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Hot Bots In The City
Submitted by dr™ on July 15, 2008 - 11:47am.Seems like the summer heat has rendered the 'bots at RobotSound HQ lethargic as of late. It's evident that they'd rather sit around watching bad Reality TV programming and getting their snack on than producing anything in terms of meaningful content for y'all. Nevertheless I've managed to coax them into uploading my set recorded live at the recent Hot Box Summer Solstice event. A potent synthesis of love and war, this mix attempts to address the uncertainty of the times in which we live by incorporating both the chaos of today with (hopefully) the promise of a brighter tomorrow.
Shit Robot - Lonely Planet
Water Lilly - The Sleepwalker
Franz & Shape - Forgotten Days (Memory Boy Remix)
8-Bit - The Robots
Hell - Suicide Commando
Kano - It's A War
GTO - Love Is Everywhere (Live & Love Mix)
Steril - Electrostatic
The Clone Machine - Clone Machine (Empire Mix)
Der Zyklus - Roche Limit (v3)
Millimetric - Where
David Carretta - Shocktreatment
Nitzer Ebb - Murderous (Phil Kieran Mix)
6blocc - Digits
Anthony Rother - Mathematik
MOTOR - 1X1 (Phil Kieran Remix)
Kiko - Slave Of My Mind
Romina Cohn - The Night
Ectomorph - Lost Angles (Manyangles Version)
This Is Acid. I'm Gonna Give You Acid.
Submitted by dr™ on May 20, 2008 - 8:03pm.To commemorate the recent passing of Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman, the first man to synthesize Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), this month's RobotSound Jukebox is all about thee Acid. From 1987 to 2008, here are 33 (30+3) choice 303 trax for your trip. Yes, the Silver Box called the TB-303 Bass Line manufactured by the Roland Corporation (and its subsequent clones and software emulators), which once spurred the Acid House movement, continues to jack the masses worldwide.
In the beginning there was Jack...
I Sing The Soul Electro
Submitted by Wheats on April 22, 2008 - 5:33pm.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)
Ye Olde New Beat
Submitted by vodka ed on April 13, 2008 - 2:10am.After countless attempts by dr™ of trying to convince me to impart some of my vast musical knowledge by contributing to RobotSound™, I've finally decided to discuss one of my favorite dance music genres, New Beat. This was the sound created primarily by Belgian producers from '87 to '89 that forged a link between the EBM and Acid House of the mid-to-late 80s with the Rave/Hardcore Techno scene of the early 90's.
According to dance lore, New Beat was inadvertantly created when a deejay played an EBM 12", Flesh by A Split Second, at 33rpm instead of it's intended speed of 45rpm. Besides their slower tempo, New Beat hits were also characterized by their use of sexually explicit samples, especially those taken from NYC shock performance artist Karen Finley. After a couple years, New Beat morphed into the even shorter-lived Skizzo and Hard Beat sub-genres, which in turn were the precursors of early 90's Rave/Hardcore...
With that cursory introduction, I present:
Vodka Ed's Top 10 Jams of New Beat.
Warning: Some of the videos and/or corresponding audio may not be suitable for the workplace environment ;)
10. A Split Second - Flesh
Since this is the track that supposedly started the whole shebang, it's inclusion on the list is essential.
9. 101 - Move Your Body
One of the MANY projects of Praga Khan and friends. Though there were seemingly lots of different New Beat artists, in reality most output was created by two (or maybe three) groups of producers. This was 101's 2nd hit, after their anthemic Rock To The Beat, though I always thought this was the better track.
8. Moments of Ecstacy - You and Me
Another alias of Praga and crew. Like I said, they used LOTS of different names to make you THINK there was a whole scene.
7. Erotic Dissidents - Move Your Ass And Feel The Beat
This is the full 12" mix from the ultra-productive (one could even say robot-like) Morton-Sherman-Belucci, the New Beat equivalent of Hi-NRG's production whizzes Stock, Aitken & Waterman, who also brought us such classics as Shake Your Hips and Jack To The Air Of The Underwear.
