Melodic Dub | With his “Dub Culture”-Single Echo_TM provides Offbeat-Lovers with a real groovy and dubby anthem. While the bassline rolls warm on the floor, melodic vocoder-vocals grab your attention. In germany, we call those intense and pop-orientated tunes an “Ohrwurm”, which means hard-translated: worm in the ear. It’s difficult to get rid off an “Ohrwurm”-Tune, because you discover yourself whistling and humming the melody again and again… Echo_TM knows how to produce such melodies… “Dub Culture” is a classic single with an intro and two remixes. The title-track itself is just great material to remix and both version “T” and “M” are a welcome offer to let the Ohrwurm crawl back into your ears. A great “Ohrwurm” for late summer afternoons where warm sunrays warm our skin. MP3 Dub Reggae Music Download Download: Echo_TM - “Dub Culture” (ZIP-Archive) Artist-Website: www.echotm.net Release: Echo_TM - “Dub Culture” Netlabel: www.afterbeat.org Less

Deep Hypnotic Techno | The track “Cable Pollution Results” starts off with a techy chord, slowly filtered and creeping nearer and nearer till the bouncing techno bassdrum starts bounce and to pull us into the track. Truly minimal but melodic New Delhi FM creates one of these huge and hypnotic waves we like to surf through the night on. Except for two tracks at the end, he keeps this concept. The dub-inspired techno music from New Delhi FM is slightly dark, deep and of course minimal in its essence. While listening to simple but bright synthesizer chords we let loose and drift on lots of echoes into the world of “Row By”. Even though you - if you enjoy yourself listening to DubTechno - won’t find new twists in his tracks New Delhi FM has learned his lessons. The artist from Cologne builds huge hypnotic loops and lets us fall into trance. What do we want more? Yes, a warm and melodic arrival! Just listen how the beautiful electronca track “Pharmacy Officers Parade Days” drops us carefully on the ground. Excellent release! MP3 Techno Music Download Download: New Delhi FM - “Row By” (ZIP-Archive) Artist-Website: www.newdelhifm.de Release: New Delhi FM - “Row By” Netlabel: www.derkleinegruenewuerfel.de Less

The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders set up the first non-state radio station in China since 1949 to broadcast a message in protest against Chinese officials continued suppression of free speech and jailing of journalists, even as the Beijing Olympics are underway. We’ll listen to that broadcast, and catch up on how former FCC officials are joining the fight against the FCC’s current indecency rules. Download/Podcast: mediageek 15 August 2008 broadcast quality mp3 Listen Now: Go get Adobe Flash Player! var so = new SWFObject( "http://radio.mediageek.net/wp-content/plugins/nazdrave-mp3/mp3player.swf", "nazdravemp3_player", "300", "20", "8", "#FFFFFF"); so.addVariable("file", "http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20080815.mp3"); so.write("nazdravemp3_2"); Less

The Maestro of Acc idental Folk is Back | Daisuke Miyatani lives on a small Japanese island, works in a bookshop and releases beautiful, erratic guitar-music all over the world. His records at MiMi, Rain Music, Magic Book and Ahornfelder dog me ever since I started listening to free music. What joy to see his most recent “Fragments” EP published at Creation Centre! Gabriel Hernandez’ Rain Music Netlabel is a good home for Daisuke Miyatani, but Creation Centre is no less. His loose and lo-fi Folk scribbling suit the ideals of Pop on the one hand and an approach of spontaneity and defectiveness and the other. It’s a shame the EP is so damn short (just about 8 minutes) but following title and liner notes, it makes perfect sense at last: “Daisuke’s pieces are like trying to remember a dream after you wake up. Familar, but quickly fading into the noise of life. Quickly he is here to remind us of our dreams. to enjoy that we even have them to start with.” Miyatani’s music is based around tiny loop-a-like melodies he improvises on his acoustic guitar. Certain field-recordings wash through his compositions, hiss and environmental noise are are important as moments of silence. Sometimes, found sounds work as percussion elements. What I like best about Miyatani is the impressive element calmness and self-absorption of his music. There are similar (Japanese) artists like Kozo Ikendo or  Yuichiro Fujimoto, but Daisuke Miyatani is my favourite. P.S.: Watch out for his new collaboration LP with 12k’s Sawako on Schole Records! MP3 Folk Music Download Direct Download: “Fragments EP” ZIP Netlabel: www.creation-centre.com Artist Website: www.myspace.com/diskm Less

