The Free Energy debate

An Irish company called Steorn has announced, via a full page advert in the Economist, that they have discovered a way of producing energy for free:

Steorn is making three claims for its technology

• The technology has a coefficient of performance greater than 100%.
  
• The operation of the technology (i.e. the creation of energy) is not derived from the degradation of its component parts.
  
• There is no identifiable environmental source of the energy (as might be witnessed by a cooling of ambient air temperature).

The sum of these claims is that our technology creates free energy.

Soon their system/device/box of tricks will undergo rigorous scientific testing, and if successful I am sure the planet will be delighted. But what will we do first?

Will we make more mobile phones or are we going to sort out the problems of the developing world? Because in the beginning the world cost nothing and now we have landlords and taxes. Will free energy gives us the one thing some crave: people free from poverty.

See also:

Steorn's free energy seems curiously expensive by Rupert Goodwins of ZDNet UK

Music from Malawi

There are few musicians from Malawi who have been able to make an impression in the West; the band I would like you to meet have the energy to accomplish such a task.

The Sangalala AfroBlues Band represents a unique collaboration of Malawian musicians put together by an emerging artist named Kenny Gilmore (above on stone pillar).

Together they have created a new style of music which has captured the heart of the nation. They call it ‘AfroBlues AfroBlues’.

When Kenny Gilmore visited the UK in 2006 Xan Phillips interviewed him about the band, music in Malawi and the influences behind their latest album ‘Ngati Mafunde Mafunde’. The conversation is interspersed with three tracks: Musade Nkawa, Ngati Mafunde and Phwando.

The band can be contacted at www.myspace.com/sangalala

You can listen now by clicking the device below:


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Long Slow Train to Guildford

When you have a load of good songs, some train sounds and a podcasting ability then it makes sense to throw them all together and give it a fancy name. Plus we can rely on the lovely Jenny to lend her luscious tones to the beginning and presto hey we must have a hit!

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All the music on this podcast comes from Guildford in Surrey, UK and we kick off a new song from Raising Sand who are an excellent four piece rock band. Legend has it they were dipped in a bucket of blues when they were born. Well worth seeing live and as this song is called Dirty Weekend I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

We carry on with the blues for the next two songs. The first is the next single from the Martin Harley Band – titled Carnival Girl it comes form the album Money Don’t Matter, both of which are available to won, love and cherish - soon.

Then we have more new music in the shape and sound of Jay Carter. Not only is he a young and gifted guitarist but he also teaches it too. This is a new composition and recording from him. It is called Make Your Change.

Next stop is Greedy Fingers, or Mr Greedy as he is sometimes known. He’s a producer and recording artist who works with a variety of people. The rappers Cage and Necro feature on his album Shady Sirens as well as this track I Sell Rhymes Like Dimes performed by Greedy Fingers & MF Doom/Megalon

The we have a chalk and cheese moment as this track slips quite nicely into When You Get to Heaven by Henta. We featured her in Volume and by now if you are listening to the podcast I hope you are suitably impressed by the quality of musicianship coming out of Guildford. And it continues with…

Hipslinky, the band with the best name in the world. This track is a b-side. It is called Time Comes Around was the second song to Had It Occurred To You? Both of which should appear on the next Hipslinky (great name) album

The last two artists, or stops, on this Long Slow Train to Guildford both begin with a W. But that is probably the closest either gets to the other. Rob Blackham’s latest project is called Way Out Cinema and this piece of music is a demo of the song Choose.

And we end with the other W - Wonderland Avenue. I haven’t seen Trisco (the man behind the desk) for a while as he’s been gigging in Russia and might even be doing a set in China. This piece of music is called Get Back and I can only describe the style as Hard Dance – I’m sure it’s not known as that but you should get the drift once you hear it.

And that’s it, we arrive in Guildford.

Perfect Song is Perfect Place

In the Guildford area we have some great musicians and song writers. One of them is Alistair Cowan (left) and he recently previewed some new songs at Guilfest - Guildford's three day music festival.

One song really stuck out for me, it's called Perfect Place you can see the video from that festival on YouTube.

I interviewed Alistair after the show, he told me the fascinating background to the song and hope to have the podcast available soon, but as this audio recording is better than the one I made I think you should hear it immediately.

So don't delay: Perfect Place by Alistair Cowan it's lovely!