A highly overdue update for you robots of interminable patience. An hour's worth of anthems to keep the circuits from atrophying.

Trax>>>
Sol_Dat - Excession
Miss Kittin & The Hacker - 1982 [Anthony Rother Remix]
David Carretta - Danse Avec Moi
Polygamy Boys - Polygamy Boys Theme
Water Lily - Kiss [Steril Remix]
Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant [Xpress 2 Remix]
Blancmange - Blind Vision
Tik & Tok - Cool Runnings
Dexter - Drum Techniek
Phil Kieren - Mandarin
Undo - Mirrorball [Kiki & Silversurfer Warehouse Daze Remix]
Carl A. Finlow - Polygon Girl
Le Car - Cinematic-Automatic [Heinrich Mueller Remix]
ArD2 - Inside The Rock [Heinrich Mueller Anti De Sitter Space Mix]
Medio Mutante - Frozen Cities
Remote - Hardstick
Kiko - Maximale
?
Psychic TV - Alien Be-In
Egyptian Lover - I Pyromix [1]

Download: Electromancer

For my first act as president, I declare a moratorium on bands/artists covering The Normal's Warm Leatherette. If you feel the need to perform your interpretation of an early electronic minimal wave song, there are plenty to choose from. There is no further need for putting your spin on Daniel Miller's classic ode to J.G. Ballard's Crash. Seriously folks. It has been done.

Please remember to always buckle your seat belt when travelling in a motor vehicle. Unlike the song's exhortations, you do not want to join The Car Crash Set.
Thank you.

BONUS TRACKS
Thanks to my buddy Chris, an authority when it comes to all things Cover Version, I can now safely say that RobotSound is the web's definitive spot for your Leatherette needs. Now please enjoy all 35 (!) flavors...(warning: you may not want to enjoy them all at once). New ones are on top.

Analogue Brain
This is actually a remix of the original, but nowadays, the line between "remix" and "cover" is increasingly blurry.

Mr. Spagandy
This wasn't available anywhere except for his MySpace account, but thanks to Chris and Mr. Spagandy, it's now available here for you.

Chicks on Speed
Here's an alternate Chicks on Speed version. If my memory serves me correctly, they used a Panasonic track for the backing beats/noises. This is the Ramon Bauer and Gerhard Potuznik edit.

Grace Jones 1
LP version by the lovely and talented Ms. Jones.

Grace Jones 2
12" version for an added minute of enjoyment.

KOYT!
Another Dirk Ivens-related one here from KOYT!, fronted by Merlin Burghgraeve (ex-Klinik, Noise Unit and Vomito Negro). This one gave me a distinctly Bauhaus-esque vibe with its goth-rockin' overtones. Read and listen to more about Mr. Burghgraeve here.

Rubin Steiner
Psychedelic krautrock from a Lo-Fi Nu Jazz Frenchbloke, Frédérick Landier. Check his site (en français) for more.

4E
Probably the track that bares the least resemblance to the original. I hesitated posting this earlier since it's stretching it to call this a cover, but for the completist's sake...

SiNDADDY
Angry Industrial Rock/Metal.

Destruction Unit
Angry Experimental Postpunk. More self destruction yonder.

Angel Dust 216
The sound of robots getting dusted.

BEiNG vs. LuCIDol
Lee BEiNG and friends breathe some new life into the old classic. I dig the abrasive swing beat that eventually morphs into glitch-break-core-ism.

1/22/09

Absolute Body Control - Live @ The Christmas Ball 2008
Dirk Ivens rocks it live.

Signal Electrique
The vocoder works. Two soundboards up! A worthy contender.

Prayer Tower
A commendable effort. Bonus points for some nice crash test footage.

Hell
Even the head Gigolo had a stab at this one.

Chicks On Speed
Definitely one of the Chicks' better efforts.

Giddle & Boyd
Boyd can do no wrong. His monotone vocalizations soothe me. And GoGo Giddle is the kitten with a whip.

Velocity Star
Rose McDowall provides the sexy vocals here over a track that stays pretty faithful to the original.

Grace Jones
Live from her "One-Man Show" circa 1982-1983. Grace is probably the only person who can work a Latin/Tropical/Slow Disco rhythm into this track and get away with it.

The Absolute Revolting Neon Maniacs
Belgian supergroup consisting of ABC (Dirk Ivens), Luc Van Acker (RevCo), Dirk de Davo (Neon Judgement) and friends.

Blok 57
Yet another cover by a Dirk Ivens band. I think he really likes this song.

Zombie Zombie (Jealous Lovers Klub Cinemix)
Zombies can be car crash fetishists too!

Magnetic Stripper (Cell Faulted Mix)
Obviously performed by a robot, this compact interpretation gets a nod from the robots here.

Takkyu Ishino
Even Nipponese robots love Daniel Miller.

Duran Duran
Simon Le Bon and co. channeling Kraftwerk while wearing vinyl jackets? Now is the time on Shprockets ven ve pretend ve are German.

Die Tödliche Doris
They've definitely got the minimal part of it down. I'll give them that much.

Dugga
I can't tell you anything about Dugga. All I can tell you is that this one has that Belgian Hoover sound.

J.G. Thirwell
Best known for his Foetus output, here's Mr. Thirwell's evil spy-thriller take on the tune.

Sleep Chamber
Maybe the creepiest of the bunch.

Vitalic
Live track with Vitalic's trademark touches. Not nearly as thrilling as you'd expect it to be.

Pankow
East German industrial noisemakers. Oontz, oontz, oontz...

Peter Murphy & Trent Reznor
Meh.

Club 69
This version is called Love Leatherette. You simply cannot make a gayer version than this.

Before I put this decrepit monster out of its misery, I've scavenged through its innards and collected some of the spooky tracks I spun at Zombi along with a few I dared not play. No tears from the creature of the night...

dr @ Zombi 11.1.08

Tracklisting
Signs ov Chaos - Thee Devils' Tongue
Kill Memory Crash - Come Alive
Polygamy Boys - Global Misanthropy
Creepy Autograph - Night Stalker
New York City Survivors - The Game
Decal - The Reaper
Le Syndicat Electronique - Blood & Flesh
ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
Zombie Nation - Cycles To Failure
Revolting Cocks - Stainless Steel Providers
MOTOR - 20 Volts Of Steel
Millimetric - No Escape
Mystic Letter K - Robot Pornography
Dynarec - Mind To Body

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.

HotBox 6.21.08

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)

I felt mysteriously compelled to compile some dark tracks on the site tonight (as I am wont to do on particular dates/holidays) since once again it's Friday the 13th. No death/black metal or anything inherently malevolent by nature. Just things off the HD that fit with the theme (somewhat).

So, in honor of the day and in the spirit of keeping music evil, here are 13 ways of turning to the dark side...

Chromatics - The Killing Spree
Ceremony - Nothing Inside
David Gilmour Girls - Crimson As Murder
Ladytron - I'm Not Scared
Darker My Love - Post Mortem, Post Boredom
Absolute Body Control - Into The Light
Kiko - 7 Minutes
Automat - Eau Trouble
The Consumer - Dissociaty Identity
Neon Electronics vs. The Hacker - Better Way
Gosub - Lost In Our Ways
New York City Survivors - The Shadow
Eggfooyoung - Bad Dream

I'd say enjoy, but that's not particularly scary. How about what Elvira, Mistress of the Dark used to say...Unpleasant Dreams!

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