Software Freedom Day 2014 FreeCultureSamplerSFD2014 (TWC, Kitchener)
Description
Free Culture Sampler 2014
This year we have extended the sampler to include music, talks andpodcasts. Once again the sampler is deliberately eclectic; youprobably will not like everything, but we hope you will discoversomething new and enjoyable.
If you like this disc you might be interested in last year's offering as well: http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/MusicSamplerSFD2013
You can download a zipfile version of the Free Culture disc here: http://sfdkw.dyn.theworkingcentre.org/2014/sfd-2014-sampler.zip
(Please be mindful of our bandwidth. If you wish to distribute this zipfile to others, please mirror it from your own site.)
Music Tracks
'Cho PD - CABACA - Free Music 2' by CC Asia Band
from the album 'CABACA'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/tw/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/28951
To those of you who accuse us of including this track for its chorus:we plead guilty as charged. But this track isn't filler. In additionto being a laid back opener for our mix, but it demonstrates theinternational nature of the Free Culture Movement very well.
'Power_version' by the Hifi Hustlers
from the album 'Blagging It EP'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/album/24239/
Check out that bassline.
'Drop Drop' by Skabrot
from the album 'Neotanzmusik'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/de/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/114886
Skabrot is a German band which continues the proud ska tradition ofbouncy, tight instrumentation and depressing, rather erudite lyrics.
'Get Away' by Latasha Lee
from the album '!LatashanLee'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/77214
This track continues the proud 2014 SFD sampler mixtape tradition ofhappy music paired with depressing lyrics. I love the combination of50s rock instrumentation and clever 90s hip-hop lyricism.
This is the only Creative Commons licensed track from Latasha Lee, whoappears to be making a career for herself in the standard music scene.I get the sense that it was used as a promotional experiment. Althoughit would have been nice if she had released more work into theCreative Commons, if somebody listens to this track and becomes aLatasha Lee fan I have no problems at all.
'Space Ride' by Oursvince
from the album 'Around'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/8726
It is hard to believe that this is the same artist that released'Perdue' from last year's sampler, but it's true. I like this track'senergy; it would make good video game music.
'Close Your Eyes' by Cybernetika
from the album 'Colossus'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/cybernetika-colossus
Suggested by Nick Guenther. Ektoplazm is an online music label specializing in the 'Psytrance' genre of techno music. Cybernetika is one of the star artists on the site; on this album he fuses psytrance with drum-and-bass backing tracks, all around a trippy space theme.
'Slow Groovin' by Raphael Pistachio
from the album 'Orange Grooves'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/37988
Time to chill out. The track's title does not lie.
'Anaximander' by Blaise Alleyne
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Available from: https://blaise.ca/music/songs
Suggested by Bob Jonkman. Blaise Alleyne is a Toronto-based songwriter and violinist, among other things. Anaximander is a quiet folk track about stars.
'Falcon 69' by the Easton Ellises
from the album 'Nightwavs'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/136365
Do you like catchy synthpop? I like catchy synthpop.
This is the token !CanCon on this mixtape; The Easton Ellises are aQuebec band which is doing very well for itself on Jamendo (this trackwas in the top ten most played as of this writing).
'NEW YORK JE T'ADORE' by I'M FRESH YOU'RE PRETTY
from the album 'L'AMOUR LA VIE'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/129531
Do you like catchy synthpop?
I think the all-caps are intentional, at least as far as the band namegoes. If your French is rusty, the lyrical content of this song isexactly what you think: these guys like New York.
'MICKEY MAOS' by Halloween
from the album 'S/T'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Available from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Halloween/ST_1099/
As if continually confusing surf rock with the Beach Boys was notembarrassing enough, for years and years I had forgotten that surfrock existed as a genre. Thank goodness I stumbled across this track.
According to the album information, the entire album was recorded in one night, but I am not able to tell.
