My Shared Folder

Right click links and select "save as" to download music or video files. Most links here are relatively permanent, so feel free to browse the archives or the index. Comments (positive and/or negative) are always welcome. If you are a LiveJournal user, do not hesitate to "Friend" me if you wish. Also, you are more than welcome to add me to your list of bookmarks or favorites (as if you needed my permission). If you like it here, tell your friends. If you own the copyright to one of these songs and would like a song removed, or if you find a broken link, please contact me. Please support any musicians that you like by purchasing their music and/or attending their concerts. Feel free to contact me if you are a band or record label and would like your music to be featured here. Lastly, if you are ever really bored, you can always help me fill in those last few holes in my collection by seeing if you have anything on my wish list. Anything that makes a sound is fair game.





Who links to me?

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Sorry.

Honestly, I think it is probably pretty obvious that I've lost interest here. By now, most of you probably have, too.

It's been a nice run. Everything will be staying up to provide free music links as long as those links stay alive. Maybe I will come back someday.

Thanks for all the support.

- Andy

Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) and Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips), FBI agents, escort John Saunders (Mark Houghton), a former Mafia member, to testify in a highly publicized case. In the course of a flight between Ohio and California, an assassin releases hundreds of venomous snakes in the hope of killing the witness.

"I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" - Neville Flynn, from Snakes On A Plane

The Guesstimates - Two Snakes On A Plane
Snakes On A Plane (teaser trailer)

Dear MoveOn member,

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from prioritizing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon.com doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, MoveOn either pays protection money to dominant Internet providers or risks that online activism tools don't work for members. Amazon and Google either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality1—and you can do your part today.

The free and open Internet is under seige—can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

Then, please forward this to 3 friends. Protecting the free and open Internet is fundamental—it affects everything. When you sign this petition, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress. Votes begin in a House committee next week.

MoveOn has already seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Just last week, AOL blocked any email mentioning a coalition that MoveOn is a part of, which opposes AOL's proposed "email tax."2 And last year, Canada's version of AT&T—Telus—blocked their Internet customers from visiting a website sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating.3

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The internet can't be free."4

Together, we can let Congress know we are paying attention. We can make sure they listen to our voices and the voices of people like Vint Cerf, a father of the Internet and Google's "Chief Internet Evangelist," who recently wrote this to Congress in support of preserving Network Neutrality:

My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity...Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online.4

The essence of the Internet is at risk—can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

Please forward to 3 others who care about this issue. Thanks for all you do.

–Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team
Thursday, April 20th, 2006

P.S. If Congress abandons Network Neutrality, who will be affected?
Advocacy groups like MoveOn—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.

- Nonprofits—A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.

- Innovators with the "next big idea"—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.

- Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
Online purchasers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.

- Small businesses and tele-commuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.

- Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.

- Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

To sign the petition to Congress supporting "network neutrality," click here:
http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

P.P.S. This excerpt from the New Yorker really sums up this issue well.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T. adopted a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers' calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn't pony up had a harder time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got an "all circuits busy" response. Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T. & T.'s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker.

If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet.

Until recently, companies that provided Internet access followed a de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called "network neutrality," which meant that all Web sites got equal treatment. Network neutrality was considered so fundamental to the success of the Net that Michael Powell, when he was chairman of the F.C.C., described it as one of the basic rules of "Internet freedom." In the past few months, though, companies like A.T. & T. and BellSouth have been trying to scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to providers could receive what BellSouth recently called "special treatment," and those that don't could end up in the slow lane. One day, BellSouth customers may find that, say, NBC.com loads a lot faster than YouTube.com, and that the sites BellSouth favors just seem to run more smoothly. Tiered access will turn the providers into Internet gatekeepers.4

Sources:

1. "Telecommunication Policy Proposed by Congress Must Recognize Internet Neutrality," Letter to Senate leaders, March 23, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1653

2. "AOL Blocks Critics' E-Mails," Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1649

3. "B.C. Civil Liberties Association Denounces Blocking of Website by Telus," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Statement, July 27, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1650

4. "At SBC, It's All About 'Scale and Scope," BusinessWeek, November 7, 2002
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1648

5. "Net Losses," New Yorker, March 20, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1646

6. "Don't undercut Internet access," San Francisco Chronicle editorial, April 17, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1645

To see this and others, visit The Museum Of Bad Album Covers.

