Thee robots got fonky this past Saturday night, with Georgio and myself throwing down a number of Prince [or Prince-related] jams. Getting prime billing was Dez Dickerson's [I Want 2 B A] Modernaire. Dez, who played guitar for Prince in 1979/80 [before leaving after becoming Born Again and getting replaced by Wendy], performed with his Modernaires for a scene in Purple Rain, but only 18 seconds of his song ever made it into the film. The track was supposed to get released as a single and appear on the Purple Rain soundtrack (which eventually became a Prince-exclusive affair), but Dez's song got shelved, multiple label offers fell through and a solo career failed to materialize.

Fast forward 25 years and the long-lost Modernaire finally gets a proper single release, mastered from a newly discovered tape recording. Put out by the fine folks at Citinite and pressed on translucent red vinyl, it also contains 5 funked-up mixes/remakes from DMX Krew, Luke Eargoggle [Faceless Mind], Hot Persuasion, Complexxion, and the ever heavy-breathing Egyptian Lover. Check Citinite's Modernaire page for online retailer/distributor links or go to Bleep.com to buy the mp3s. I suggest buying the vinyl pronto since it is a limited edition and I'm sure once those collectors find out, they'll be snapping them up like Prince at a high heels sale. So in the words of Morris Day, "I wanna see some asses wigglin'...I want some perfection."

Another act to look out for on the Prince/Midnight Star/Cameo/Zapp-inspired tip is Bumper, side-project of Mr. Pauli with Geoffrey T. Their sound incorporates LinnDrum, vocoders, and funky basslines, blending vintage Minneapolis genius with early Jedi Knight electro fuckery. Stream their Never Stop EP here to get a taste of new jack electrofunk, because when it comes to all things Prince, It Takes An Erotic Village...

Of the past two decades, one of my personal favorite artists has been Greater Than One. Founded in 1985 by Michael Wells and Lee Newman after meeting at the Royal College of Art in London, Greater Than One started out as experimental artists, putting on multi-media art installations while dabbling in mutated cut-ups of found sounds and samples layered into Dadaist, soundtrack-like collages. Towards the end of the 80s the duo moved on into Industrial Dance before evolving into Techno and Gabber innovators in the early 90s. Operating as sonic terrorists, the duo released a slew of records under the names Tricky Disco [Bleep Techno], GTO [Techno/Rave], John + Julie [Hardcore Techno/Acid], Church of Extacy [Hardcore Techno/Acid], Signs of Chaos [Techno/Breakbeat], TD5 [Techno], The Salami Brothers [Gabber], Gangsta Trax [Gabber], Killout Squad [Gabber], 1000 Blinky Lights [Techno], and Technohead [Hardcore Techno/Gabber/Happy Hardcore], with each project bringing new elements into the equation while retaining certain sonic signatures that clued listeners in to the fact that they were listening to a GTO production.

In 1995 they scored their biggest hit, I Want To Be A Hippy, before Newman sadly passed away after a brief battle with cancer. Wells has continued to periodically release music under the names Signs of Chaos, S.O.L.O., and The Man, and more recently has resurrected the Tricky Disco and GTO monikers for a few digital-only releases.

Due for release September 1st, Brainwashed Archives is set to re-issue all of the Greater Than One output, some of it on CD for the first time. Included are their first full LP, All the Masters Licked Me together with their first recorded material, Trust. Also on offer are their WaxTrax! releases, London expanded to include Dance of the Cowards, Duty, rare compilation tracks and a bonus DVD of music videos, and G-Force, which comes with the I Don't Need Good and Utopia singles, 1991's Index EP, unreleased music from a Japanese-only VHS release, Video Drug 1, another hard-to-find compilation track and one unreleased track.

Head on over to Brainwashed Commerce to order these very reasonably priced multi-disc sets that are chock full of extras for even those die-hard collectors (like me) who religiously track down anything with >1's name on it.

For further enjoyment, download these mixes done in 1993 by DJ Nikadeemas:
GTO Mastermix 1
GTO Mastermix 2

Since I've been on quite the disco trip lately (thanks in part to Georgio and Cosmic Gary), I thought I'd switch musical gears and start what might become a new feature at RobotSound. My intent is to showcase albums that "flew under the radar" so to speak; Releases which deserved more attention than they received at the time. Chrome Tape, from the now defunct(?) band Motormark, is one such album that I believe merits further consideration.