6. Taste Of Sugar - Hmm Hmm
Some cheesy dancing here in another Morton-Sherman-Belucci production. Note the dancers are wearing proto-typical New Beat fashion. Many of these 12"s came with inserts where you too could mail order the clothes.
5. Space Opera - Mandate My Ass
This one gets included for the title alone. Some members of Space Opera included CJ Bolland, David Morley and R & S Records founder Renaat Vandepapeliere.
4. Technotronic Feat. Felly - Pump Up The Jam ("Live")
Easily the biggest and most instantly recognizable hit of the New Beat era. As everyone knows, Felly was just the blue-lipped lip-synching model, whose presence record execs felt would likely sell more records. In actuality, Ya Kid K was the uncredited singer/rapper. Here's the original video for a laugh (dig the fannypack).
I don't want a place to stay
Get your booty on the floor tonight
Make my day
3. Lords of Acid - I Sit On Acid
'88 + 303 = Sit on your face...I wanna sit on your face. Soulwax put out I Sit On Acid 2000, an electro remix a few years back.
2. Major Problem - Acid Queen
New Beat doesn't get much hotter than this. Perfect for your Robot S&M parties (don't ask me, dr™ asked me to include that line). Now I want you to get down on your hands and knees...
1. Miss Nicky Trax - Acid In The House
Don't ask me what pumping iron and women's wrestling have to do with this masterpiece of the genre. As part-time New Beat revivalist V/Vm so succinctly puts it, I Wanna Fuck Miss Nicky Trax.
Absolute Body Controlled
Submitted by dr™ on April 6, 2008 - 4:12pm.
Performing live in the US for the first time, Absolute Body Control stormed LA and NY this past weekend. This was a super-rare opportunity to see two originators of Minimal Wave, Dirk Ivens & Eric Van Woternghem (also of Dive, The Klinik, Monolith, Sonar, and Blok 57) definitively rock the house with body-controlling jams from throughout their lengthy 28-year existence. For the mainly 30-something crowd at Club M/R/X, ABC's long-overdue visit was fully welcomed as evidenced by the chant-along with Dirk on several songs. Despite getting hassled by the overzealous security, the RobotSound Krew enjoyed the vintage analogue goodness after downing some Duvels (in honor of the visiting Belgians of course) and ogling the local talent.
Here's a clip of ABC performing the Suicide-esque So Obvious in NYC on 4.4.08
The Pleasure Principle
Submitted by dr™ on February 25, 2008 - 1:59am.It has been a while since I've offered a proper mix on RobotSound. Notwithstanding the fact that I've been listening to some decidedly retro-minded, un-robotic sounds as of late, it's time to return to our primary directive: Enabling robots like us to maintain their superiority edge on the sonic curve.
Our next audio hybridization installment comes to us from Spain, from the proprietor of Planeta Modular and it's a dark one indeed. Visions of dystopian futuristic soundscapes for the offworld colonies of tomorrow. Be seduced by the power of the darkside...
Darkman - Pleasures Received In Pain
1. Le Seduction Des Innocents - La Glorie D´Un Homme
2. Numb - Guilt
3. Le Syndicate Electronique - Dissidence
4. Benjamin Pecek - Power
5. Le Syndicate Electronique - Sacrifice
6. Fastgraph - Systematic
7. Anthony Rother - Don´t Stop The Beat
8. Fastgraph - Vsat
9. The Other People Place - Eye Contact
10. Ectomorph - The Haunting
11. Arpanet - Quantum State Recombination
12. Syncom Data - E.C.M.
13. Tollstoi - The Red Fader
13. Planet Detroit - Invasion From Planet Detroit
13. Partisan Midi - Tilt
14. The Operator - Local Host
15. The Dexorcist - Connect One
17. DBit - Medusa
18. Spinks vs. Kalbata - Contact Jerusalem
19. Kill Memory Crash - The O
20. E8 - Cruise Contol
21. Urban Electro - Subhuman Patrol
22. Drexciya - Depressurization
23. Brothomstates - Adozenaday