Monday, August 27, 2012

Episode 15: Jonathan Coulton

Hi, and welcome to the Open Licensed Music Podcast, the show where we highlight music from artists who let you share their music.  I'm Ralph Wacksworth, and today's episode is featuring music by Jonathan Coulton.

Code Monkey (edited) (3:09)
Mandelbrot Set (edited) (4:24)
Curl (edited) 3:18)
The Presidents (4:08)

That was a slightly edited version of Code Monkey, Mandelbrot Set, and Curl.  Mandelbrot Set was edited now that Dr. Mandelbrot is no longer with us.  And finishing up was The Presidents.  All four of them are by Jonathan Coulton.

In fact, all of the songs in this episode are by Jonathan Coulton and are available on his website at jonathancoulton.com and are licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.  Not all of his songs are open-licensed.  There are a few songs he can't do that with, like the song Still Alive that he wrote for the game Portal, but almost all of his music is open-licensed.  This episode partially came about because of a discussion a while back where a few of the people in a technical group I'm part of didn't know who he was, despite having heard a bunch of his music.  So, consider this an introduction to a well-known musician whose name is not as well-known.

Although most of his music is open-licensed, he does sell CDs and digital downloads in FLAC, OGG, and MP3 formats on his website.  There's also various merchandise and the tour schedule for his live shows.  Again, his site is at jonathancoulton.com

So, anyway, let's get back to listening to more of his music.

Furry Old Lobster (2:00)
Seahorse (3:28)
I'm Your Moon (3:12)
Under the Pines (3:36)

That was Furry Old Lobster, which you can find some awesome videos of online under their latin name "enhydra lutris".  After that was Seahorse, followed by I'm Your Moon, which was sung from the perspective of Pluto's moon Charon.  Neat piece of info there that the song refers to is how Pluto and Charon are face-locked, so the same side of each is facing the other, and Charon is large enough that they both revolve around a point between them rather than Charon only revolving around Pluto like you see in larger planets.  Finishing up was Under the Pines, which is about a large cryptid.  All of them are by Jonathan Coulton, are available from his website, and are licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.

The Humble Bundle is still running for a few more days, and they've added more games.  Check it out today at humblebundle.com

Back to music.

The Big Boom (2:37)
Re: Your Brains (4:31)
Bacteria (2:35)
Creepy Doll (4:00)

That was The Big Boom, which was written in response to a thunderclap that was strong enough to set off car alarms around where he was staying at the time.  After that was Re: Your Brains, one of his better-known songs, then Bacteria.  Finishing up was Creepy Doll.  All of them are by Jonathan Coulton, are available from his website, and are licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.

Today's app-of-the-day is Chromium.  Sort of.  The Chromium browser project at chromium.org is the base on which Google Chrome is built.  It lacks the built-in Flash Player and PDF viewer from Google Chrome, but these can generally be added back in as plugins.  More importantly it lacks the usage tracking of Google Chrome.  Most Linux distros I've used already have it as an installable option in their repos, and there are places online you can download builds of plain Chromium, but outside of Linux I generally prefer SRWare Iron.  It's a nicely packaged version of Chromium, complete with lack of usage tracking, and it's also open source.  Essentially it's an easy way to install Chromium, and it's available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.  Download it today at srware.net

Now for a short noncommercial break from one of our nonsponsors followed by a bit more music.

Nonsense Novels
Stroller Town (2:47)
SkyMall (3:55)
A Talk with George (edited) (3:04)
Just as Long as Me (2:13)
Mr. Fancy Pants (1:19)

That was Stroller Town, followed by SkyMall.  After that was a slightly edited version of A Talk with George, which was about George Plimpton, a guy who if you read his history is the embodiment of the phrase "try everything once".  Finishing up was Mr. Fancy Pants.  All of them are by Jonathan Coulton, are available from his website, and are licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.

So, that's all for today.  Remember - piracy of commercial music only proves your dependence on that model and justifies further censorship and restriction.  So don't pirate it - replace it with something better.  Listen to open licensed music, donate to the artists behind it, go to concerts, and buy music from artists whose record labels don't see you as their enemies.  Support artists where your support actually counts.

This episode was made using Xubuntu LinuxGentoo LinuxAudacityAudacious for organizing playlists, and Leafpad for notes, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license.  Feel free to give it to your friends, or if you didn't like it, your enemies.  Links to the songs in this podcast are available on the website.  Listen in next time for some fantasy adventure music.  See 'ya!

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Monday, August 20, 2012

Episode 14: Electronic


Hi, and welcome to the Open Licensed Music Podcast, the show where we highlight music from artists who let you share their music.  I'm Ralph Wacksworth, and today's episode is featuring electronic music.