Is anyone else besides me sick of hearing about Matisyahu? From the music of his that I've heard, I've not been that impressed. It's not bad, but it's not Bob Marley, either. I think the only reason anyone cares is because he's Hasidic Jew doing reggae music; kind of like, "Look at him, isn't that wacky?" In a way, if you really think about it, his popularity is kind of racist - he's being singled out because he is ethnically different from the majority of reggae musicians. In many ways, he is Eminem of the reggae world - not standing out necessarily on the merit of talent, but at least somewhat on the basis of his color.

There is something kind of interesting in the Jah/Yahweh cutlural and religious interplay, though, if you think about it.

The only thing I like about the above picture is his Dracula/Buffalo Bill Silents Of The Lambs death's head moth stance. The door in the background is kind of cool, too.

( Matisyahu: A most unorthodox pop star )

Key Phrases To Back My Opinion

- "Because of Matisyahu's appearance, he was able to create a critical amount of buzz."

- Matisyahu has definitely arrived. He told Rolling Stone he had been invited by Madonna, a recent convert to the mystic Jewish faith of Kabbalah, for the Passover festival. "I don't know if I can go. I'll have to check it out with, like, multiple people, to make sure it's kosher," the rapper said on the Jimmy Kimmel television show which helped launch his career.

Get it? Kosher! All we need is Al Jolson saying, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

I've been meaning to post the Chow Nasty video for "Ungawa" for some time now. The first time I tried, my browser crashed as I was posting, so the link was lost. Pretty depressing. Anyway, I finally got back around to it, so here it is. Fun.

Chow Nasty - Ungawa (music video)

"Steal My Sunshine" by Len. "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus. "Nth Degree" by Morningwood.

They are the saccharine songs that everyone seems to love to hate. And yet I love them all. And some of the album covers spoofed in this video show that the band must surely have good taste in music. (Morgenholz=Kraftwerk). Hate them if you must - hate me now if you must - but here they are in all their glory.

Morningwood - Nth Degree (music video)

Discogs is "a user-built database of music information. Imagine a site with discographies of all labels, all artists, all cross-referenced. It's getting closer every day. You can help build Discogs by submitting information about missing releases, artists, and labels."

Well, I was hoping to get some more cajun/zydeco music together to share this year like I did last year, but with everything that happened in New Orleans a few months back, I think that the following post might be a little more appropriate.

I don't know how this one slipped past me until now, but The Legendary K.O. has recently gained some notoriety for taking Kanye West's "Gold Digger" and mixing it up to make West's infamous political comment the focus of a "brand new" song. I typically find most modern politicized music pretty stinky and pretentious, but this is actually pretty humorous and relevant.

The Legendary K.O. - George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People

"Happy Belated Valentine's Day!" never will quite cut it, will it? Oh well.

In the following video, The Dresden Dolls dress up as Sonny and Cher and sing "I Got You Babe" to one another. This then followed by a little bit of a burlesque show, which then segues into a rendition of "...Baby One More Time." Madonna finds her way in there, too. Enjoy!

The Dresden Dolls - Halloween 2004 Medley (music video)

Sorry that I've not posted in a long time. I've been watching a lot of International Music Feed, a new channel that plays music videos from all around the world. It's pretty good, overall - it reminds me of how MTV2 used to be back in the late 90's/early 00's. I hope that it stays around a good long time.

IMF's probably not indie enough for some people, but as far as those people go, what ever will be? Good question. Some of this stuff all comes down to a pissing contest disguised as intellectualism, bohemianism (What? You aren't even Czech!) or elitism. Everyone understands the difference between substance and quantity - get off your high horses. Now it's time for me to, too. Oh well.

Watch some IMF - you'll see plenty of Nelly's "Grillz," but you'll also see M.I.A. and Nine Inch Nails; plus, all sorts of Indian music - it's about time 1/6th of the planet's population started getting some airtime in the U.S.

All in all, I'd say it's a good representation of all the music in the world, top to bottom (Britney Spears?).

