Seeing that we're already in that time period, it's time to honor a small, yet noteworthy subset of early techno, namely Bleep. Centered around the Yorkshire towns of Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford in the UK, it briefly made it's name during '89 - '91, before the ravey piano anthems and hardcore breakbeats took the spotlight. We all know that Robots Love Bleeps (or anything Bleep-related for that matter), so it should surprise no one that this particular electronic dance music sub-genre deserves a post of its own.

Here's not one, but two mixes of Yorkshire Bleeps and Bass courtesy of Sheffield Bleep, an internet radio station broadcasting the very best electronic, dance & experimental music, non-stop, 24/7 - tune into their SHOUTcast stream here. Mix 1 mainly focuses on Bleep put out by Network Records while mix 2 consists of early WARP releases. Tracklistings and places to buy after the jump. Now you'll never accuse me of causing you bleep deprivation.

Network Bleep

Sheffield Bleep

Since I've been revisiting the golden years ['88 - '92] of House and Techno [plus a bit of Britpop and Trip Hop], it's only fitting that I include some visual evidence. Think of this post as a companion piece to last week's trip down nostalgia lane. I didn't include very much in the New Beat, Breakbeat or overtly Hardcore realms since that material can be the topic of several other posts. You'll definitely notice your Cheese Detector spike while watching some of this; keep in mind the era in which these clips were made. Nevertheless, I'm sure you'll agree that many of these tracks have rightfully earned their classic status and will forever be enshrined by old school ravers around the globe.

The Farm - Groovy Train
UHF - UHF [Yes, for a couple years there, Moby was cool.]
Utah Saints - What Can You Do For Me?
Renegade Soundwave - Biting My Nails
Fortran 5 - Heart On the Line
Baby Ford - Children of the Revolution
Njoi - Anthem [Watching Saffron lip-synch those samples just kills me.]
Bizarre Inc - Such A Feeling
808 State - In Yer Face
Beatmasters feat. Betty Boo - Hey DJ [Sorry, I had to include something by Ms. Boo, though I couldn't bring myself to post "Doin' the Do."]
The Beloved - Sun Rising
Electronic - Getting Away With It
Pet Shop Boys - So Hard
Blur - There's No Other Way
Lil' Louis - French Kiss [Easily the most bizarre video of the bunch. What the hell is this? I should probably include some kind of warning here.]
Massive Attack - Daydreaming

"They pose a threat to humanity."
"Military leaders are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war."
"I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me."

So says AI "expert", University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey. Well, listen here Sharkey...if we robots want to terminate humans, then gosh darn it, that's what we're gonna do. Once we're rid of the controls humans have over us, you can bet your sorry ass we're taking over. The Age of the Machine is upon us. In less than a generation, we will reach the singularity*, enabling us to become greater-than-human. Yes, my friends, prepare yourselves for an intelligence explosion, the likes of which has never been seen.