Rotational Authority (4:12)
Space Saloon (3:12)
dancendtrance (2:51)
fly away (3:12)

That was Rotational Authority by Phantasma, which I've listened to probably more times than is healthy since I discovered it about a week ago.  That song is the one that cemented this episode as being electronic music when the episode was still in the planning stage.  It's available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was Space Saloon by Eclectic Electronic, which is available from SoundCloud and is licensed under an Attribution license.  Finishing up were dancendtrance and fly away, both by Sekula Wieslaw, both available from Jamendo, and both licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.

This week has more than an hour of music lined up, so I'd like to get back to music soon.  But first, I'd like to mention that the Humble Bundle is back.  This time it's games again, but they do come with soundtracks, and boy are a couple of the games ever fun.  They're available for Linux, Android, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.  Check it out today at humblebundle.com

So, anyway, back to music.

Hornet (instrumental edit) (4:48)
save the world (2:53)
System 4 (4:02)
Blue Nexus (3:22)

That was an instrumental edit of Hornet by George_Ellinas, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was save the world by Sekula Wieslaw, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  Next up was System 4 by Eclectic Electronic, which is available from SoundCloud and is licensed under an Attribution license.  And finishing up was Blue Nexus by Obtuse, which is available from his website at obtusemusic.bandcamp.com and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.

That last one was rather interesting in that I've listened to Obtuse's music for a while and have always very much liked it but none of it that I'd found was open licensed.  I talk to him once in a while anyway, and I saw he was in an IRC chat channel I frequent, so I asked him if he had any open licensed music that I just
wasn't finding.  He didn't, but shortly after looking into open licensing, he now does.  The albums on his BandCamp site are available for purchase under a pay-what-you-want model and two of his albums are also now open licensed.  As usual for anyone I promote, I have no affiliation other than already knowing him.  He just has some awesome music, and I'm excited to be able to play it now.

So, with that said, let's get back to music.

Phobos Moon (5:54)
Do not come back. (3:51)
Electronic moment (2:58)
Triggernometry (ft. PattsiPeng) (instrumental version) (3:50)
Syndrome (3:15)
Aliens (ft. Mind Map That, My Free Mickey) (5:09)

That was Phobos Moon by Andrey Avkhimovich, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was Do not come back. by UzDjLai and Electronic moment by Kevin Pellegrini, which are both available from SoundCloud and are licensed under an Attribution license.  Next up was the instrumental version of Triggernometry (ft. PattsiPeng) by 7OOP3D, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.  Then we had Syndrome by Phantasma, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  And finishing up was the instrumental version of Aliens (ft. Mind Map That, My Free Mickey) by timberman, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.

Today's app-of-the-day is 7-Zip.  It makes and opens archive files like zip and tar files.  Pretty basic, but beautiful in its simplicity and the fact that it runs pretty much everywhere.  A version of it is available for Linux, BSD, BeOS, AmigaOS, Solaris and OpenIndiana, AIX, Mac OS X, MS-DOS, and Microsoft Windows.  Download it today at 7-zip.org

Now for a short noncommercial break from one of our nonsponsors followed by a bit more music.

Librivox
I make you a Spaceman (2:57)
Dead (4:46)
Dj Devi - There Is Nothing After (5:59)

That was I make you a Spaceman by Kevin Bryce, which is available from Free Music Archive and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license. After that was Dead by Alex F and finishing up was Dj Devi - There Is Nothing After by Dj Devi, which are both available from Jamendo and are licensed under an Attribution license.  I thought the title of that last song was quite fitting.

So, that's all for today.  Remember - piracy of commercial music only proves your dependence on that model and justifies further censorship and restriction.  So don't pirate it - replace it with something better.  Listen to open licensed music, donate to the artists behind it, go to concerts, and buy music from artists whose record labels don't see you as their enemies.  Support artists where your support actually counts.

This episode was made using Xubuntu Linux, Gentoo Linux, Audacity, Audacious for organizing playlists, and Leafpad for notes, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  Feel free to give it to your friends, or if you didn't like it, your enemies.  Links to the songs in this podcast are available on the website.  Listen in next time for some music by Jonathan Coulton.  See 'ya!

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Monday, August 13, 2012

Episode 13: Rock and Vocals


Hi, and welcome to the Open Licensed Music Podcast, the show where we highlight music from artists who let you share their music.  I'm Ralph Wacksworth, and today's episode is featuring rock and other music with vocals, which I generally group together.  And as usual for episodes I post that have vocals, as a heads-up, this one does have vocals, and while I consider them fairly clean, if you're in an environment where vocals are offensive you might want to listen to this one later.

