Lest we forget our Electrolatino amigos, this Cinco de Mayo I have a very nice surprise.

10 years ago, a 3-piece electronic/rock group out of Mexico called Titán, that started out in the early 90's, had a dancefloor hit with the 1999 release of Corazón on the record label of our Lord's mother, Virgin. With this track, taken from their Elevator LP, they took a seemingly traditional-sounding folk song and transformed it for the Star Wars generation into a funky riff-driven, sample-laden, spy-fi breakbeat workout with an instantly catchy chorus. A slew of remixes followed by the period's Big Beat/Chemical Breaks stars. Comparisons were being made to another unlikely band of merry pranksters, the Beastie Boys. I, myself, thought they were poised for a big stateside breakout, but then...nada. Apart from one under-the-radar EP and a second, less-popular single (1, 2, 3, 4) from the album, they disappeared and faded back into semi-obscurity. Frankly, Titan did not receive the props I think they deserved.

A few years back, they released a second, punkier album in 2004 on a small Mexican label which you'd be hard-pressed to track down an actual copy of (your best bet would be finding it online). They also maintain the requisite MySpace page which contains a few tracks from that album. RobotSound recommends that you befriend them.

Today, exclusively on RobotSound, I bring you the forgotten remixes of Corazón, which never saw a commercial release. In this robot's humble opinion, these Ritmos Latinos are even better than their "Official" counterparts. Also on offer is a non-LP track, Motor, which similarly didn't become available--until now. I won't say how I came across these--let's just thank our local record Savior and say a few Hail Marys.

Pistas
Titán - Corazón (Los Extraños vs. Grupo Titan)
Titán - Corazón (Titone Bling Mix)
Titán - Corazón (Demo Version)
Titán - Corazón (Mi Corazone Conoce A Mastreta)
Titán - Corazón (Salvaje Mix)
Titán - Corazón (Barbarella Mix)
Titan - Motor

Another Friday, another 13 sinister choices from around the globe.

The Emergency [AU]
Ionic Vision [BE]
Alpha 606 [CU]
Jupiter Black [DE]
Minimal Rome [IT]
We Smoke Fags [UK]
Spider and the Flies [UK]
Femme Fatale [FR]
Suicide Booth [DE]
Celluloide [FR]
Zen-Kei [DE]
Position Parallele [FR]
Sintesi [SE]

Enjoy the latest RobotSound mix. Equal parts future disco/Italotronique, EBM, and percussion-driven electro with a Whitney/Kraftwerk mash-up and Iggy Pop cover thrown in for good measure.

HOTBOX 12.1.07

Tracklist:
Creme de Menthe - Do You Want My Love?
Francisco - Esplanade 97
Op:l Bastards - Sagittarius [Disco Flavour Remix by Patrick Pulsinger]
Microthol - Moroder Machine
The Immortals - Ultimate Warlord
Sync 24 - I Don't Know
Girls on Top - I Wanna Dance With Numbers
Nitzer Ebb - Control (I'm Here) [Dubfire's Jamrock Remix]
Dirty Princess - Jugaral Reves
Human Body - Galactica [The Hacker Remix]
Manic Mind - Mentally Sick
Anthony Rother - Moderntronic 1
Bass-A-Rani - Boogie Chasers [Dexter Edit]
Huntemann - Disco Tech [Die Raketen Remix]
Crash Course in Science - Cardboard Lamb [David Carretta Remix]
Princess Superstar - Do It Like A Robot [Hell Rocks the Equalizer Remix]
Mix Machine - Phreax
Archigram - Doggystyle
Polygamy Boys - Polygamy Boys Theme
Mr. Pauli - Satisfaction

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.

There once was a time when I didn't like vocals in the electronic music I was listening to. If some wailing diva came into the mix or MC Whack started toasting, that usually killed a track for me. I'm still not a fan of divas or whack-ass MCs, but I don't mind vocals the way I used to (that's not to say that there isn't a lot of vocal-y stuff out there that blows). When it comes to vocals, I prefer those that are either tweaked through machines and are therefore somewhat undecipherable or sung/spoken in a foreign language. Maybe it restores some of the music's mystery that you usually can only get when listening to instrumentals.