Handmade Ambient, Ghostly And Ethereal | In actual fact, João Triangular is João Machado. Machado hails from the city of Lisbon and is part of the intimate artist-rooster at Merzbau, the Portuguese Netlabel run by Tiago Sousa. The music Machado releases under the Triangular-moniker is a ghostly mix of field-recordings, analog instruments and a lot of reverb. Three rather short tracks that bring forth an atmosphere of intense melancholy (even depression), nostalgia and decent creep. First track “Loathe” starts with processed trumpet or cello, it’s hard to say. Undefined field-recordings emerge into a motive of precisely distorted synthesizer which takes on the main pitch of the billowing string-arrangement. “Doria” afterwards has a similar mood but features some more pronounced guitar play. Alongside Machados whispered vocals, the heart rendering guitar melody injects a big potion of melancholia to João Triangular’s rather sober drones. The last track is “Untitled” and comes off with a fine Theremine-like synth texture and processed Moog-flutes. Quite minimal but I like it. P.S.: The absolutely awesome artwork is crafted by João Machao as well. Triangular, no? Chapeau! MP3 Ambient Music Download Release Site: João Triangular - “João Triangular EP “ Direct Download: “João Triangular EP” ZIP Netlabel: www.merzbau-label.org Artist Website: www.myspace.com/joaotriangular Less

Airy Electronica | The artist Crisopa is one of my favorite discoveries this year. His music is subtle, smooth and melodic. Like his wonderful “Medicamentosa” on addSensor netlabel also his “Filamentosa EP” lets you drift away. His music is like a colourful and inspirational journey into a coral riff, where shafts of sunlight enlighten the rich and beautiful underwater world. Back from my holidays I like to take you back into the wonderful world of netlabel music by offering you a deepsea-trip with Crisopa. Since I discovered “Medicamentosa” I played his sweet electronica and ambient music over and over. If you enjoy melodic electronic music with a slight touch of kitsch, Crisopa is the right travel companion. My favorite is the airy and fluffy “Fibra de Carbono y Cambios Automaticos”. Calm, deep and groovy. MP3 Electronica Music Download Download: Crisopa - “Filamentosa EP” (ZIP-Archive) Netlabel: www.persona-isla.org Artist-Website: www.myspace.com/crisopa Less

The FCC finally took action against Comcast for its discriminatory network management practices that blocked its internet customers’ BitTorrent file-sharing traffic. However, while it’s good to see the FCC action, it’s still a mixed decision. Podcast/Download: mediageek 8 Aug. 2008 broadcast quality mp3 Listen Now: Go get Adobe Flash Player! var so = new SWFObject( "http://radio.mediageek.net/wp-content/plugins/nazdrave-mp3/mp3player.swf", "nazdravemp3_player", "300", "20", "8", "#FFFFFF"); so.addVariable("file", "http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/MG20080808.mp3"); so.write("nazdravemp3_2"); Less

The Sirius/XM satellite radio merger was finally approved by the FCC, providing a bare few gimmies for the public interest after months of lobbying and waiting. But the story behind the last-minute tie-breaking vote has to do with both companies’ history of pirate operations. DIYmedia’s John Anderson has be tracking the story for years now and fill us in on the details. Download/Podcast: mediageek 1 August 2008 broadcast quality mp3 Listen Now: Go get Adobe Flash Player! var so = new SWFObject( "http://radio.mediageek.net/wp-content/plugins/nazdrave-mp3/mp3player.swf", "nazdravemp3_player", "300", "20", "8", "#FFFFFF"); so.addVariable("file", "http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20080801.mp3"); so.write("nazdravemp3_2"); Less

