Music of the now #2

Its the end of the month again. What a month it was. It included slight pneumonia, family weekend, “apenkooien” and a lot of homework.

I managed to update my iTunes playlist, which is starting to become awesome. There are definitely more then 10 songs i want to share with you, but ill limit myself to the 10 best songs of this month.

Remember that this is not a chart, its just 10 random songs i got to know in the past month. 

A total of 453 different songs were (fully!) played in this month. A total time of 1 day and 10 hours. Only 3.45 GB if we are talking about data.

Lets kick it off:

DJ Anounymos – So i herd u liek musics (oh lawd, is dat sum insurgery) v2.1 (less kkk edition) (happy, fast, hardhouse)       

I downloaded the lulz CD’s from the insurg.in; a site for scriptkiddies and 3vil hax0r which, how would you not expect it, is ddossed frequently. On one of the first cd’s there is this track! A great uptempo mix with a catching melody and a fine beat. There was only one downside: there was a “join the kkk” sample it it, which i don’t condone. So i contacted DJ Anounymos and he was kind enough to render a version without the KKK samples for play during parties 🙂 I played this one during “apenkooien” in Arnhem. Unfortunately i’m not allowed to distribute this version, but you can still listen to the original track. See the links: 

Released: 19-01-2008. DJ Anounymos Website Youtube

JL Madskillz feat. JM – El Piloto Del Flow (reggaetón)
This one came along one of the promo cd’s. I haven’t got the faintest idea what they are talking about. This song was followed by Lee Wilson – Can i Get Your Number; also reggaetón in the same key and almost the same structure. I think its good. I heard a lot of ‘CALLE’ shouting in these songs, which translates directly to street… i think its the friendly sounding gangster sound from the carribbean. I love it though, so more of this in next months edition.

Released: 1997. No Youtube, No Discogs… effect of a promo probably.

State of Mind – Sunking (Drum ‘n Bass)       

Oh My fucking god! I heard this track as a leader for the second Utreg United party in Utrecht. Holy shit it rocked my world. I Love Drum n Bass. A friend gave me the whole album (Take Control, 2006) and there are more great tracks on it: Mindslicer and Real Mccoy. Its rough melodic drum n bass, which i like.

Released 2006. Youtube Discogs

Reyes – Fuck You (old school Hardcore)
The only worthwhile tracks on ‘The K.N.O.R. Anniversary Hardcore Inferno’ from back in the days of XSV, KNOR and Ruffneck. I listened to it back in 1996 when i borrowed the CD from a cousin. Now i was visiting the same cousin again, and asked if i could rip this cd to my laptop. Great success ensued. Released: 1996 Youtube Discogs
Bjork – Army of Me (Electronica, Pop)       

Thanks to radio 3 dj Paul Rabberink for playing this one on national radio. He called it a strange song, but i don’t share that opinion. I’ts a brilliant song, don’t mess with this one. It’s as massive as the large truck she was driving in in the video clip. This army will crush you.

Released: 1995 Last.FM

A.D.O.R. – One For the Trouble (old school Rap)       

Back once again with the ill behaviour, can you feel it, nothing can save ya. Its the A for Alla(h?!), D for Damager, O for Outta here, R for the renegade master.

And we all know what came from that. The album (The Concrete) is great. Although i don’t like the lyrics in some songs, but hey… i think he had some hard times.

Released 1994. Youtube Discogs

Down South - Tractors, Rakes And Hoes (old school Hip Hop)
What’s happening here? More Hip Hop? On MY website? YES! Another great album, which i found in the following torrents: “20 Classic:Rare:Obscure Rap:Hip Hop albums part 1” and “20 More Classic Hip Hop Rap Albums“. These torrents feature only rap albums with classic songs, lyrics and beats. 

This album Lost in Brooklyn from Down South is one of the best in the bundle. It’s also kind of strange due to its southern atmosphere. 

Released: 1994 Youtube Discogs

Strickly Roots – Beg No Friends (old school Hip Hop)
I can fill this entire blog entry only with Hip Hop that is worthwhile listening. I think 3 tracks is enough to describe 40 albums. But for people who are still in doubt, here are some names: “5 Elementz, Al Tariq, D.I.T.C., GZA, Mood, Rass Kass, Sadat X.This track has the real old school flavor: smooth beats, samples, scratching, rapping and dreads.

