmore, in North Bethesda, he would play to a standing-room-only audience so respectful of his artistry that they stifled their coughs until the silence between movements. But on that Friday in January, Joshua Bell was just another mendicant, competing for the attention of busy people on their way to work.

Once a woman said to me, "This isn't art. Art is what I buy and hang in my living room."

Pathetic.

DIAR KYT DTC BENEFIT. PLEASE HELP!

Recently, DIAR KYT DTC was in a terrible car wreck and has been paralyzed. He's been clinging to life and has pulled through and is beginning to show big signs of improvement. We are currently organizing art shows and a benefit CD. 

Clout magazine has been spearheading an art show and they offer the best way to contribute on that front. Check them out online at cloutdistribution.com or contact them at myspace.com/cloutmagazine.

Goonie is currently organizing musicians to put out a benefit CD. If you are interested in contributing a track, please hit him up on myspace.com/thagoonie and he can get you more information. 

Those who pray: pray. Those who spray: spray.

---

The first benefit is in Long Beach (Los Angeles) CA: April 11 - 12, 2008
Crime 79 / Cope 2 in California
flyer with the 411

Ronald Jenkees - YouTube musical superstar

Disorganized Fun. Tons more at the link above. CD and iTunes available.

Topr - new recordings

Dude can rhyme up a storm. Have a listen. Check out the sick Alex Pardee covers too.

A message from Bukue

It's a new year, it's time to ride the wave and utilize are insights to stay ahead of the curve of change. For years and years in the music industry the majority of money for artists was based on album sales. All of your promotions and tours were tools to you promote your album in hopes to increase your album sales.

Now, with the internet and the ability to download albums the minute one person gets and uploads it, things are changing. A lot of artists get really upset and scold fans for downloading their music. I feel them on one hand but from an independant artist's standpoint i look at it like: they are still downloading and listening to YOUR music!

They can easily not download, share, listen, support your music... That's the sign of the times. I'm not saying downloading is great and not buying albums is the bomb, i'm just saying, it is what is today. We can utilize it as a tool or fight it till we are left behind. On one hand i think it's great for hip hop! ( yes actually i do!) peep.

Back before hip hop/rap was popular in the mainstream, there wasn't much focus or chance of anyone blowing up off their music.

That's when folks who really made music, made it for the love of the music and culture 1st! Once you found out you could bubble off music, the art got diluded a bit. Cats who didn't really love the art, got involved because it was a legal hustle, then followed the gangsta ( which was cool), but then came the gangsta rap trend. Cats who weren't gangstas, just folks who found out that if you rapped like a gangsta then you could sell records. BOOOOO! So now that it's almost like the early '80s all over again when it comes to artists being able to become filthy rich off of rap/hip hop, a lot of the artists who were in it just for the $$$ will fall out of the game and look for other ways to bubble and not off our art.

Not saying it's impossible to make a good living off of your music or that it's a bad goal, just that it's a little harder than before. It requires waay more hustle and learning how to use our current tools i.e., internet, FREEE DOWNLOADS, etc.

These are all ways of getting your music heard and name out, without it costing you any money! just sweat capital! good ole time and energy! (sorry for the lazy, supa star type rappers.. all real cats report to the trenches!!)

Before you would tour to promote your albums, now its getting to the point where you use your albums as a promotional tool used to promote your tours, merchandise, and all the other skills and talents you possess.

I'm with it. I'm all about the cleansing of the culture by making it harder to make $ off of it. I wouldn't have wished it upon anyone but since it's hear, note the pluses and turn them stones to gold!

So here are my last 3 albums FREEEEEEEE! yes FREEEEE you can just download it, bootleg it, share it. actually I encourage all of those! Here is my paypal if you would like to donate, break bread or contribute. Anything, nothing, all good, just optional.

You can PayPal to mrbukueone@yahoo.com No matter if you pay through props, showing up at shows and buying merch, actually paying cash or just bumping it. I am grateful for it all, I know there are millions of other artists you could be listening to :)

Respect and here are the tunes.

Rebirth of the lastarfighta (tracks 17-33)
Intromission
Bukue aka Mr Generous "Hustlin like raindrops" vol 1

[Try these d/l links at night or check out Bukue on his site and iTunes, because the download links above seem to be timing out at the moment. - Susan]

David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists ? and Megastars

Types of music business deals today and what's good, bad, and ugly about them.

Music sites that charge you money but sell you music that might not be legal

A list of these misleading sites that charge you money for music without protecting you from prosecution.