Way Wild: Something Like Hip Hop | The Netaudio scene is a laboratory for musicians, a place to publish sounds the mainstream isn’t ready for yet. Exactly the right knothole for Portland-based Owl Dudes. Their approach to experimental lo-fi Hip Hop incorporates shoegazing textures, hardcore rap and a good amount of knob tweaking. Fresh and challenging. The Owl Dudes are Jesse Johnson and Paul Wig, two white breads from boomtown Portland, Oregon. They published their debut “For The Feelers” by the hands of UK La Familia label, one of the most miraculous and enigmatic Notlabels I know. We get to know nothing about the Dudes despite free access to their songs in MP3 format. That’s fairly enough, no? “For The Feelers” consists of nine rather short tracks and drafts, blending into each other like a mixtape. Part vocal part instrumental, the Owl Dudes take the best from Hip Hop, Punk and electronic music to create something exciting and new. Their snotty raps sound tight and draw influences from both Hip Hop and US Hardcore. Beats are scattered loosly about their tracks, changing seats with noisy textures and unexpected samples which is excellently matched by the trashy sound of the EP. Where some of the vocal tracks make you think of Anticon-head Sole and in face of the Ambient textures Odd Nosdam has to be mentioned, the Owl Dudes do something very unique and refreshing. Night time, owls at work. MP3 Hip Hop Music Download Release Site: Owl Dudes - “For The Feelers” Direct Download: “For The Feelers” ZIP Netlabel: www.8302.net/familia Artist Website: www.myspace.com/owldudes Less

FAP850: MEFA Massachusetts Student Loan Interview on WGBH Video I thought I’d publish the actual video from the WGBH interview about MEFA the other day as a download, as opposed to making you watch it only on the web site. The video runs about 8 minutes long, and my thanks go to the staff of WGBH for a great interview and a great studio experience. Direct video file download: MP4 file Did you enjoy today’s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you . Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis Less

Netlabel Compilation | Phlow-Magazine.com proudly presents “Destination Cologne”, a compilation with music from netlabels coming from and living in Colgne/Germay. Curated by mo.  for the c/o pop conference in august 2008 this collection presents you a vibrant profile of the free electronic music scene in one of Germanys most active cities. After Stockhausen and Kompakt a new collective starts to put Cologne again on the map of electronic music. These netlabel buddies contributed their sound to the compilation. Spread the word, and embed the compilation-widget on your website! To get the code just click on the Share-Button! Yeeee! Phlow-Magazine.com proudly presents “Destination Cologne” a free netlabel compilation by netlabels from Cologne. To get more information about all the netlabels involved click on the Netlabel-Button in the widget. And these netlabels were involved in the making of “Destination Cologne”: Zimmerlautstaerke Stadtgruen Rest Label rec72 Phonocake iD.EOLOGY FOEM directors cut cologne Der kleine grüne Würfel 2063music Soundmap of Cologne Free MP3 Music Download To download the ZIP-Archive, just click the tab in the navigation-bar of the widget :) Playlist - Destination Cologne “Thalys - Mehrsprachige Zugansage” (Soundmap of Cologne) “Please Repeat” from System-Pi (Stadtgruen) “Cable Pollution Results” from New Delhi FM (Der kleine grüne Würfel) “The one with the lead guitar” from Monomatik(iD.EOLOGY) “lexington” from nika japaridze (Rest Netlabel) “Periodic Table” from 6884 (FOEM) “more” from Breitbandkater (directors cut cologne) “Phonocake” from Aries Fiktion (Phonocake) “SKOOL” from Organo Flex (72rec) “Jutro” from Phonout (Zimmerlautstärke) “04_untitled” from monostatic (2063music.de) “Die singenden Schranken von Holweide” (Soundmap of Cologne) To present this compilation on your blog or netlabel, just embed the widget on your website. To get the code just click on the Share-Button! Less