Saturday 2 April 2011

Pink Floyd - The Wall (Demos)


Based On 'The Wall' (1979) Compiled From Two Unofficial Titles: 'Under Construction' And 'Building The Wall' Recorded In 1978
01 [0:00:00] "In the Flesh" (3:22)
02 [0:03:22] "The Thin Ice" (2:37)
03 [0:05:59] "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" (3:28)
04 [0:09:27] "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" (1:29)
05 [0:10:56] "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (2:03)
06 [0:12:59] "Mother" (4:36)
07 [0:17:35] "Goodbye Blue Sky" (2:11)
08 [0:19:46] "Empty Spaces, part 1" (1:51)
09 [0:21:37] "Young Lust (Instrumental)" (3:32)
10 [0:25:09] "One of My Turns" (2:26)
11 [0:27:35] "Don't Leave Me Now" (3:54)
12 [0:31:29] "Empty Spaces (Part 2)" (2:22)
13 [0:33:59] "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" (1:25)
14 [0:34:24] "Goodbye Cruel World" (1:02)
15 [0:35:36] "Is There Anybody Out There? (Part 1)" (053)
16 [0:36:29] "Vera" (1:17)
17 [0:37:36] "Bring the Boys Back Home" (0:42)
18 [0:38:18] "Is There Anybody Out There? (Part 2)" (1:19)
19 [0:39:37] "Is There Anybody Out There? (Part 3)" (2:01)
20 [0:41:38] "Comfortably Numb" (4:46)
21 [0:46:24] "Hey You" (3:56)
22 [0:50:20] "The Show Must Go On" (2:07)
23 [0:52:27] "In the Flesh" (4:31)
24 [0:56:58] "Run Like Hell (Instrumental)" (4:58)
25 [1:01:56] "Waiting for the Worms" (3:47)
26 [1:05:43] "Stop" (0:35)
27 [1:06:18] "The Trial" (4:57)
28 [1:11:15] "Outside the Wall" (1:25)

The Kills - Dawn Penn & Peter Tosh Covers Medley


Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince stopped by London’s famed Maida Vale Studios yesterday for an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe and performance, in which the duo wore the reggae influences of their new single “Satellite” even more on their sleeve by debuting a medley of Dawn Penn’s “You Don’t Love Me (No No No)” and Joe Higgs’ “Steppin’ Razor” (made famous by Peter Tosh).

via

Scientists' research warns humanity may be facing 'vortex of death'

Blake Hounshell
The British really scored an own goal with their loud "no immunity for Libyan officials" statements. Best to leave it ambiguous

The Dangerous US Game in Yemen

Friday 1 April 2011

♪♫ Wilco - Jesus etc.

Assange: "Arab scenario" could happen in Balkans

No Fools: 300 Feds Wipe Out 50% Of US Music Piracy Overnight

According to a report in the New York Times, more than 300 FBI agents have carried out raids which have “wiped out 50 percent” of the illicit recording industry in the United States. The move follows scathing criticism of music piracy from one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, who in support of calls for new legislation compared it to counterfeiting $100 bills or rustling cattle.
In common with many in his line of work, Jack Francis, a New York-based investigator with the RIAA, says that music from pirate sources is causing a huge problem for the industry. Unofficial sources are cutting up the market with cheap prices, says Francis, “..and there’s no way a legitimate business can compete with that.”
Francis and his colleagues at the RIAA are deeply critical of the continuing rise of music piracy, something which has been getting progressively easier with new technology.
“Ten years ago piracy wasn’t a big problem,” explains Stephen Neary of IFPI. But now that people are starting to get equipment capable of recording music at home, he worries, the difficulties are escalating.
“We call it the rape of our tape,” says Neary.
A spokesman for Capitol Records supports the RIAA and agrees that with the advent of cheaper and better equipment, things are getting worse in the United States. The evidence can be seen in the grim picture below.



