Subject URL: Fun with Napster

Looks like the recording industry has a program designed to search the web, P2P networks, FTP, IRC, you name it, for copyrighted material. Designed to hammer ISPs with requests to shut their users down. Oh yay.

So I jumped straight on Napster today. Searches for Powderfinger, Whitlams, Regurgitator return the same crap as they always have. Metallica returns a whole much of mispelled songs (Sad But Not True, Whisky In A Jar) and random live covers. Searches for Jeff Mills came up with long impressive lists....

So if they're not shutting it down... bah, I don't know.

Um... wow. That was fucking amazing. I've never danced that hard and that long in my whole life. The music really does just grab you by the balls and swing you around to the beat.

The DJ who was spinning when we arrived (fairly sure it was Chuck-E) was fantastic. An awesome mix of techno beats with random cheese. By the end of his set a fair amount of the crowd was on the dancefloor, ready for the next DJ to mess it all up again. Eventually this DJ figured out what he was doing, only to have Jeff Mills come out about 1am and tell his to piss off, it was his go.

The record Jeff put on was scratched and was jumping. Jeff just stood there and looked mildly unimpressed as he tried to figure out the problem. Eventually he leaned over, blew on the needle to the cheers of the crowd. When that didn't fix it he took the needle off and handed it to the owner, replaced it and the record and started the set proper.

Jeff didn't smile, that just isn't what he does, but he boogied. Bopping back and forward and he frigged around with his controls. Majorly impressive to see it all happen live. I always wonder how much of these sets is planned and how much is arse.

Music definitely can have a context. I understand so much more music now. Songs I've previously hated were mixed into sets last night and they were awesome. Half second snippets of songs were played randomly and it was just as good as hearing the whole damn thing. A crowd of people all there for exactly the same music, not one of them a meathead, all of the massively happy.

This was no moshpit. These days gigs are full of dickheads who want to mosh up the front, squashing everyone they can. It never used to be like that (so I'm told). This was a floor so packed there wasn't much room to dance and every now and then you'd smack someone in the head with a hand, and they'd turn around, smile and yell 'YEAH!!'.

There isn't much to say except that I loved it, I had to leave around 3am because I was completely stuffed, I feel pretty good this morning if only a little sore in the shoulders, and I'm off to buy a bike.