Well, it's Saturday night, and that reminds me of something - I love this new season of Saturday Night Live. If you've not watched in a while, give it a chance; there are some hilarious things on here this year, most notably the inclusion of The Lonely Island (just check the index for Incredibad/The Lonely Island for samples of their brand of comedy) and the Dane Cook episode.

Just in case you've been under a rock, here is one product of the new season of SNL.

Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell - Lazy Sunday (music video)

Whoa! My Shared Folder just recently surpassed 12,000 visitors. When did that happen? I've been looking more into the statistics that I get from my SiteMeter and the results are promising - My Shared Folder is steadily moving towards its ultimate goal of world domination! Just kidding. Actually, though, I am really amazed at how diverse our readership here is - this site is viewed regularly by people from all six of the most-populated continents. Not that 12,000 is a huge number, but it is respectable, I would say.

So, here is my idea - if you read My Shared Folder, say hi. Hit the comment button below this post and introduce yourself, even if you have already once before. Tell everyone something about yourself.

Nobody will probably do it, but I am just curious as to who is reading My Shared Folder in Poland, Argentina, Australia, Israel, Japan, Turkey, Chile, India, Croatia, Morocco, and Brazil. It's great to have people gather here from all over the world. Stop in and say hello!

In many ways, Deadbolt is a band that is hard to take seriously. At the same time, however, they bill themselves as "the world's scariest band." Their music is overly-dramatic and creepy and so it is easy to just laugh it off, but then it really does become scary if you start to wonder if they really are taking themselves seriously. It's kind of that same feeling you get when you joke about death and then hear that someone you know really has died. Appropriately enough, they refer to their musical style as voodoobilly. The standout track out of the four below is "Blacktop Fever" - brooding surf rock guitars over the sounds of near-vehicular manslaughter. (Visit Deadbolt's online store.)

Deadbolt - Blacktop Fever *
Deadbolt - Macombo's Revenge *
Deadbolt - One Day I Will Kill You *
Deadbolt - El Perversio *

* You must be registered with Epitonic to be able to download these tracks.

Well, it's not music, but Post Secret is a great thing nonetheless. I was into it a lot several months back and just got back into it. I wish I had saved copies of all the earlier postcards, but I plan on making my own archive of it from here on out.

Just in case you've not seen this site, the premise is for people to send in anonymous postcards with artistic declarations of some deep secret that they would not normally tell in real life. Since such brutal honesty is rare in real life, it makes for an interesting experience reading other peoples' secrets.

A similar, but more voyeuristic/less artistic site is Not Proud.

Somehow, in the midst of everything else going on in my life (getting married, holidays, getting a new job, spending time with friends and family, etc.), I missed the first birthday of My Shared Folder back on November 9. So, everyone wish My Shared Folder a happy belated birthday!

If you are really bored, you can always go back to the first post, made back when this mp3 blog was still called What's Knittin', Kitten? and a certain musically-inclined Democrat was running for the Presidency.

Enjoy the nostalgia!

( Pete Townshend Warns iPod Users Of Potential Hearing Loss )

Plus, they're really expensive compared to comparable mp3 players.

( Whales Found to Sing in Dialects )

Klezmer was the music of the klezmorim, a class of itinerant musicians, who played in the shtetls, or Jewish villages, of eastern Europe. The music combines elements of Gypsy, Turkish, Greek, Ukranian, Russian, and Polish music, as well as Jewish liturgical chants. Its infectious melodies and dance rhythms captivate audiences everywhere.

In April 2000, mandolinist Jeff Miller and bluegrass violinist Jeremy Brown were looking to play Klezmer. They recruited bassist Iggie Tiemann from the Smokehouse All-Stars and classically trained clarinetist Paul Wexler to form Yidn, which simply means "Jews." (Visit Yidn's online store.)

Yidn - Araber Tantz (Live)
Yidn - Ma Yofus (Live)
Yidn - Purim Nigun (Live)
Yidn - Yishmekhu (Live)

I originally found out about the slowed-down version of "The Chipmunks Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" over at Said The Gramophone last summer. The original review stated (and it's all pretty much true), "Yes, hear Simon, Theodore and Alvin at their true speed, sounding respectively like an accountant, a hot-dog vendor, and a lunatic." (Buy Merry Christmas From The Chipmunks from Amazon.)

The Chipmunks - The Chipmunks Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) (Half-Speed Version)