Berok - Barcelona, in action

Maywa Denki

The link goes to more info and pictures about this interesting musical group, called "the first to use a true robotic vocalist." I like everything about this, but I'm especially fond of the guitar-replacement instruments.

via BoingBoing

EX Vandalz: Docile Takeover Vol. 1 - Graffiti Brydge

If you love tight, fast, intelligent rhyming and LA underground hiphop that's all about graffiti, This is IT! 22 tracks of good fun by Perk One, Bleek, Deeskee and Dj Lime, and many more. Very listenable, danceable ... and none of that female-hating crap we're so tired of. It's good live too. Check their Myspace page for sample tunes, CDs, dates and places.

Sirena Huang - Virtuoso at 11 years old

I don't generally even like violin music, but Sirena brought tears to my eyes with her incredible musical skill.

Be Like Mike DREAM - NUMP featuring Reena Lynn

Musical tribute to Bay Area King Mike Dream TDK from Oakland California, RIP

Ruedione Photography

A haunting black and white (Flash) slide tour of a train mission set to sinister German graffiti-rap soundtrack.

14 days to save Internet radio -- Raise hell or lose it

Problem in a nutshell: Internet radio is mostly done by people like you and me, with very limited $$ and a love for music. These DJs provide most of the public musical diversity now that big corporations own most of the analog radio stations. The music industry, now famous for shooting itself in the foot, wants to raise the fees on internet radio, which will put many, if not most of them, out of business immediately. Fees are retroactive. The day the music could die is May 15 because that's the day of the vote on H.R. 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act, which was introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL ) to save the Internet radio industry.

What to do: call and write your congresscritters and tell them to support this bill.

If you are a musician, it is even more important for you to write now, if you want to save this outlet for your own business and creative interests, because both sides of the issue argue they are doing this for you.

A summary of the problem is at the link above, and there are links near the bottom of that page for writing and calling info. Here's the main site, to send your letter from:

savenetradio.org

Naturally 7 rocks the paris metro

Concert sauvage dans le métro !
Uploaded by lapapsprod

This is wonderful in so many ways. Check out how many people are recording it. Now imagine how many people will see/hear it. And it's an awesome performance of course. Is that the sound of MTV rolling in its grave?

Thanks to Keenyu for the link!

This Week in Science - The Kickass Science Podcast

These people are really dropping science, and it's a joy to listen to.

More vocal percussionism

on Boingboing.net

Dakaka

Slayer. The last one in particular is fascinating.

Beatboxing

Shlomo and Roni Size?

ATL SWAT and RIAA bust Atlanta DJs over mixtapes

DJ Drama and Don Cannon Arrested For "Piracy"

The early reports of the bust show so much ignorance of hiphop and racial stereotyping that it's hard to believe. Note that the piracy and counterfeiting referred to is actually normal mix tape CDs like DJs produce everywhere.

I hope some hiphop deeper pockets step up to defend mixtapes and hiphop DJs. Mixing is good for the original artists as well as the DJs who mix it, when original products are available for sale.

The APD are going down for the third time in recent news for outlandish overreaction. First they shot grandma in a botched drug raid, then they roughed up a visiting foreign historian for jaywalking, and now SWATting some DJs as if they were enemies of the State. If they only had a brain.

Stand up for your right to buy, sell and use music so we can put all this RIAA dawn raid crap behind us. The record companies are getting desperate enough to abuse all their customers all the time on top of the abuse they show their recording artists, so why support them anymore? We'd be better off without them now. We need a better way to compensate artists directly for the music they produce. This middle man stuff needs to be history.

Support Electronic Freedom Foundation who are working to end the madness by changing laws and educating folks in the legal system. (See the RIAA and DMCA sections and the action center for more info about what this is and who's getting arrested for what.) Keep up with the copyright madness and DRM news at BoingBoing

SWAT: Machine-gun-toting riot police in armor, intended for use against heavily armed bank robbers, now used anytime for anything.

RIAA: Recording Industry thugs, currently going around busting kids and grandmas for downloading music to create an atmosphere of terror.

DMCA: Digital Millennium Copyright Act - the bad (USA) law that makes all this bad craziness possible. Passed by the sleeping do-nothing-good former Republican-majority Congress. They probably didn't even read it, as usual. Could be re-worked if you pressure your reps.

DRM: Digital Rights Management: technology invented to cripple your use of the music and videos you buy, by locking you into hardware, erasing your music, reporting your activities, and destroying your equipment. Don't buy into handcuffed music players.

WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization - working to handicap broadcasters and websites worldwide.

