Every once in a while, I stumble upon a great artist. I mean, really great. Yes, there are talented artists out there, many of which are mainstream in today’s society. That isn’t what makes this artist great, however. Yes, he’s talented. Very talented, as I hope you’ll find out when you listen to some of his music. What makes this artist great is that he distributes all of his music for free.

Yes. Free.

If you are even remotely interested in electronic music, you’ll love Professor Kliq (Mike Else). Making music since 1996, he has been making music for almost fifteen years, experimenting with many different forms of electronic music, taking both grassroots and modern styles into his experimentation. He has put out six albums, one EP, and one set of remixes. Do yourself a favor and give this a listen; if you appreciated electronic music half as much as I do, you’ll love this.

Secondly, if you love music, chances are you’ve heard of SXSW, or South By Southwest. SXSW Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Even if you don’t attend the events, many artists give out a free MP3 of their music to be distributed by SXSW on their website. The latest batch of 2010 entries was recently put up on BitTorrent, boasting a grand total of 1083 songs, and 5.43GB of disk space across two torrents. If you want the opportunity to be exposed to some amazing new music by independent artists who are freely (and legally!) giving away their music for you to listen to, check out the link below for more information.

http://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/

After having my iPhone for the past month or so, I’ve found very few problems with it. In fact, I’ve never had a problem  yet.

Well, that’s not completely true. I’ve never had a problem until earlier this week, when the new firmware was released. After about 24 hours of running my phone, I noticed two significant changes. First of all, my battery life was dropping faster than a kid coming off of a caffeine high. Secondly, my phone took a whole 3 seconds (yes, three – I counted) to respond to the “slide to unlock” bar. Those were two things that I was not willing to put up with.

After doing some reading up on the subject, I noticed that I wasn’t alone. Some people blamed the firmware, while others blamed the users. I blame both; clearly the issue wasn’t universal. A hard reset (ie. not using the “slide to power off” slider) seemed to be a temporary fix, but I wanted something more permanent. It seemed the only way to fix this was to do a DFU factory restore. The only catch is that when your phone restarts, you have to create a new phone profile, and NOT restore an existing backup.

The process was relatively painless. I only lost a few photos and my text messages (I’d love to have a way of backing up text messages!), but aside from that I got all of my old data back after loading it on again.  The reset seems to have done the trick; here’s hoping it stays that way.

This might seem like an odd topic for a geek to discuss. After all, I’m supposed to be glued to my computer, make obtuse references to nerdy shows and movies, and have a natural inability to talk to women. While all of the above may or may not be true (heh), I also found myself two years ago to have an interest in swing dancing, thanks to a friend who convinced me to go to the University of Manitoba Swing Dance Club (UMSwing) open house (thanks Jacklynn!). Although initially I didn’t think I would enjoy it that much, I found myself addicted by the end of that open house, and walked out that night with a full membership. I’m still shocked that I’m even capable of dancing, but regardless, it’s a great way to get some exercise, meet new people, and get out of the house.

Two years later, and I’m on the executive committee for UMSwing as their omnipotent web administrator. I’ve met a lot of great people through the club, and by being on the executive committee, I can hopefully give back to a club which has helped me a lot. One of the events that is happening in just over a week is this semester’s open house, which I will be MCing. The club puts on one open house per semester, usually within the first few weeks. We pride ourselves on being able to teach anybody to dance, regardless of skill level. You don’t need to bring a partner to dance with, and you don’t need experience. We do some demos, teach you basic Jive, and do some social dancing. Oh yeah, and there’s a bunch of prizes that we will give away.

• Multi-Purpose Room (MPR), 2nd Floor University Center, University of Manitoba
• September 16, 2009 @ 7:00pm – 11:00pm
• Free!
• Prizes!
• No experience required!
• No partner required!

So, if you have nothing to do that night, come out and enjoy yourself.

UMSwing’s classes tend to be geared towards beginner swing dance. If you happen to have swing experience, HepCat Studio is a swing studio that is starting up today at 6:00pm. The first class today is free, and they will teach both beginner and intermediate swing dancing. You can find their website over at http://www.winnipegswing.com.

So, I will continue with random technological rants and whatnot next Friday. Methinks that my next post will probably discuss my upcoming server build and the parts involved. Although I had posted on it a while back, I’ve solidified my decisions for the next server incarnation. It will be awesome. Very, very awesome.