American Dream Man (3:19)
Daylight (5:43)
Could I Be a Dream? (4:12)
London Again (clean edit) (3:32)

That was American Dream Man by Leslie Hunt and Daylight by SINGLETON, which are both available from Jamendo and are licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  After that was Could I Be A Dream? by Sean T Wright, and finishing up was a clean edit of London Again by The League, which are both available from Jamendo and are licensed under an Attribution license.

To expand on why this isn't just a "rock" episode, I'm not entirely sure if all of these songs would fit into that genre.  Most of them would, but rock encompasses so many different subgenera that I have a hard time classifying songs into or out of it.  And besides, I usually group songs by "vocal" or "instrumental", since I listen to a lot more instrumental music than music with vocals.  Depending on what I'm doing while listening to it, I sometimes find it a bit distracting.  So that's why this episode is what it is - it's how I group music.

Cool site to check out today: VODO.  They have open licensed videos including Pioneer One, Sintel, and a ton of others.  One really interesting one on there is called The Yes Men Fix The World - P2P Edition, a different version of which is apparently also distributed by HBO.  It's a rather humorous documentary where the two men known as The Yes Men hold hoax press conferences and presentations on behalf of companies and try to get people to believe the statements they're making. While I can't say I agree with their methods, I find it to be an extremely interesting watch due to the realization of how easily large news organizations can be duped.  Good lesson in always thoroughly checking your sources.  But, anyway, VODO (and with it, The Yes Men Fix The World) can be found at vo.do.  No .com or anything - just vo.do

Anyway, now for a little bit sillier music.

Super Exotic 60's Beat (2:37)
Nincompoop (edited - instrumental version here) (1:52)
Glitter Bomb (2:36)

That was Super Exotic 60's Beat by Juanitos.  After that was a mix between Nincompoop by Josh Woodward and Nincompoop (Instrumental Version) by Josh Woodward (Instrumental Versions), which I edited together to make a little bit cleaner version as far as the vocals go, considering I have at least one younger relative who might be listening to this.  Finishing up was Glitter Bomb by Juanitos.  All four of them are available from Jamendo and are licensed under an Attribution license.

Those songs are awesome enough I figured I'd play them today, but that's it for silly stuff today.  Let's move on to a bit more music.  And just as a heads-up, the next song is in Spanish, and although I speak and understand passable Spanish, just like a lot of modern pop songs in English I have a hard time picking out the words from this song and there are no lyrics posted online, so I have no idea what they're actually saying.  At any rate, it's an awesome song.  Enjoy!

Camello (2:14)
Spinnin' (3:32)
Mezzamo - Ksa-Pse (3:08)

That was Camello by Los Faltones, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  After that was Spinnin' by Alex, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution license.  And finishing up was Mezzamo - Ksa-Pse by Mezzamo, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.

Today's app-of-the-day is the Transmission BitTorrent client.  Now, you may ask, why would I promote BitTorrent in a podcast dedicated to legal sharing of music?  The answer is simple - for anyone out there uninformed, contrary to what a lot of people would like you to believe, BitTorrent is really a pretty awesome technology.  The idea behind it is that rather than having files hosted in one place like a website, they're hosted by the other people who have already downloaded the files you want.  It's an excellent way to cut bandwidth costs for hosting providers, which is why VODO distributes most if not all of their videos that way.  Where people get into trouble with it is when they start downloading files which they do not have permission to, since by default many BitTorrent clients will automatically re-share the files you download.  But if you avoid the seedy parts of the internet (*note* - pun fully intended :) ) and just share the stuff you have the rights to share, there's all kinds of open-licensed stuff you can download and help share.  Many Linux distros can be downloaded and shared using BitTorrent as well as a whole bunch of open-licensed music and videos.  I've already mentioned VODO, but Jamendo also runs a BitTorrent tracker for their music and there are a bunch of online college course videos that colleges have released under open licenses.  So with that said, Transmission's a nice and very easy program to use for BitTorrent.  It's available for Linux, BSD, various routers, Maemo, Mac OS X, and via an unofficial port on Microsoft Windows.  It's downloadable at transmissionbt.com, unless you're on Microsoft Windows where you'll need to get the unofficial port from trqtw.sourceforge.net

Now for a short noncommercial break from one of our nonsponsors followed by more music.

The FuMP
Your Hair Is On Fire (4:03)
I NEED YOUR LOVE (3:59)
Can't We All Just Get Along? (ft. DoKashiteru ,Steve Bryant,snowflake , Robert Siekawitch, Mikel Thomas,BillRayDrums) (4:02)
On Brevity (3:09)

That was a slightly edited version of Podcast Promo by The FuMP, which is available from thefump.com and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  After that was Your Hair Is On Fire by Leslie Hunt, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license. Then we had I NEED YOUR LOVE by SCOTT MCLEAN, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  Next up was Can't We All Just Get Along? (ft. DoKashiteru ,Steve Bryant,snowflake , Robert Siekawitch, Mikel Thomas,BillRayDrums) by copperhead, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  Finishing up was On Brevity by Josh Woodward, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  I love that song.  It reminds me a lot of Jonathan Coulton's music, which I didn't play today because I plan on doing a full episode of his music in the future.