Capitol
“This is something I have seen and known about and lived with for 20 years. It has to be stopped,” said rising country music star Johnny Cash. “I’m concerned with the moral issue here. Record piracy is no better than counterfeiting $100 bills….or rustling cattle.”
Cash’s paymasters in the country music industry agree that the solution definitely lies in the toughing up of legislation. Following a period of lax legislation, recently Tennessee became the first state where the piracy of music became a felony and now there are nearly eight others.
Penalties are getting harsher too and now range from $100 to $5,000 but according to the industry, that’s not enough. Indeed, Cash has been publicly supporting a bill by two congressmen that would impose fines of $50,000 and jail terms of up to 3 years for music piracy. But not everyone is happy with the approach.
“These proposed fines are absolutely crippling and a totally over the top reaction,” said a spokesman for TapeFreak, a small newspaper that reports on music piracy issues.
“In 30 to 40 years people will look back on these fines and wonder why there wasn’t more public outrage. If people don’t speak out now who knows where we will end up.”
statelawBut it seems that harsher fines in one area simply causes a relocation of the problem. According to Joe Smith, President of Warner Bros, when certain states adopt tougher penalties, pirates simply move to another.
“State laws would be OK if all 50 states had laws, but they don’t,” says Smith. “I remember one case about two years ago when Tennessee passed a strict law and a big pirate there just moved to Selma, Al., where he was welcomed by the Chamber of Commerce for bringing a new industry into town.”
TapeFreak’s spokesman says that legislation isn’t the answer and that pirates will always find a way to continue – particularly if they get access to new technology.
“I know it sounds unlikely but what if in the future pirates find a way to duplicate music at negligible costs, maybe by making tapes spin round more quickly? The problem could escalate overnight and who knows what might come along next,” he said.
But the problem isn’t only making the copies. TapeFreak says there’s a real possibility that the postal service will get their act together in the next few years and become really efficient with their deliveries. Once tapes can be shipped around in double quick time – perhaps even further afield outside the US – the problem might not remain localized. It could even become a worldwide issue.
“What is the music industry going to do then – open every package and envelope and look inside? I don’t think so. It would take too much time and besides, people would go crazy,” he added.
Stephen Neary of IFPI maintains that the solution to these possible but unlikely future events lies in legislation. To this end his organization is waging a worldwide campaign to persuade governments to introduce and enforce tougher copyright laws. He held up Hong Kong as a shining example of what could be done and told the Sarasota Herald Tribune that “you’d be very lucky” to find pirated music there.
relievedWhile tackling large scale pirates is one thing, going after individuals is something else altogether. A spokesman from Capitol Records is pessimistic.
“You’re never likely to stop the little guy,” he explained. “Just like they never stopped people making bootleg liquor in their bathtubs.”
However, if teenagers in bedrooms were the only threat, executives at Capitol, Columbia, RCA and other record companies would breathe a sigh of relief. They have bigger fish to catch and are making significant progress in doing so.
As this article was going to press, it became apparent that the United States government had incredible news for the music industry following their intense lobbying efforts. According to yesterday’s article in the New York Times – dated 7th December 1978 – more than 300 FBI agents have seized $100 million worth of modern sound-recording equipment.
Officials said the raids “wiped out 50 percent” of the illicit recording industry in the United States, which is obviously very encouraging news. Considering the industry’s moves to have harsh legislation put in place in all 50 states, it must follow that getting rid of the remaining 50% is just a raid or two away.
Couple this with a replication of IFPI’s Hong Kong successes in other countries around the world and music piracy will almost certainly become a thing of the past, probably in a matter of a few years.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that some new newfangled device will come along to stir things up, but rest assured, the music industry are no fools. They won’t be fighting this war in another 30 years.
The law will see to that.
Comments from TapeFreak aside (forgive us a little artistic license), every person, every event and every quote referred to in this article is entirely genuine. The story was compiled from real news reports from real newspapers during the 1970′s, as indexed by Google’s wonderful archive service. Just a few of this article’s sources can be found here, here, here, here and here.
enigmax @'Torrent Freak'
Ubu Web
John Cage's essential 1961 book, 'Silence' as a PDF:
(MP3 excerpt)

HA!

(Click to enlarge)
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Hands down - THE best April Fool's story (Thanx Dave!)