When I first got my car, it was all factory parts. Although it’s old and have no intention of putting any more money into the car than I have to, I decided that it needed a better sound system. I had a simple logic behind this: any sound gear that I put into my car, I can pull out in a few hours when I get a new car. My first purchases when I got my car were a new deck and speakers for the interior. Within a month, I had hauled an old amplifier out of my basement (which was found in the middle of the street) and bought the cheapest sub woofers I could find (2 10″ subs with enclosures for $70), and put those in my trunk. After those subs got stolen (the joke’s on them – those subs were crap!), I decided that I would do an upgrade – to a Sony 800W amplifier and a 1000W Pioneer Premier 10″ sub, and a Stinger 1 Farad capacitor to help with the powering of said system. My system has been like that for about 9 months now, and I decided that I would put new parts in.

I decided that I would get two 6″x9″ speakers, enclosures, and another Sony 800W amplifier to power them. Although putting the speakers in the trunk would initially seem like a ridiculous idea, I left enough slack in the wiring for them to be pulled out of the trunk for public events where portable sound is needed, such as any Lindy Bombing events that UMSwing puts on. Although I had to remake some wires (and I almost ran out of wire to use!), installation went off without any problems.

One thing that I was toying around with and decided to do as well was to try putting neon lighting in my car. Now, this would normally be a waste of money for an old car like mine. After all, who wants to spend a few hundred dollars on StreetGlow? But, I assure you I didn’t spend that much. In fact, I only spent $40. Rather than buy glow designed for cars, I decided that I would simply use Cold Cathode tubes from Logisys. It required a bit of wiring hacking, but I managed to put two 12″ tubes in my trunk and two 4″ tubes in the front dash by the feet. So far, it looks amazing, and I’m going to get more later to replace the old lights in the car with LEDs so I can actually see things in my car.

I also replaced the windshield wiper blades with some snazzy-looking red ones to go with my car, but that’s not particularly important. After studying today I plan on doing a good cleaning of the interior and possibly the engine. I’m also going to get a paint touchup kit, but that’s for another day. I’ll be sure to post pictures of my trunk (and the neon) soon.

Mute Math
Mute Math – 2006

Mute Math is difficult to fit into any one genre. While they have an electronica base, they also exhibit both rock and pop stylings. Their music goes from fast-paced trace to smooth downtempo, and is guaranteed to get your head bobbing to the beat. Although this is their first main release, they have also released an EP back in 2004 entitled Reset which is a phenomenal addition to their repertoire. If good music alone doesn’t do it for you, they also have a phenomenal stage presence as demonstrated by their both their live performances and their music videos.

Queens Of The Stone Age
Era Vulgaris – 2007

Queens of the Stone Age have never fit into the mold, and their quirky music certainly shows this. Their odd style of music stands out from the crowd, but not so much that their music doesn’t go mainstream. Their guitar styling is great to listen to, even if it sometimes isn’t the most pleasing to the ears. Their rock styling with lyrics a-la-”Red Hot Chili Peppers” make this a unique band that shouldn’t be passed up.

Cake
Comfort Eagle – 2001

Cake’s music has always been something to chuckle at, and Comfort Eagle is no exception. Cake is an indie-style band with a sense of a humor and a way with words, and they enjoy using different instruments and effects in their songs. If you’re looking for some music to put on while friends are over to hang out, consider this album (and their others) for some background listening. Other notable songs on other albums include the remake of the Muppets song Mahna, Mahna, and the Frank Sinatra song Strangers in the Night.

Royal Crown Revue
Passport to Australia – 2000

Royal Crown Revue is a rockabilly swing group with a knack for getting your feet tapping. Normally I steer clear of live albums because of all the screaming in them. This album is different; there is very little applauding and cheering in it, but is instead graced with the music that you paid for. The band is one of my favorite contemporary jazz groups for their unique sound and groove, and their live album Passport To Australia reaffirms my choice. If you pick up one rockabilly album, make it this one.

Pronobozo
Zero = One = Everything – 2007

Pronobozo is a phenomenal artist; his unique style redefines breakbeat music. After getting exposure on the internet podcast Hak5 by providing much of the music used on the show, he released his album to the masses under the Creative Commons license. The pressed version of his album is a limited quantity version, and is definitely worth picking up for a listen. This is currently my preferred album to listen to while I program; it has the perfect mix of downtempo stylings, breakbeat, and that instrumental “smoove” feel to keep you in the programming groove. What are you waiting for? Go buy this album. Now.