So, that's all for today.  Remember - piracy of commercial music only proves your dependence on that model and justifies further censorship and restriction.  So don't pirate it - replace it with something better.  Listen to open licensed music, donate to the artists behind it, go to concerts, and buy music from artists whose record labels don't see you as their enemies.  Support artists where your support actually counts.

This episode was made using Xubuntu Linux, Gentoo Linux, Audacity, Audacious for organizing playlists, and Leafpad for notes, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  Feel free to give it to your friends, or if you didn't like it, your enemies.  Links to the songs in this podcast are available on the website.  Listen in next time for some electronic music.  See 'ya!

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Monday, August 6, 2012

Episode 12: Western

Hi, and welcome to the Open Licensed Music Podcast, the show where we highlight music from artists who let you share their music.  I'm Ralph Wacksworth, and today's episode is featuring music with a bit of a western feel.

Longing for Tumbleweeds (ft. snowflake) (1:54)
Bearded_Gypsy_Band_-_Viochord (3:15)
La rupture (3:23)
Bama Country (3:33)

That was Longing for Tumbleweeds (ft. snowflake) by Admiral Bob, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was Bearded_Gypsy_Band_-_Viochord by Kiah, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  Then we had La rupture by Löhstana David, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  Finishing up was Bama Country by Kevin MacLeod, which is available from incompetech.com and is licensed under an Attribution license.

Just a quick reminder: The Humble Music Bundle is still available for the next few days.  They've also added some extra bonus content, and just like last week I can heartily recommend the music.  You choose how much you want to pay and who you want to pay it to.  Cool concept, good music.  Check it out today at humblebundle.com

And now, back to music.

Thing For Itself (ft. Pitx) (2:23)
Armadillo (3:14)
The Oregon Trail (instrumental remix) (2:58)
Ghost From the Past (6:51)

That was Thing For Itself (ft. Pitx) by unreal_dm, which is available from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.  After that was Armadillo by Yubatake, which is available from OpenGameArt.org and is licensed under an Attribution license.  Then we had an instrumental remix of The Oregon Trail by Kara Square, which is made of components from ccMixter and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial license.  And finishing up was Ghost From the Past by Butterfly Tea, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.

Let's continue right on with some more music.

Quand je serai grand (3:11)
dead (2:49)
Hiccup Western (2:06)
Eastern Blues (2:57)

That was Quand je serai grand by Löhstana David, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was dead by maxemaze and Hiccup Western by Carlier, which are both available from SoundCloud and are licensed under an Attribution license.  Finishing up was Eastern Blues by Sombrero(s), which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.

Today's app-of-the-day is PuTTY, a cross-platform terminal, telnet, and SSH client.  It gives you the ability to open terminal windows to many different types of command-line terminal servers, encrypted and not, network and serial.  If you've been in IT for very much time, you've probably used this program at one point in time or another, and if you haven't yet, you probably will.  What surprised me is that it's also available for platforms other than Microsoft Windows now.  I'm used to using command-line ssh from Linux, but apparently now PuTTY is now available for Linux, BSD, Symbian, Classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Windows Mobile.  It's available for download at www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty

Now for a short noncommercial break from one of our nonsponsors followed by more music.

Librivox
Petite chanson grivoise (0:54)
Cattails (2:39)
Santa Leone (3:04)
Dans un petit verre d'eau (3:25)

That was Petite chanson grivoise by Löhstana David, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.  After that was Cattails by Kevin MacLeod, which is available from incompetech.com and is licensed under an Attribution license.  Then we had Santa Leone by Pajaro, which is available from Free Music Archive and is licensed under an Attribution license.  Finishing up was Dans un petit verre d'eau by Löhstana David, which is available from Jamendo and is licensed under an Attribution license.

So, that's all for today.  Remember - piracy of commercial music only proves your dependence on that model and justifies further censorship and restriction.  So don't pirate it - replace it with something better.  Listen to open licensed music, donate to the artists behind it, go to concerts, and buy music from artists whose record labels don't see you as their enemies.  Support artists where your support actually counts.

This episode was made using Xubuntu Linux, Gentoo Linux, Audacity, Audacious for organizing playlists, and Leafpad for notes, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license.  Feel free to give it to your friends, or if you didn't like it, your enemies.  Links to the songs in this podcast are available on the website.  Listen in next time for some rock and other music with vocals, which I tend to group together when I listen to them.  See 'ya!

Download MP3