As the end of the year quickly approaches, it's as good a time as any to reflect on the past. And what better way to do that than to flash back to that glorious decade of excess, the 80s. This month's RobotSound Jukebox celebrates the sleazy, coke-fueled sounds of my adolesecent fantasy world (not that I grew up doing drugs or hookers mind you). There's plenty of action to go around, so fret not automatic lovers...your pleasure is our business...whether it's the sultry sounds of Prince's or Rick James' protégés (Vanity 6 and Mary Jane Girls, disrespectfully), the raunchy abandon of Divine, the freak-a-holism of Egyptian Lover or the synthetic seduction of SSQ, we've got your favorite naughty flavors in stock. Rock 'N Roll strippers, synthesizer fetishists, and trashy punk sluts are equally welcome here. So strap on those head-phones for some Aural servicing, because you're about to get all kinds of nasty. You know you love it you little freak.

We are the robots who have emotions
We are what you see

We've come to help you with your problems
So we can be free

The RobotSound Krew is about ready to continue the madness with next month's musical adventure, Mr. Roboto. Celebrating Gomes' date of manufacture, we'll be throwing down the Italo/Electrodisco, Synthpop and the forgotten pleasures of Bleep.

So all you Los Angeloid Robots and Robettes - get thee down to K-Town, look for the blue neon ghost at 371 N. Western Ave. and dig the grooves no one else in this city plays.

For a taster, download the Mini-Roboto Mix.

The Rorschach Garden - The Robot Song
Shock - Dynamo Beat
Teach In - The Robot
Midnight Star - Freak-a-zoid
The Droids - The Force
Mr. Roboto

Scott Goddard - Cowpunk
Wide Boy Awake - Come Back Friday
Altered Images - Insects
Tim Scott - Swear
Kim Wilde - Cambodia
The Human League - Rock 'n' Roll
Ministry - Same Old Madness
Fad Gadget - Coitus Interruptus
Grauzone - Eisbaer
Psyche - Unveiling The Secret
Strawberry Switchblade - Jolene
Psychic TV - Godstar

Thought I'd randomly mix together some slabs from a recent cratedigging mission.

Enjoy!

Tracks
kiko - maximale
gto - love is everywhere [heartcore mix]
herman schwartz - nothing to lose
mark du mosch - faith
colder - to the music
umek and I turk - sun drenched land
the seducers - unavoidable infiltrators
transparent sound - slang city
2020 soundsystem - tape [bom bom digert rom miks]
cristian varela - your body experiences [sergy casttle rmx 2]
hac[k] the tab - ...is back

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 it's clear that I've been stuck in the 20th century for the last couple months, here's an A - Z of 80s videos so that maybe I can purge this inexplicable nostalgia and return to present-day existence. I tried to find live performances or "alternate" versions when available so that you're not stuck watching the same clips that have been in rotation on music video channels for the last 20-30 years.

ABC - Look of Love
Blancmange - Blind Vision
Captain Sensible - Wot
Devo - That's Good
Ēbn-Ōzn - AEIOU Sometimes Y
Falco - Der Kommissar
Go Gos - We Got The Beat
The Human League - Being Boiled
Irene Cara - What A Feeling
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey & Inside Me
Kraftwerk - Heimcomputer
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - Head To Toe
Midnight Star - Operator
New Order - Love Vigilantes
OMD - Electricity
Pete Burns - You Spin Me Round
Stacey Q - Two Of Hearts
Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
Sparks - Cool Places
Tones On Tail - Go!
Ultravox - Sleepwalk
Visage - The Anvil
Kim Wilde - Kids In America
Trans X - Living On Video
Yazoo - Don't Go
ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin'

Today's RobotMix™ comes to us courtesy of Mark Archer, of Nexus 21/Altern 8 fame. Mark kicks it wayyy Old Skool here with Thee urban jams of the early-to-mid 80s. Let me be the first to witness that the robots who krafted these songs had some serious soul indeed.

Listening to this mix, I was transported back to my childhood, when I'd tune in to local radio station KDAY when it was still 1580 on the AM dial. I'd eagerly await each day's top hit countdown which for a time nearly always included one of the countless "diversions" of Art of Noise's Beat Box, Egyptian Lover - Egypt Egypt, Newcleus - Jam On It, Cameo - She's Strange, and invariably, something from the LA Dream Team. KDAY was responsible for bringing the sounds chilly most of West Coast Hip Hop (Electro-hop in particular) from the other side of town to the ears of suburban, fat lace wearin', robot mimes like myself.

So, depending on your flava, break out the linoleum/carboard, don those Adidas tracksuits and Kangol hats, or dig out the rollerskates for the smoov sounds of:
Soul Electro

(Tracklisting after the jump)