Squatters target house that looks like Eric Pickles

Lenin's cat

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We've had the cats, the house...NOW the Hitler aeroplane

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Science VS religion

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(Thanx Stan!)
Telecomix
Breaking: Telecomix Agent Cameron cracks AES256 crypto and Wikileaks insurance file

Book Review: Hüsker Dü: The Story Of The Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock

Hüsker Dü: The Story Of The Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock
By Andrew Earles
(Voyageur Press, 2010) In the spring of 1987, NBC’s squeaky clean morning program, The Today Show, traveled across the country for a week. The focus was on Middle America, as the network wanted to highlight what was going on in the humdrum middle of the country—where the air is clean, the people are simple, and nothing of great importance happens except maybe some heartwarming human interest stories. No culture, no pushed boundaries, nothing but fields of wheat and corn. Or at least that was the impression.
The show pitched tent midweek in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for stories on affordable housing prices, comic Louie Anderson (who toyed with co-host Jane Pauley with a mischievous glint in his eye), the Minnesota Twins, the plight of the American Farmer, and a vital music scene which had bubbled up to national attention. To illustrate this final point, the show’s producers came up with the most surprising aspect of their not-very-adventurous-week: A performance by local rock band Hüsker Dü. Known for their musical aggression, volume, and—in the early days at least—breakneck speed, the group was not a combo one would normally see on such a mainstream program as The Today Show. Or that early in the morning. But there they were, bleary-eyed, annoyed with Bryant Gumbel’s inane questions, and running through a tepid version of “Could You Be The One”, all in front of an audience quite outside their normal realms. (Though there were some hoodlum types in the back of the audience—skipping school, no doubt—shouting for the song “Folklore” as Mould winced at Gumbel’s bumbling inquires.) The Today Show appearance is a good example of what makes the Hüsker Dü story so captivating: From the cramped, sweaty stage of the 7th Street Entry to national television. Nowadays, that kind of career trajectory can take only a few years, maybe even one, but back then the seven years it took Hüsker Dü to wind up under the glare of national television was something of a coup.
Similar to their music, Hüsker Dü’s story is a brilliant but tough one: Band forms, digs into hardcore punk before pushing the boundaries of an otherwise confining genre, band conducts business on their own terms, releases their own records, suffers almost immediately from internal struggles for control, signs to an infamous independent label, gets critical accolades early on, makes groundbreaking records, remains critical darlings, ditches an independent for major label, and finally expires to strife.
A band this important needs a biography to match its greatness, and author Andrew Earles has taken on the task and gets off on the right foot by interviewing the right people: Bassist Greg Norton and drummer Grant Hart, as well as insiders and people from SST, their longtime independent label. The glaring omission, of course, is guitarist Bob Mould, who is apparently working on his memoirs. One cannot fault Earles for continuing with the biography without Mould’s input, but it does make the project a greater challenge to execute well.
Like the band, Hüsker Dü: The Story Of The Noise Pop Pioneers is full of flaws. Unlike the band, however, it does not compensate for its weaknesses. From the onset, Earles claims his book to be rumor and drama free; in the introduction he writes, “There are more people carrying around salacious untruths about Hüsker Dü than there are people who have actually HEARD Hüsker Dü.” I’m not sure what he means there, and having grown up and lived in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, I don’t think that statement is accurate. All bands are essentially marriages and, really, what is a marriage without drama?
Noble as it may appear, skipping the rumor/drama part of this particular story is a mistake. Two of the members are gay, and while one’s sexual preference has no bearing whatsoever on their talent, any homosexual will tell you being gay in this country is a singular act of bravery in itself, one worthy of celebrating. After all, the “Rock World” (even the oftentimes smug punk/hardcore scene) is dominated by heterosexual white men, so any band going against the grain should get some credit, even if it wasn’t an issue at the time. Sure, Earles can imply it doesn’t matter they were gay and, obviously, that’s true. Yet had he taken the time and explored this issue, he would’ve identified a subplot unusual for most rock biographies—he could’ve given hope to any young gay musician feeling he or she doesn’t have a place playing hard, fast rock music; he could’ve stuck a finger in the eye of homophobia. Hindsight can be a biographer’s best reference point and it should be utilized, but here it is not.
Earles does a great job of deconstructing the band’s early recorded work, including their landmark Zen Arcade album, highlighting the fact that it might not have been originally conceived as a concept record, but unfortunately he fails to actually ask the two band members themselves, leaving the issue unnecessarily up for grabs. Instead, he spends too much time dissecting what exactly is “hardcore.” Too much time is also spent discussing Hüsker Dü’s influence on other groups washing up in their wake; too much time is spent thinking up the perfect Hüsker Dü mix tape; too much time spent trying to convince the reader of this band’s greatness. Too much time is spent.
This brings me to the final and most ridiculous flaw of the book: The mere glancing look at the all-important final (and painful) year-and-a-half of the band’s career, which includes the tragedy of their manager’s suicide on the eve of a national tour. Until this point, all of the band’s records are given a pretty good track-by-track analysis except for their final (double) album, Warehouse: Songs and Stories, leaving the reader with the impression that the author has no vested interest in this later era of the band, and they shouldn’t either. A terrible oversight.
Not all of the problems are Earles’ fault, however. Amazingly slipshod editing cripples the narrative and timeline, as entire sections of the text end up being repeated elsewhere. It’s these kinds of mistakes that make me want to call this book a complete failure of a biography, but it isn’t quite that bad; despite its flaws I did find myself struggling to put the book down. To his credit, Earles has actually written a book and has spent time interviewing the right people. He untangles the band’s messy history, generously quotes from long forgotten magazine interviews, and deftly uses the band’s tension to boost his narrative. Until Mould’s autobiography comes out, this is pretty much all we have (besides the Hüsker Dü chapter in Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life). It may be an interesting read, but in the end, this one is disappointing and is nowhere near the biography that Hüsker Dü certainly deserves.
Purchase: The Story Of The Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock [at amazon.com]
Watch Hüsker Dü play “Could You Be the One” on The Today Show:

Andrew Lau @'Crawdaddy'

One of the bands I always wanted to see live...then I (re)discovered a tape I had recorded of them live at the Paradiso when I lived in Am*dam back in 85/86 and my memory was a blank. Oh well - the droogz obvs worked that night!!!
Mentioned this to Grant Hart when he played my local pub last year and after he stopped laughing he did ask if I cld send him a copy of it when I dig it out of storage...

Hey I guess it's nice to see that we have all straightened up somewhat since those heady days LOL!
Jacob Appelbaum
Last night, one of the nice CBP guys suggested filing a comment card and basically it amounted to begging for information about my issues.
John Perry Barlow
@ Fill out their silly form. I did it. It worked. They quit hassling me.

Analysis. Blue Labour. BBC Radio 4. 21st March 2011

(Thanx Luke!)

SHOOT to THRILL

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Top Computer Scientists Back WikiLeaks Associates in Twitter Case

Ohio to host second major union-fueled election of 2011

A union-fueled election of equal importance to the recall elections in Wisconsin will take place this November in Ohio. This is because Ohio Republicans overcame their differences, and today passed Senate bill 5, which strips collective bargaining rights for state employees (among many other heinous provisions):
The two houses of the Ohio Legislature approved a far-reaching bill on Wednesday that would hobble the ability of public-employee unions to bargain collectively and undercut their political clout. They sent the bill to Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican, who lawmakers said would sign it in the next few days.
After Kasich signs the bill tonight at 7 pm eastern, 90 days must pass before the law goes into effect. During those 90 days, Ohio residents are given an opportunity to block the bill from taking effect and force a statewide referendum on it by gathering signatures equal to 6% of the vote in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Ohio opponents of SB 5 have vowed to do just that, and should not have any real trouble acquiring the necessary 231,147 signatures.
The referendum will take place this November. If Kasich had signed the bill after April 6th, the referendum would have taken place in November 2012. While the composition of the electorate is bound to be more favorable to Democrats in November 2012 than November 2011, holding the election this year is still a big break for our side. Here's why:
  • Strike while the iron is hot. SB 5 is currently very unpopular, with Ohio residents favoring repeal by an enormous 54%-31% margin. The bill so is unpopular it's already scraping up against the 25-30% dead-enders who supported Bush Jr. as he left office, believe President Obama is a Muslim, and think ACORN stole the 2008 election. As news cycles pass and memories fade, support for SB 5 can only go up. The earlier the referendum comes, the better.
  • Difficult to get attention in Ohio in 2012. Ohio remains the most important Presidential swing state of all. As such, in 2012 it will be very difficult for anything except the Presidential campaign to gain any traction in the Buckeye state. By contrast, in 2011 SB 5 will be the main issue on the ballot. Everyone will know what they are voting for, and Republicans will not necessarily support the bill just because they also support the the Republican Presidential nominee.
  • Force every GOP Presidential candidate to go on record against collective bargaining rights. Finally, holding the election in 2011 can still greatly benefit Democrats in 2012. Since the Ohio referendum will happen in the midst of the Republican Presidential nomination campaign, and since every Republican candidate will want to appeal to the party's hard-right base and elites, every single one of them will go on record opposing collective bargaining rights for public workers. This would not necessarily have been the case in 2012, when the GOP nominee would be able to offer up vague answers on the issue. As such, a 2011 referendum could actually have a bigger impact on 2012 than holding the referendum in 2012, since it will make the stakes in the 2012 election crystal clear to millions of public employees around the country.
So let's do this thing, and let's do it quickly. After we win in Wisconsin, let's turn our attention to Ohio. For more discussion on the bill stripping collective bargaining rights in Ohio, read anastasia p's diary on the rec list.
Chris Bowers @'Daily Kos'