I also love the album cover. Thats a real picture, just as it is. 

Released: 1994 Youtube Discogs

Tsunami One & BT – Hip Hop Phenomenon (Electronica)
I had this song in 1999 in a mix i recorded from Einslive (a german radio station). Unfortunately i lost this tape. The mix was filled with absolute classics like this song. Found this in the Y4K Discography (which i never had heard of before). They carry a lot of good songs but haven’t got time to really listen to it. Probably more next month. 

To describe in more popular therms: it kinds sounds like the newer prodigy mixed with techno? I don’t know. I love it.

Released: 1999 Youtube Discogs

Funta – Kao Dekai (Anime, jPop, jRock, lulz)       

Moar lulz cd content: a fun anime song. The singer (girl) sings about a large head. This head is a great point of interest to the singer; it is large, surprisingly large, it is huge, it is long and it is impossible to hide anywhere. (translations). 

In general its a cute sounding track full of craziness; its best if you don’t understand the lyrics but only vaguely know what they are about.

Released: 1998 Youtube Insurg.in

That concludes 10 tracks from last month. There are many more to mention (for example Moby – In this world) but that will be saved for later. Who knows what’s up for the next month? I’ll be expanding my iTunes playlist up to 40.000 songs in the next months so probably lots of new stuff.

Music was my first love, and it will be my last. Music of the future and music of the past.

 

Bonus material:

I cleaned my iTunes library and playlists. 

For removing dead tracks (you know, with the exclamation mark) you can use this.

My library now looks like this:

Elgers playlist structure

The structure is simple:

– Everything is sorted by genre.

– All genres contain 3 types of playlists.

  • # prefixed albums with special content: dj stuff (selected), unsorted and unable to be sorted (yet)
  • Artist name playlists: only contains complete albums by this artist
  • Artist – Album playlists: when there is only one album from this artist in my collection.
Genres are vague on purpose. For example: rock will contain classic rock, popular rock, soft rock as well as metal, hard rock, punk and such.
Obviously i’ve not listened to all this music yet. Albums that suck will be purged, but this has not happened in repetition yet. Therefore there is no need (yet) to keep a list of all sucky albums and horrible artists.

Music of the now #1

Hey ppl, 

There are some new articles that i still haven’t finished yet. To keep you entertained, ill now post about 10 songs every few weeks with what i’m listening to. My musical preference is very broad, yet also very limited. 

So lets top it of with this month’s number 10:

 

Music of the now 1 Hamunaptra – Destroyer of Worlds (industrial, hardcore) 

Absolutely magnificent track, with more wideness than ever heard before. The sound literally swallows you whole. Comes from Enzyme release 23: Hamunaptra – Rise. There are other good tracks on the album, for example ‘Road to Salvation’; which is just plain hardcore noise which is fun now and then.

Released: 12-10-2006. Details at Cardiac.nl

Smash Mouth – Walkin’ on the Sun (pop, rock, happy) 

Instant feelgood happyness. Came with the YTMND collection, a collection of virtual compilations with music from the ever-useless website YTMND. Calms me down and makes me feel relaxed. 

Released: 1997. Smash mouth’s website, showing a lie we all know. YTMND

Cherrish – Happy Friday (Happy Hardcore, Oldschool) 

Super happy melodic track. With breakbeats and a high pitched voice. Still don’t know where the voice is from but that doesn’t really matter. Came with Happy Hardcore #3; which i need for my happy hardcore collection. Song was exclusively put on Happy Hardcore #3 as a filler track probably. Its still pretty good and i keep liking it.

Released 1995. Youtube Cherrish on Discogs

T.O.T.T. – Get up (happy hardcore, oldschool) 

This is the most energetic track on Happy Hardcore #3. Get up!, Get it on now, Try it again, Try it again, hold it up. Happyness, its just now or never!!!!! HAha, makes me happy everytime!

Released: 1995 Youtube Discogs

 

?????? Aliance – Soulshine (Drum & Bass) 

This is one of my favourite Drum & Bass tracks ever made. It’s inspirational, a bit weird in the beginning but just beautiful. Its hard to find any info on this track, so perhaps im wrong. Just listen to the youtube and be amazed.