Put out by Alec Empire's Digital Hardcore Recordings back in '04, and co-produced by The Droyds, Motormark's second full-lengther combines the attitude of punk with the buoyancy of melodic, guitar-driven dance rock, all backed by a robotic drum machine. True, for several of the tracks the basic drum programming leaves something to be desired. And the lyrical repetitiveness can become grating at times. But there's something exhilarating about the Fred Schneider-like vocals of singer Marko PolaRoid or the clamoring, overdriven riot-grrl delivery of bandmate Jane Motoro. The catchiness and sheer mobility of the songs help you overlook any of their technical shortcomings. Some tunes sound like they could've been part of a Pixies synth-punk side project. Others would fit nicely into a set of gritty, lo-fi Add N to (X) or Fat Trucker rockers. Anyway, if this release doesn't get your engine revving, you might be running on empty.

Motormark - You're All Talk
Motormark - Anti-Me

Pick up your own Chrome Tape [Cheap!] here: Chrome Tape

Franz & Shape are coming to wipe your synapses of mundane and predictable sonic sequences. Embracing the principles of our retro musical forebearers, they aim to deliver bona fide alternative dance music fused with up-to-the-minute synthetic sensibilities. Their sound though isn't one of yesterday's future; it is the past reflected through the present. Sometimes you really do need to look back in order to contemplate the here and now or determine just where it is you want to go.

Acquire Franz and Shape's retro-futuristic instant classic Acceleration at the Relish Recordings website. Including collaborations with some of today's most forward-thinking dark matter visionaries [Perspects, Matt Sims, G.D. Luxxe, David Carretta, Chelonis Jones, Dirk da Davo of The Neon Judgement], this album brings some much-needed dynamism to the current morass of homogeneity.

Franz & Shape - Tightropes feat. Perspects

Given my affinity for posting covers of the music I was raised on, it was recently brought to my attention that I should profile the cpu-felt New Wave renditions of mr_hopkinson's computer™. Previously featured on RobotSound™ by way of My Robot Friend's Virtual Mixtape, this pensive laptop's fondness for covering indie classics of the 80s and 90s [think Stephen Hawking synthesizes Nouvelle Vague at the Sci-Fi convention] is matched only by his earnestness for proving that he is indeed, a sentient, if sentimental, machine. Personally, I think he should do a version of Joy Division's Isolation [only he should entitle it Pixelation]. And to prove that he's not just stuck in the past or in one particular genre, he also faithfully reproduces [I would daresay improves upon] some more recent pop offerings [Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and Kelis & ODB's Baby I Got Your Money] in connectivities with his female counterpart, The Audrey 3000™.

Please take the time to point your browser over to his myspace page and his bonus tracks page to experience for yourself the music of the silicon sensation that is mr_hopkinson's computer™.

Now that I've presented material from one of, if not THE premiere electronic band of the last 25+ years, I think it's a good time to showcase some of the new(ish) talent on the scene. In all likelihood, some of you will already be familiar with a number of these artists; but if you're familiar with all of them, I'll know that there is someone out there who is more of an electrofreak than I am. In any event, take some time out of your hectic schedule and investigate these fine machine musicians:

Digitaria [Is that sort of like a Digital Cafeteria?]
Dcast Dynamics [new project from Shad T. Scott aka Gosub]
Mediengruppe Telekommander [For those who like their Electro punk-ified, German und Fukengruven]
Microthol [No, it's not a miniature menthol cigarette]
The Consumer [Aren't we all?]
Bitstream [Like Robotsound™, keeping the bits streaming your way]
Franck Kartell [This list's first French person]
Para One [This list's second French person]
The PEneLOpe[s] [A Finnish French band]
Electrosexual [Best.Name.Ever]
Millimetric [French dude + EBM = Hellyes]
Goudron [THIS is machine music. Proper.]
Jun-X [Fuck, another French person?! Okay, next list won't be so Francophilic, I promise]
Limbertimbre [Mad rockin' glitched-up industrial electrofunk]
DJ Zimbardo [Shout out to Qwiki for the heads up on what he calls glitchyacidelectrotechhouse]
New Young Pony Club [Not quite Robot music, but worth the mention nonetheless]
Chromatics [Technically, another "proper" band, but these guys fit well into the Robotsound™ aesthetic]
Mirage [Nu-Italo from Jersey City, NJ [?!] - Cool blog here]
Le Mans [Gotta represent at least one local LA act]
Black Replica [from the universe of H. Mueller. Anyone care for some Electro-goth?]

Okay, so I'm a little late.

Here in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula [aka LA] there is "mucho sabor musical." In some parts of this town it is nigh impossible to go through your day without at least catching a whiff of a cumbia, merengue or cha cha cha. We're going to...Parti'...Karamu'...Fiesta...forever...

Since moving back to mi ciudad natal, I have embraced mi cultura local with the help of mis amigos, Atom™ "Señor Coconut" Heart, El Caliente - the star of those El Pollo Loco commercials who advises me to Taste the Fire, and my friendly neighborhood taco hotspot, Tito's. Margarita Monday's at Acapulco helps too. I think you can see where I'm going with this post.