If you produce or consume media and music, you should get involved now, because these bad laws and unscrutinized enforcement agencies can put you and yours in jail as well as expose you and your fans to unbelievably high fines. Musicians and listeners need to work together to make a better system before the recording industry labels and mainstream broadcasting dinosaurs put everyone else out of business. This is serious stuff and it's starting to look more like the ludicrous and losing drug war every day. What is decided now will likely affect artists and their fans for the rest of our lives and beyond.

Buy music directly from the artists whenever you can. Support independent publishing. It's possible for artists to make money without government and industry thugs spying on everyone, crippling playback devices and raiding DJs and busting kids.

Kool Sphere

A hip-hop video by Verbal Threat with emcee graffiti writer Kool Sphere..rocking a rooftop in the video for Reality Check produced by GFangstarr's Dj Premier

White and Nerdy - Weird Al

Too funny.

AOL cancelled the "world premiere" of this music video this week, because it was leaked to YouTube. Top link is to Wikipedia, which has all the nerdy knowleges you need about this video.

The synthesizer you've always wanted

(Qucktime MOV) Noiz-bot

From BoingBoing.net:
"Thingamagoop is $100 synthesizer that looks like a little robot with a lightstalk growing out of its noggin."

Oh, but it's more fun than that. Check the movie out (above).
It's made by bleeplabs

Bad laws want to steal your musical rights (what's left of them)

EFF explains what you can do before it's too late. Your children will thank you later for preventing corporate takeover of the hardware and media.

Last FM

Find new bands you like and listen to them online.

Podsafe Music Network

Audiri: Find music you love

Freesound Project Accepting Your Free Sounds and Downloads

Give a breakbeat, download a breakbeat, etc. Sweet.

CDs Considered Harmful

This article on boingboing.net explains how to find out if any of your music CDs are secretly installing spyware that makes your computer [Windows] more vunerable to computer crackers [aka "rootkit"].

Sony is in some deep guano. They were trying to prevent its paying customers from copying music in order to keep their profits and data safe, while at the same time endangering the customers' data. And spying on them. Great. Makes you want to buy CDs, right? And it's not just the Sony brand. See the link above.

You can read the timeline of doom here for a quick overview. This is probably going to be a cautionary tale in computer, law, and business classrooms from now on.

Locking down music is futile

If you produce, sell, or distribute media, you should read this, because it will help you figure out how to make money and which technologies and networks to get behind.

This article, a speech by Andrew Orlowski of The Register, is the most interesting and insightful view of the future of the music business I've read.

We need to transcend today's argument (music biz vs music lovers) and ask the fundimental questions: How can people use audio the way they like to while rewarding those who make and own the content (so they will make more)?

Visual media will naturally flow in similar channels, so read up, if that's what you do.

Music

Ogg Vorbis: Open, free audio format, and the software that plays it.
Say goodbye to annoying and nosey Real Media player and other proprietary formats. Distribute your music without licensing fees.

Magnatune
Internet music without the guilt

Weed pays you to share music (concept!)

Hiphop History Month
Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice - by Stick Figure Ninja
very cool line animation with music

Behavior Mod Center Shut Down ... More to Go

"Dundee Ranch and a similar behavior modification program in Jamaica, Tranquility Bay, are affiliated with a Utah organization, the World Wide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools, known as Wwasps. About 30 children were sent from Costa Rica to Jamaica this week after child welfare officials visited Dundee Ranch on Tuesday and told youths there that they did not have to stay, officials said.

The Costa Rican authorities said punishments at the academy included emotional abuse, isolation and physical restraints.

Mr. Lichfield is a brother of Wwasps's founder, Robert Lichfield. The association operates 11 behavior modification centers that house 2,200 youths, about half of them in Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica, and half in the United States. Previous investigations have led to closings of Wwasps-affiliated programs in Mexico and the Czech Republic."

Owner of Private Discipline Academy in Costa Rica Is Arrested NYTimes

Scary. Are some of your friends held prisoner in a camp somewhere? Tell a teacher and show this article.

News you can use, USA

Hiphop Takes Stock in 'Drop the Rock' by Dasun Allah, The Village Voice

Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy at truthout

End of article:
"It would be naïve to imagine that we can directly confront Empire. Our strategy must be to isolate Empire's working parts and disable them one by one. No target is too small. No victory too insignificant. We could reverse the idea of the economic sanctions imposed on poor countries by Empire and its Allies. We could impose a regime of Peoples' Sanctions on every corporate house that has been awarded with a contract in postwar Iraq, just as activists in this country and around the world targeted institutions of apartheid. Each one of them should be named, exposed, and boycotted. Forced out of business. That could be our response to the Shock and Awe campaign. It would be a great beginning.