Released: 2008 youtube

Calibre – V Neck (Drum & Bass) 

A beautiful relaxed drum & bass track (if the id3’s are right). Also one of my absolute favorites. No youtube this time. I’ll put this song up in my dnb mix whenever i come to it. You’ll be properly and thoroughly relaxed. 

Released 2006. Discogs

Unnatural Selection & Cik -  Day Of Judgement (Ophidians Mainstage RmX) (Melodic Hardcore) 

The second track of Masters Of Hardcore 27 was a cut of this stunning track. Beautiful melodic hardcore from the only hardcore producers i respect: the people at cardiac. If you don’t like hardcore, just skip the first 2 minutes of the track.

Released: 2009 Youtube Discogs

Juggernaut – Got 2 be a Ruffneck (Harcore, Old school) 

Ok, i admit. I’ve sorted out all enzyme / ruffneck mp3’s and supplied them with album art. (see pics at end of article). I’ts hard to find good rips / ruffneck collection cd rips. I’m still wondering why they don’t have an online shop where i can buy tracks from the old label. (i suppose it wont fit in their business model).

Anyway, this track is stunning from start to finish. Lots of energy. One of the best tracks on the Ruffneck label, which makes you feel cool about listening to their music and being part of the fans. 

Released: 1997 Youtube Cardiac

Cunninlynguists – Interlude 2 (Instrumental, Hip Hop) 

One of my favorite hip hop / rap bands, not so much for their lyrics but more for their beats. I abandoned rap-lyrics a while ago, so i don’t pay much attention to them. Its not gangster rap, so their message is probably one of good faith. The piano in this instrumental got me, feelings of happiness and regret. Wow it was so powerful and it keeps on being beautiful. Don’t put it on repeat though; it will lose its value.

Released: 2003 Youtube Wikipedia

Weaver & Andy L – Tell Me (New Happy Hardcore) 

Behinde this cheesy is a 3-cd collection full of happy hardcore made by the hardcore masif dj’s. That doesn’t mean its bad, it means that if you like 1 song; you’ll like them all. This is one of the tracks that really shines in front of the rest. Almost all vocals on the cd’s are performed by Or lisa marie Or Alison Wade, which are both nightingales. Note: The audio on the cd is so loud you’ll need to adjust your sterio volume before listening. I think these guys have won the loudness war. I praise them for it.

Released: 2008 Youtube (youtube audio = bad) Discogs

So there you have it, 10 tracks from my iTunes of last month. Aside from these (harder) tracks i also listened to sky.fm smooth jazz; its absolutely great. Who knows what i’ll be listening to next month 🙂

 

Bonus material:

I cleaned my ruffneck, gangsta, enzyme and enzyme x vinylrips. Albumart in iTunes rules. (note: the vinylrips are of poor quality (artifacts, broken, maximized); a disgrace. I lack the money to have the actual records. I do own some of them though.)

 

 

Wireless access point statistics

Last week i traveled between Arnhem Presikhaaf and Zutphen by train. Having nothing to do, i decided to start up kismac; an application that lists all wireless networks in the area. My findings are pretty nice.

there we areThe distance between Arnhem Presikhaaf and Zutphen is about 30 kilometers; not that long. In this 30 kilometer i found 600 wireless access points. That is 20 access points per kilometer (half a mile).

As you can see: large areas on the map are uninhabited. When i’m just looking at a city the results are better: 153 access points in 5 kilometer.

 

Unfortunately i didn’t have a GPS device enabled, otherwise i could pinpoint the distance between the access points more accurately. Not that it really matters while traveling by train. Also there might be access points that did not broadcast its SSID.

 

The statistics

The resulting log was exported from kismac to excel (via the netstumbler format). From there some nice statistics can be derived.

First, we take on the issue of security. As the below graph shows: if you would live somewhere along the railroad between Zutphen and Presikhaaf, chances are you can connect to the internet for free.

A total of 90 people did not secure their access point. 186 connections are ‘pretty secure’, mostly using the deprecated WEP standard. The nice thing about wep is that you can hack it quickly and easily with the right toolset.

The best news is that most access points are using WAP.

 

Channel usage

As expected, channels 1 6 and 11 are used. The original idea behind these channels was to reduce interference. I’m not sure how that works when there are at least 10 other access points in the neighborhood using the same channel.