'Scattered Knowledge' by Revolution Void
from the album 'The Politics of Desire'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Available from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Revolution_Void/The_Politics_of_Desire/revolution_void_-_10_-_scattered_knowledge
Suggested by Laurel Russwurm. This track is calm jazz electronica.
'Scratch' by Ergo Phizmiz
from the album 'DIK DOK'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Available from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ergo_Phizmiz/DIK_DOK/
Suggested by Bob Jonkman. Experimental pop that sounds like old clocks and creaky doors. The artist describes it as the 'sound a very dry back makes'.
'Reveal the Magic' by The Kyoto Connection
from the album 'Wake Up'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Kyoto_Connection/Wake_Up_1957
Soft hip-hop backed by vaguely far-East intrumentals. Speaking of proudtraditions, this track continues the proud hip-hop tradition ofpairing uplifting choruses with despondent lyrics.
One interesting aspect of this band is that it comes from Argentina,yet the rap focuses on American politics.
'4 Pat' by Nationale2
from the album 'House for N2'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/54663
These people really like digits in their naming schemes. They makegood danceable tracks, though.
'TRIUMPHANT MARCH OF THE NANO-WARRIOR' by NanowaR
from the album 'Other Bands Play, Nanowar Gay!'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/it/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/5334
Most of the tracks NanowaR (now named NanowaR of Steel) put out arenot appropriate for a family-friendly free culture collection. Thiscomedy metal band tends towards ribald humour. However, this track ispretty clean: it illustrates the pride the band takes in visitingrelatives.
'Looking for a Friend' by The Vegetarians
from the album 'A Vegetable Soup of Songs'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Available from: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/3811
The Vegetarians are a pop band from Sweden, as you can tell from their flawless English. To describe this track as Beatlesesque isan understatement, but I think the song stands on its own merits.
'The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan' by Chris Zabriskie
from the album '2000-2014'
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Available from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chris_Zabriskie/
Submitted by Bob Jonkman. Chris Zabriskie experiments with a variety of styles, many of them minimalist and experimental.This is a quiet piano-based track that is easy to listen to while focusing on other tasks.
Podcasts and Talks
Here is a selection of podcasts licensed using Free Culture licenses.Some of these podcasts are definitely contentious, and you mightdisagree violently with some of their content. However, each of themhas an audience within members of the organizing committee.
Audio Dharma
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Available from: http://www.audiodharma.org
This is a religious podcast focused on meditation and Buddhism.Although it may be uncool to say so, I (PN) find this podcasthelpful in the same way fresh vegetables are helpful; I rarely lookforward to listening to the podcast episodes, but I usually feelbetter after doing so. Sometimes the episodes feel repetitive, it israre that I feel bored listening to them.
The podcast consists of recordings taken from the Insight MeditationCenter in Redwood City, California. Somebody plugs a recording deviceinto the sound system, and they publish the results. It is a veryeffective method for generating podcasts, and one I wish other groupswith sound systems would emulate.
One warning: this podcast is voluminous. There are new, long episodespublished daily.
We have included two episodes: one from each of the main teachers atthe center:
* Andrea Fella on 'Happiness', recorded 2011-02-10* Gil Fronsdal on 'Reflections on Death', recorded 2014-04-15
CANADALAND
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/deed.en_US
Available from: http://canadalandshow.com
CANADALAND is one of those podcasts that is difficult torecommend wholeheartedly. Host Jesse Brown is probably best known forhis radio show/podcast 'Search Engine', whichtechnology topics near and dear to the hearts of Canadian freesoftware advocates. Although there is some overlap of material,CANADALAND is a different beast: it is Brown's attempt to critique theCanadian media landscape. Overall, one gets the impression that Brownhates Canadian media and especially hates Canadian content rules; hisbelief is that !CanCon results in mediocre Canadian content, and thatalmost all Canadians would prefer to consume American media instead.Brown is also very harsh on Canadian media institutions, and hasparticular vendettas against the CBC and Globe and Mail. So if youlike these institutions, you might not like this podcast.
