Barack Obama - "Yes We Can" audio mp3

I was adding new podcasts to my Podcast Finder, and I saw that Barack Obama's most-listened-to track is his "Yes We Can" speech from New Hampshire. There's video of that all over the place, but I couldn't find an mp3 of the speech. So I made one using the Free Video to MP3 Converter.

Here you go:
Barack Obama - Yes We Can

And here's the original video, which only took a couple months to post to my blog from YouTube.

You'd think I'd know by now that the Internet doesn't work better if you keep clicking until it does what you want. Sorry if I Obama-spammed your feed reader.

Useful last.fm tools

Last.fm is doing right what Facebook did right -- letting developers use its data to make new applications as they see fit.

I've blogged, ad nauseam, my last.fm Podcast Finder and last.fm Windows Media Player playlist makers (by most-played artists, calendar, and tag).

In the last few days, I've come across a couple cool last.fm tools made by other folks (each causing me brief bouts of crushing envy and despair). One tool improves the mp3 recommendation process, allowing you to subscribe to last.fm mp3 recommendations like they were a blog. And now there's lasttube, which finds videos from artists you play most on last.fm.

These new tools have me curious what other useful gems are hidden in the graphs-and-pretty-pictures mess at build.last.fm.

I'll let you know what I find.

Good political songs

Inspired by this cry for help, here are some political songs I've been enjoying lately.

Apples in Stereo - Stephen, Stephen [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]
Don't tell me you've forgotten how brave Stephen Colbert is already.

Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]
Cursory Googling didn't yield a clear answer on whether this song means to Elvis Perkins what it does to me. The song I hear when I listen to this is indeed partly about Perkins' mother's death on 9/11. It's also about the sleeping country awakened that day. Sad, but hopeful, I think.

But what do I know. It could be about his girlfriend taking a long nap.

Winterpills - Broken Arm [Buy mp3!!!]
The lyrics are all over the map, but there's politics in 'em.

The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance [Buy mp3!!!]
This is just a fun song about salmon, but up here in the PNW, that's political, innit?

Nellie McKay - Mother of Pearl [Buy mp3!!!]
According to Ms. McKay, I'm doubly blessed with no sense of humor, as both a feminist and a vegetarian. Heh heh heh heh heh heh.

Cocorosie - Rainbowarriors [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]
This makes me hippy-dippy freak-folk happy.

Smog - I Feel Like the Mother of the World [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]
This song always reminds me of how my mom used to make us warring sisters sit in the same chair and hold hands as punishment. I think Bush could benefit from closer exposure to Middle Eastern people who are not outlandishly rich sheiks.

The Thermals - Here's Your Future [Buy mp3!!!]
More about religion than politics, but then in the "God Bless America (or else)" Bush years, they're not so different.

Ted Leo - Loyal to My Sorrowful Country [Buy mp3!!!]
No explanation needed.

Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!][Lyrics]
One this is clear: this song pertains to the future. Because the shocking youthfulness of Tokyo Police Club freaked me the hell out when I first discovered it a couple years ago, I always thought this song was about young people taking over with their kinder, gentler values. Reading the lyrics, it seems like it's more of an indictment of the current people in power.

Photo strip made by Bordr.

Podcast Finder

I've been making decent progress learning PHP and MySQL since I finally got started last month. My proudest achievement thus far is a podcast finder, called "Podcast Finder", that recommends podcasts based on a couple of podcasts you know you like.

I'm a total podcast junkie (try doing PCR in a dead-silent lab for two years, then winning an iPod shuffle, and see if you don't turn addict). But finding new podcasts when you've exhausted an archive or ten is not as simple as giving your favorites five stars on Amazon or Netflix and seeing what they recommend. My old "system" to find new podcasts basically added up to Googling combinations of my favorites to see what else came up (zip), combing through all the most-dugg podcasts on Digg, and scouring the last.fm artists of other big NPR listeners.

The last.fm method gives pretty good recommendations, but it's slow. Podcast Finder speeds it up by using a database (fairly small right now) of last.fm favorites. As with all my little projects, there's room for improvement, but if you're a podcast fan, I'd love for you to give it a try. If I'm missing your favorite (or you have any other feedback), feel free to leave me a comment here.

SXSW 2008

I've been writing a program to take a list of artists and generate a playlist for Windows Media Player that will search your library for songs by those artists.

My little program works pretty well for me, since I know all its little bugaboos, but it's not ready to share yet. So for now, I can only share the playlists.

Here's my 2008 South by Southwest playlist (right-click and Save As... to download to "My Documents/My Music/My Playlists", then open with Windows Media Player). Because there are so many artists, if you have a massive library full of mp3s from good blogs like I do, it'll take a while to load. Watch out, though: Windows Media Player sees that, for example, Bell is playing and thinks Belle & Sebastian are playing. Sadly, they're not.

If your library doesn't include many of the bands playing this year, here's where you can find some mp3s from my favorite bands playing this year. I'll add more when I get time, but I really need to get to work to finish up that playlist program. I have playlists for each day of Coachella, too, but again. Time.

photo by john vanderslice.