Luckily there is some hope. The awesome number of _1_ is using channel 128. Personally i believe that there should be at least 1024 channels whereof 340 are actually used. Then you are sure the 20 accesspoint near you could be on a non-interfering frequency.

The stats image is somewhat misleading; it shows a clear division of all channels: 1, 6 and 11 are equally distributed. Of course this is coincidence.

What is funny though is that an equal number people (compared per standard channel) is using a non-standard channel.

 

Manufacturers

To my surprise you can see what manufacturer has built the access point. This has to do with MAC registration numbers (which are AS:IG:NE d to different manufacturers).

For consumer networking Thomson, Cisco and Siemens are doing pretty well. They take up half of the wireless router market. The rest, about 50 different brands, take up the other half. (note that askey and thomson are the same company)

Its nice to see Cisco being listed twice; once for consumer and once for professional networks. Most of the profi networks i found use cisco.

 

Network Names

Most SSID’s are named SpeedTouch; people don’t like to setup something. The speedtouches are shipped by KPN.

To conclude this masterpiece of statistics; here is a list of cool network id’s that could be found while traveling by train:

  • klubemo
  • bernd 
  • Don’t USE this WIRELESS
  • dcconnect
  • ZUHOUSE
  • satan
  • karatekid
  • <hidden ssid>
  • jesus loves you
Download

Par 2 for mac

Yesterday, during a BBQ, me and a friend developed Par2ForMac; a simple and effictive par 2 repair application for intel based macs. Par2 files are accompanied with usenet downloads to repair broken files. Thus-far there was no simple GUI application for macosx that could handle par2 files.

 

The state of technology today is awesome; this application and the website have been built in record time; within 2 hours everything was ready.

Par2ForMac is the best par2 gui available on mac; this should make you sad. I’ve never seen any well designed application that can do par2 repairs. Please correct me if i’m wrong.

(edit: macpardeluxe doesnt suck completely: it can do par2 repairs and auto extraction. Yet it doesn’t come close to windows implementations like autounpack of R’n’E from newsleecher. Primarily due to the fact it looks outdated.)

 

Checkout the Par2ForMac website and application:

http://web.me.com/elger.jonker/Par2ForMac/

Operation LIONCASH!

Im in favour of the latest craze created by ae. After a long series of fail and forced meme’s, I see a bright future for Operation LIONCASH. It is funny, non-offensive and creative; a combincation ae is not very good at.

Lioncash

Lioncash is your dollar/euro/yen currency with a lionface on it; >:3 . This sounds dull, just check the image below to instantly understand. To support this brilliant idea i designed a promotional poster. Its target is to be used in US store windows and where ever else is appropriate.

[singlepic=87,319,413]

Download instructions:

Make your choice from 8 renditions in PNG or JPG format. Click on the image and then click on the ‘full size’ link that appears in the image preview. Warning: the large format is intended for offset printing. Also check the licensing therms if you are an author.

 

Original format:

The poster was made using Photoshop CS3. The original PSD file is available on request. Some file information: 300dpi on US letter format.

 

Licensing:

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. When used please notify me of use, i like to track who likes my work.

Tripping time

Ever been looking for those images that really fuck with your mind? Well, thanks to Anonymous (4chan.org)i got a nice collection you might also want to check out. These are the best trippy images i could find which really blow your mind. Be sure to move your eyes around a bit when you stare at them; they just wont stop moving. Enjoy your seizure!

For some nice pavement drawings check out this blog.

Dawn simulator, finally a choice was made!

orbkit lichtwekkerOnce upon a time i wrote an article about buying a dawn simulator. After searching the whole internet i came to the conclusion that all sunrise simulators are ugly or do not match its purpose. Luckily i found a small webshop in France which sells beautifull dawn simulators! The site popped up just before i was going to purchase an ugly one. A small picture can be seen on the right, its a white orb with a lamp-controller on the side.

Programming the controller is very easy. Make sure the ALARM ON is set if you want to wake up to it though. Also use the beeper function just in case. I rate it 6 out of 5 stars.

You can order it here:

http://www.lajourneeparfaite.fr/dawn-simulator-2-lamps-orb-23-cm-p-112.html

Please use elgerjonker.nl as a reference if you order one, no i dont get referrer money.