"Another urgent challenge is to expose the corporate media for the boardroom bulletin that it really is. We need to create a universe of alternative information. We need to support independent media like Democracy Now!, Alternative Radio, and South End Press.

"The battle to reclaim democracy is going to be a difficult one. Our freedoms were not granted to us by any governments. They were wrested from them by us. And once we surrender them, the battle to retrieve them is called a revolution. It is a battle that must range across continents and countries. It must not acknowledge national boundaries but, if it is to succeed, it has to begin here. In America. The only institution more powerful than the U.S. government is American civil society. The rest of us are subjects of slave nations. We are by no means powerless, but you have the power of proximity. You have access to the Imperial Palace and the Emperor's chambers. Empire's conquests are being carried out in your name, and you have the right to refuse. You could refuse to fight. Refuse to move those missiles from the warehouse to the dock. Refuse to wave that flag. Refuse the victory parade.

"You have a rich tradition of resistance. You need only read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States to remind yourself of this.

"Hundreds of thousands of you have survived the relentless propaganda you have been subjected to, and are actively fighting your own government. In the ultra-patriotic climate that prevails in the United States, that's as brave as any Iraqi or Afghan or Palestinian fighting for his or her homeland.

"If you join the battle, not in your hundreds of thousands, but in your millions, you will be greeted joyously by the rest of the world. And you will see how beautiful it is to be gentle instead of brutal, safe instead of scared. Befriended instead of isolated. Loved instead of hated.

"I hate to disagree with your president. Yours is by no means a great nation. But you could be a great people.

"History is giving you the chance.

Seize the time."

Kucinich: Resisting Bush's War

Drugwar - not just about drugs

Howard Zinn article and a whole lot more

OptimalPrime

Operation Enduring Police State

locoempire weird info

Natural Resources Defense Council

Diversion
GameSpy Arcade Hundreds of Online Multiplayer Games

Beastie Boys' anti-war mp3

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." - Hermann Goering, 1939

Why digital restrictions mangagment is bad for everyone. Fight now or forever pay to play on your licensed playback platforms. (German and English article.)

U.S. Diplomat's Letter of Resignation

Veterans For Peace

The NYTimes.com had some great articles this week too. Even Jimmy Carter spoke out against Bush foreign policy. The site requires free registration but you can make something up or try the Random NYTimes.com Registration Generator

News you can use
etherzone.com/
whatreallyhappened.com/
worldnetdaily.com/
Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit

National Geographic Icon Luis Marden Dies. But this man really knew how to live. Read all about it.

New Windows Worm goes after your bad passwords
Yeah, yours. Make sure yours is not on this list. These are some it tries:
[empty], xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, admin, Admin, password, Password,
1, 12, 123, 1234, 12345, 123456, 1234567, 12345678, 123456789, 654321, 54321, 111, 000000, 00000000, 11111111, 88888888, pass, passwd, database, abcd, abc123, oracle, sybase, 123qwe, server, computer, Internet, super, 123asd, ihavenopass, godblessyou, enable, xp, 2002, 2003, 2600, 0, 110, 111111, 121212, 123123, 1234qwer, 123abc, 007, alpha, patrick, pat, administrator, root, sex, god, foobar, a, aaa, abc, test, test123, temp, temp123, win, pc, asdf, secret, qwer, yxcv, zxcv, home, xxx, owner, login, Login, pwd, pass, love, mypc, mypc123, admin123, pw123, mypass, mypass123, pw

These are also very common passwords according to sysadmins on slashdot: 6969, harley, 123456, golf, pussy, mustang, 1111, shadow, 1313, fish, 5150, 7777, qwerty, baseball, 2112, letmein, 12345678, 12345, password, mypassword, asdf, fdsa, [the user's username], [the user's username backwards], guitar, qwerty, starwars, [the user's first name], [the user's last name], [the user's initials], internet, love, 12345, mercedes, batman, superman, ilove[insert name of opposite sex], [username]420, computer.

Repeat: make sure yours is not on this list. A good password has both upper- and lower-case letters in it, along with some numbers or special characters. Longer is better (6-8 characters or longer) because it takes a computer longer to break them as the number of possibilities goes up. Your password should not be found in any dictionary in any language. Ideally, it would be more or less pronounceable which helps you remember it.

JOEYSKAGGS presents the New York City Annual April Fool's Day Parade

insound - cinema film database of the kind of stuff you might actually want to see.

Audioblogger: record your voice etc, for playback on the Web