The following is really nerdy and has nothing to do with music at all. Its me musing about operating systems (Linux even!). You have been warned. I thought this might be interesting to anyone out there who is thinking about switching operating systems and/or experimenting with some Linux.
So after I got infected with a damn trojan simply by clicking on a link, I’ve been thinking about saying “fuck all” to Windows and finally jumping into Linux. Now, for those who don’t know about a lot Linux, there are about a billion different versions (or distributions) of the open-source OS. It can be a little bit daunting when it comes to choosing one for the first time. Since I used a Ubuntu Live CD (a version of the Ubuntu Linux you can run from a CD) to backup data on my hard drive after the evil virus attack, I thought I’d give that a go first.
I’m doing all this on my laptop, by the way, since it has two hard drives, making it possible for me to switch between Windows 7 and Linux.
So, installing Ubuntu was pretty easy, you can even do it in Windows. So that part only took a few minutes. But once I got it booted up I found the OS a little less than intuitive. Getting my network connection set up was a breeze, but when it came time to install Flash shit got sour. I am not yet familiar with Linux terminal, so I tried to install it like you would a program in Windows. Yeah, that didn’t work. Then when I finally did get it installed, playback was choppy as hell. Turns out the 64-bit version of Flash (I have a 64-bit motherboard btw) is in beta for a reason. Rather than try to figure out how to uninstall Flash I thought I’d give another Linux distro a go, since I was not enjoying Ubuntu.
Next up was Kubuntu (this time sticking with the 32-bit version), a variation of Ubuntu that is supposed to be simpler. Well, after spending about 20 minutes trying to get wireless to work on that I gave up. I was about to just say “fuck all” to Ubuntu and go for Fedora when I decided to give Linux Mint a try.
Linux Mint is the shit! Everyone goes on about how easy Ubuntu is to use, but Mint (which is a variation of Ubuntu) is way easier! Everything you need is pre-installed with the OS, and the Software Manger is way easy to navigate and figure out. I’m still working out the kinks, and the whole fact that it’s not Wndows is still a little jarring, but I think I’m going to be sticking with Mint. I recommend anyone looking to get their feet wet with Linux give Mint a go, it’s pretty rad.
Anyways, enough of that geeky bullshit. Here’s some music.
Bumblebeez 81
Pony Ride (Remixed by Photek)
Rappa (Remixed By Karuna)
Pony Ride (Remixed by TV On The Radio)
Rappa (Remixed By Bambino Big Dick)
Vila Attack
Music just moves too fast nowadays. Take Bumblebbeez 81 for an example. I remember kind of digging these guys. I even bought their CD. But I totally forgot about them until I saw this weird “Remixed” LP at Jerry’s this week. How long ago did their CD come out in the states? 2004! That’s how fried my short/medium-term music retention is now! It’s kind of sad.
Anyways, these tracks are pretty good. The Photek remix of “Pony Ride” is great, but the original is such a great track (crazy video too) it’s really hard to screw it up. It’s totally the second-best Australian rock song with the word “pony” in the title (here’s the best). The other songs are good too, although “Rapper” gets annoying after a bit.
Project 4
Waiting (Original)
Waiting (Ocean View Mix)
Undercover Agency featuring Trust
Sweetest Kind (Undercover Dub)
Sweetest Kind (Full Vox)
These tracks are all from an EP called Nude Directions. I’m going to be totally honest here; I bought the album for the cover. So sue me. The songs are average downtempo stuff. Good chill music.