Having said that, CANADALAND is well produced and exposes much of themachinery behind the Canadian media scene. Ironically, Brown isgenuinely attempting to make a living producing Canadian content, andhe has been getting traction. A story he helped publicize about RexMurphy speaking at petroleum conferences made the wider news. He alsounapologetically releases material under Creative Commons licenses.
Here are two episodes from the podcast:
* Ep 3: Intern trouble* Ep 31: Your telecom provider is selling your information to the government
Cory Doctorow Podcast
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0/
Available from: http://craphound.com/podcast.php
Cory Doctorow may be the unofficial spokesperson for the free softwareand free culture movements. he is articulate and 'gets' technologysufficiently well that he can express the views that many of us hold.His audio podcast consists of him reading excerpts from his writing.Admittedly, the podcast does get repetitive; Doctorow is obsessed withDigital Rights Management, and it shows. Nonetheless, this podcast iswell worth a listen.
* How Amazon is holding Hachette hostage* What happens with digital rights management in the real world?
Hacker Public Radio
License: Assorted Creative Commons licenses
Available from: http://hackerpublicradio.org
Submitted by Bob Jonkman. Hacker Public Radio is a community podcast network. Members record their own shows, and a curated podcast is released each day. People who listen to the podcast network are encouraged to submit one podcast a year. The podcast topics are often super-nerdy, but here is a selection of tracks that have nothing to do with Linux or computing.
Content note: Some listeners (including some Free Culture Disc curators) may find the contents of our selection of podcasts upsetting and/or politically incorrect. The inclusion of podcasts on smoking does not mean we endorse people taking up the habit.
* Episode 1359: How to smoke a pipe* Episode 1511: How to skin a snake* Episode 0145: Stop smoking
Prison Radio with Mumia Abu-Jamal
License: CC-BY-NC-ND (See http://fs9.formsite.com/prisonradio/PRform1/index.html )
Available from: http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a contraversial figure. Convicted to death row forkilling police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1982, he has become a figurehead.Activists on the radical left see him as a political prisoner who wasunfairly tried and imprisoned because of his associations with theBlack Panther party. Others see him as a criminal who has beenunfairly put on a pedestal.
It is difficult to put this context aside when listening to thispodcast; Abu-Jamal has an audience because he is a figurehead.The podcast itself consists of very short essays read by Abu-Jamalfrom his prison cell. I had expected essays about life in prison;instead Abu-Jamal mostly writes about people and current events. Ifnothing else, he is an excellent orator.
Here are three recent episodes of the podcast:
* Prison interview* The Divine Ruby Dee* Military Advisors in Iraq
Snowden and the Future, by Eben Moglen
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Available from: http://www.snowdenandthefuture.info/
This is a four part series of talks by Eben Moglen, which is aboutthe impacts and aftermath of Edward Snowden's revelations about theUnited States National Security Agency. Moglen is the Founder ofthe Software Freedom Law Center, Columbia law professor and historian.
The series of talks is epic, and all are worth listening to, but weare including Part III here.
Further Exploration
There is a lot of free culture audio out there! You can find some atthe following sites:
If you are interested in discovering more free culture music, you might try:
* The linked artists and albums above* Jamendo at http://www.jamendo.com/en/radios or http://libre.fm* archive.org's Live Music Archive: http://archive.org/details/etree* http://dig.ccmixter.org for polished remixes from the CCMixter community* The Free Music Archive at http://www.freemusicarchive.org/* The Creative Commons group on !SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/groups/creative-commons* The Creative Commons tag on !BandCamp: https://bandcamp.com/tag/creative-commons* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_music* The (sadly, no longer updated) libre.fm podcast: http://s.libre.fm/podcast.rss* http://www.ektoplazm.com/ for assorted techno music
Created by PaulNijjar on 2014-09-18 07:25:29.