Blitzen Trapper - Crazy On You [Buy mp3!!!]
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation [Buy mp3!!!]
Blitzen Trapper - 40 Stripes [Buy mp3!!!]

Jens Lekman - Washing Machine
Jens Lekman - Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death
Jens Lekman - Black Cab [Buy mp3!!!]

photo by chromewaves.

Nada Surf - Always Love [Buy mp3!!!]
Nada Surf - Where Is My Mind? [Buy mp3!!!]
Nada Surf - Popular [Buy mp3!!!]

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma [Buy mp3!!!]
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Menomena - Cough Coughing [Buy mp3!!!]
Menomena - Wet and Rusting [Buy mp3!!!]
Menomena - Rotten Hell

photo by Pupkin.

Yeasayer - Sunrise [Buy mp3!!!]
Yeasayer - Wait for the Summer [Buy mp3!!!]
Yeasayer - Germs [Buy mp3!!!]

Tokyo Police Club - Citizens of Tomorrow (Space Ballad Version)
Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment [Buy mp3!!!]
Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good [Buy mp3!!!]

photo by chona kasinger.

The Blakes - Two Times [Buy mp3!!!]
The Blakes - Pistol Grip [Buy mp3!!!]
The Blakes - Don't Bother Me [Buy mp3!!!]

White Denim - ShakeShakeShake

The Presidents of the United States of America - Kitty [Buy mp3!!!]
The Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches

photo by imjustincognito.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder [Buy mp3!!!]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Underwater (You and Me) [Buy mp3!!!]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Love Song No. 7 [Buy mp3!!!]

Yo La Tengo - Nuclear War

The Clutters - Oh [Buy mp3!!!]

Basia Bulat - I Was a Daughter [Buy mp3!!!]
Basia Bulat - Snakes and Ladders [Buy mp3!!!]

Diplo - Work Is Never Over

photo by johnnyalive.

The Black Lips - Not A Problem [Buy mp3!!!]
The Black Lips - Buried Alive
The Black Lips - Dirty Hands [Buy mp3!!!]


Laura Gibson - Hands in Pockets [Buy mp3!!!]
Laura Gibson - Come by Storm

photo by jessicalea.

Greg Laswell - Girls Just Want To Have Fun [Buy mp3!!!]
Greg Laswell - Sing, Theresa Says [Buy mp3!!!]
Greg Laswell - Days Go On

The Kills - Love Is A Deserter (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
The Kills - Fuck The People
The Kills - No Wow

photo by 'Lil.

Mark Kozelek - What's Next To The Moon [Buy mp3!!!]

The Raveonettes - Love in a Trashcan [Buy mp3!!!]
The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
The Raveonettes - Here Comes Mary

White Williams - New Violence

photo by savemejebus.

The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover [Buy mp3!!!]

Capgun Coup - My Tears Cure Cancer [Buy mp3!!!]
Capgun Coup - Bobby Chops and the Do-Gooders

photo by vern.

The Cribs - Men's Needs [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]
The Cribs - Hey Scenesters! [Buy mp3!!!]
The Cribs - Another Number [Buy mp3!!!]

Division Day - Enjoy the Silence
Division Day - Every Shining Time You Arrive

photo by mediaeater.

British Sea Power - Tugboat

Asylum Street Spankers - You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch [Buy mp3!!!]
Asylum Street Spanker - Beer

Bodies of Water - These Are The Eyes [Buy mp3!!!]

photo by akmal-naim.

Foreign Born - Union Hall [Buy mp3!!!]
Foreign Born - The Nights Tall
Foreign Born - Don't Take Back Your Time

Cloud Cult - Alien Christ
Cloud Cult - Car Crash
Cloud Cult - Living On The Outside Of Your Skin

Zookeeper - Tax Collector
Zookeeper - I Live In The Mess You Are

Richard Thompson - Dad's Gonna Kill Me

photo by bumpershine.

The Weakerthans - Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure [Buy mp3!!!]
The Weakerthans - Plea From A Cat Named Virtute [Buy mp3!!!]
The Weakerthans - Night Windows [Buy mp3!!!]

Simian Mobile Disco - It's the Beat

Black Mountain - Tyrants [Buy mp3!!!]

Handsome Furs - What We Had
Handsome Furs - Dead + Rural
Handsome Furs - Snakes on the Ladder

The Low Budgets - Caveman

The Album Leaf - Always for You
The Album Leaf - Writings on the Wall
The Album Leaf - On Your Way

An Albatross - The Revolutionary Politics of Dance

The Cave Singers - Seeds of Night

The Two Man Gentlemen Band - William Howard Taft

The Stills - Still In Love Song
The Stills - In The Beginning

Throw Me The Statue - Yucatan Gold
Throw Me The Statue - Conquering Kids
Throw Me The Statue - About to Walk

Passengers - Miss Sarajevo

Man Man - Black Mission Goggles
Man Man - Van Helsing Boombox

The Minutemen - History Lesson - part II

The Swell Season - Cactus

The Strugglers - The Cascade Range

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

Sean Hayes - Same God

Born Ruffians - Knife
Born Ruffians - I'm One of Those Girls

Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I