Masturbation calms restless leg syndrome

Keith LeBlanc gives away his beats for free

Keith LeBlanc delved into his personal archive, remixed hours of classic drum beats and loops, and is making them available to what he sees as a
tremendously talented new generation of musicians.
After years of work, Keith committed finished work to discs, and enthusiastically went in search of a distribution company. Keith found the “business” process of distributing his sample CD-roms so confusing, tedious and downright maddening that he was tempted to abandon the project completely... but then came the obvious solution: give it away free.
“I was literally sick after my last conversation with an online distributor who was explaining all the legal hoops and obstacles I’d have to jump through and clear in order to make so little money. “Of course we all have to eat and pay the rent, but I’ve never been a musician who cared about profit first. I play for the pure joy of it."
So now, Keith is happy to make his entire sample catalog available as a free download on his website. The only thing Keith is asking in return is that as you share your mixes, you simply mention his name. And of course he’s also interested in hearing your finished work.
Download @'Tackhead.com'
(BIG thanx mARCO!)

嗅ぐ

(Grams at The Grammys!)

Richard Feynman playing bongos


Richard Feynman: Disrepect for Authority 

136 Characters Perfectly Sum Up State of Modern Republican Politics

AlunaGeorge - We Are Chosen

(Thanx Helen!)

For a good friend of 'Exile' (w/ love)


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Letter from Bruce Springsteen to Asbury Park Press:

Thank you for your March 27 front-page story by Michael Symons, "As poverty rises, cuts target aid." The article is one of the few that highlights the contradictions between a policy of large tax cuts, on the one hand, and cuts in services to those in the most dire conditions, on the other.
(Click here to see the article: As poverty rises, NJ cuts target aid.)
Also, you've shone some light on anti-poverty workers and analysts such as Adele LaTourette, Meara Nigro, Cecilia Zalkind and Raymond Castro, among others, all of whom have something important to add to the discussion: real information and actual facts about what is happening below the poverty line.
These are voices that in our current climate are having a hard time being heard, not just in New Jersey, but nationally. Finally, your article shows that the cuts are eating away at the lower edges of the middle class, not just those already classified as in poverty, and are likely to continue to get worse over the next few years. I'm always glad to see my hometown newspaper covering these issues.
Bruce Springsteen
COLTS NECK
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Woodkid - Iron

An Incompleat History of Rock 'n Roll: Episode One--The Fat Man

Andy Carvin
NATO manual, The Identification of Ammunition. AOP-2(C) Jump to slide 28 & see this: DEBUNKED.

Tim Berners-Lee: I am against censorship

Obama's new view of his own war powers

ian katz
Have barely recovred from shck at Gdn's conversion to monarchism + now see it's launching Royal Wedding liveblog tmrrw. ?

APRIL FOOLS?

Abandoning Pvt. Manning

Arvo Pärt - Symphony No. 4, Los Angeles (Royal Albert Hall Friday 20 August 2010)


BBC Proms 2010
(Royal Albert Hall)
Piano: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen

Composed In 2008
The World Première Was Performed By The Los Angeles Philharmonic, At Their Home Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA, US In January 2009 And Released On ECM New Series

Tracklist:
I [03:35] "Con Sublimità" (14:32)
II [18:07] "Affannoso" (15:03)
III [33:10] "Deciso" (13:30)







Jon Hopkins - Live PA, Le Circuit, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, FR 2010-10-03


Tracklist:
1 [0:00] Introduction allegro (0:31)
2 [0:31] "The Low Places" (4:24)
3 [4:55] "Insides" (4:52)
4 [9:47] "Wire" (4:40)

Bob Marley Masterpiece mixed by Retro Reggae


This mix features Bob Marley and his sons in a classic compilation.
via

Pantha du Prince - Live PA, Full Pupp, BLÅ, Oslo, NO 2011-02-12