Not a Banksy, I don’t think, but cool none the less. Unfortunately it looks like the uber-efficient Wandsworth Borough Council anti-graffiti squad have removed all traces of it, which is a shame. I bear no grudge against the squad – who I must owe a bottle of wine to by now for the number of times they’ve responded to my pleas regarding graffit on our estate – but a part of me wishes they could make a distinction between art and vandalism.

On an entirely unrelated note, here’s a nice chirpy song for you – “Youkou Yeah Yeah !” from Vulsor’s The Project. Keen followers of my last.fm profile – which records for posterity what I listen to at home – would have noticed this getting a few plays since I found it in my collection. I’d recommend “Mushroom” from the same album, except I hate how it ends. When I get a chance (and err, learn how…), then I’ll remix it and give it a proper conclusion….

If I was producing a TV show I’d be very tempted to use it as the signature tune, and with only a little editing of the ending to remove the forced staccato in one of the phrases, I’d be quite happy. Oh, and since it’s cc-by-sa, I’d be allowed to edit it, and use it commercially too!

I gave up on commercial music years ago, and have stuck to Creative Commons music since then. Sure, you’re less likely to hear their jingles on adverts, and your friends might not have heard of them, but hey! There’s tons of it out there, and most of it is dross – but that’s no different from the stuff you have to pay for. My latest source of music is Jamendo, offering high quality .oggs and .mp3s for free download. I can heartily recommend tryad, especially their cracking album “Listen” (which I’m listening to at the moment – if you do nothing else, listen to “lovely” on the website). If you want something completely unusual, try “Fusion” from Cool Cavemen. Or my favourite from this week – “Drop” from Alexander Blu.

Has anyone else got any albums or songs they want to recommend in the comments?

The book contains a wonderful collection of journalist’s stories, rather than the reports that would find their way into a newspaper. Most of the reportage (which I like to think is pronounced as the French would – rhyming with montage, not cambridge) is regarding conflicts, and the stories of being a reporter trying to get close to the action – but not too close. One stand-out piece for me is the investigative journalism behind Operation Flavius, an IRA bomb plot foiled by the SAS controversially shooting the suspects. Compared with reading (not-so-)broad-sheet newspapers, I normally prefer to cut the waffle and read the Economist for getting the facts on what’s going on. However, I would love to have a source of journalism like this book – almost by necessity it would be non-timely, but nevertheless fascintating, almost behind-the-scenes reading, where the subject merely provides the context for the experiences of the journalist.

Recommended.

The Granta Book of Reportage (Classics of Reportage) on Amazon.

The Thames Path walk continued yesterday as well – I’ve now got to Hampton Court. Hopefully by the end of the Easter hols next week I’ll have made it upstream as far as the M25 (after that it gets a bit harder to organise!)

Thursday night was another gig – the Secret Machines (no, me either) at Shephards Bush Empire. I thought it was brilliant – nice chilled out alt rock (as far as I’m concerned, but I have no idea about music genres) – but apparently it was disappointingly different from their normal stuff. Still, it suited me.

The Tuesday night badminton is fast becoming a regular thing – which suits me fine, since it keeps me out of the pub a bit longer. I manage to hold my own at it despite not having played for so long, and I’m quite amazed at how many times I manage to successfully hit the shuttlecock! And there’s something deeply satifying about a baseline diving back-hand ground sweep that clears the net by two inches and hits the ground six inches over (w00t!). Let’s not bruise my ego by asking me to make the shot a second time…

What really caught my attention was when I noticed the list of “neighbours” – people who live in the same musical-taste area as me. Top of the list? Why, naughty_jude, apparently. Now who could that be?

Around one in fifteen tracks in my collection are over 10 minutes long – some are over half an hour. Today’s track of the day is Terra, by ABA Structure (Kenji Williams) from the album Tektonic Illusion. Fast and rhythmical, and there’s something nice and edgy about it. (Hey, if my descriptions suck, it’s only because I need to practise!) I love the fading in and out of themes throughout, it helps draw you through the track.

For me, the first half of the song is just a long teaser for the introduction of the main rhythmic theme at just after the four minute mark. And to have a teaser that long is great, and something only normally found on drance tracks intended for DJs to mix.

Will you?

Hello

Nothing has changed with regards to the creative commons licensing. If folks want to use non- tagged versions of the song, they just have to write in and we will point them in the right direction. Please follow the thread from John regarding the announcements and feel free to add any thoughts.

http://www.magnatune.com/info/submit

Regards,
Joel
Magnatune.com

I’d disagree with the statement that “nothing has changed”, since a fortnight ago I could download the CC music anytime I wanted, without having to email and ask. But we’ll see what happens when I want to license another album. I’m still wading through the ones I’ve got already – today marks the point at which I’ve played all 781 tracks in my collection – it’ll take a bit longer before I’m able to “name that artist” when it’s on random though!

For years now I’ve been licensing Magnatune albums under the Creative Commons license. I think it’s a wonderful idea, and I presume from your page on it, you think so too:
http://magnatune.com/info/openmusic

I’ve been promoting magnatune to my friends and family for years. I play your music at houseparties. I write about you on my weblog. I’ve made the occaisional CD for my parents, and written on the label that it’s from magnatune and that it’s fully licensed. I mention you every time someone is talking about music downloads. All in the spirit of the Creative Commons.

http://www.gravitystorm.co.uk/shine/index.php?s=magnatune&submit=Search
(I would also hand out your cards, but I keep emailing you asking for them, and still haven’t got any.)

But now you’ve stuck the robot voices in your creative commons licensed music. That sucks. I can see why you want to do it for your radio feeds, but messing with the Creative Commons stuff is just silly. I want to listen to creative commons music. I don’t want your music under normal terms and conditions; for me, it’s very important that it’s creative commons. It’s what I believe in, and I thought you did too.

Still, I can use the creative commons license to strip the speech out of the tracks, and then use them as I normally do – that’s the benefit of the license you use. But it seems silly to make me have to do that.

Please, please, reconsider degrading the creative commons idea like this.