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

ADULT. - Nausea [Live in Belgium 09/09/01]
Colder - Silicone Sexy
Television Set - Loneliest Boy In My Town
Like A Tim & Gina V. D'Orio - Where Did Our Love Go?
Scala - Broken Down Beauty
Jega - German
Herrmann + Kleine - Wonder
Locust - Wrong
Lush - Falling In Love
Boyd Rice - How God Makes Little Girls

Jahcoozi - BLN
The Shamen - Hyperreal
The Orb - Vuja De
Colder - To The Music
Depth Charge - Han Do Jin 2
Jah Division - Dubmission
Banco de Gaia - Soufie
Higher Intelligence Agency - Speech 3 (Conoid Tone Reform by Autechre)
Shatner woo remix

While there's still a few hours left of Christmas (at least here in California), I thought I'd post a few more festive tracks to keep you feeling that holiday spirit. Some of these are from the Christmasasaurus Vol. 2 comp, so I apologize for giving you the same presents twice.

Xmas '07

Tracks:
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Bit Shifter - Winter Wonderland
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Cold White Christmas
Saint Etienne - I Was Born On Christmas Day
Cocteau Twins - Frosty the Snowman
Au Revoir Simone - The Winter Song
Temp Sound Solutions - Dance of the Sugarplum Faeries
Me First and The Gimme Gimmes - Hava Nagilah (Gotta have at least one token Jewish song)
The Sonics - Santa Claus
The Crystals - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Cristina - Things Fall Apart (My pick for best Christmas song ever)
Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas
Signaldrift - Dripping Angels
Hai Robotto - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen First Noel
Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe (SMD Space Dub)
Seefeel - Spangle

Everyone wishes they could have an ASIMO or a PaPeRo robot, right? But what about those of us who don't live in Japan or aren't Daddy Warbucks?

The future is now!

The French company Violet has released v.2 of their clever Wi-Fi bunny "Nabaztag" (= rabbit in Armenian), which sells for under $200.

Here's what he can do:
E-mail alerts, talking clock, weather, vocal reading of internet RSS feeds/written messages, reception of spoken messages or musical greetings sent via the internet, communication through colored lights and ear movements, and coming soon: object and person recognition. Friends can send you messages through the main website even if they don't have their own bionic bunny.

Personally, here is what I enjoy most:
+ the subculture of the Nabaztag worldwide community: User profiles, pics of dressed-up rabbits, meet-ups, etc. There's even a Google Earth NabazWorld community where you can see all the Nabaztags as white rabbit icons across the globe. France is especially full of them!
+ the robotic motion of the magnetized (and customizable) ears is fully choreographed and beautifully smooth (like ASIMO).
+ the open API means that new applications can be written by the user community.
+ the ability to receive podcasts and "Nabcasts" from different users. My radio station of cute Toytronic-style IDM is called Electronic.Leporidae

My only complaints are:
- the tracks you upload get clipped to under a minute (well-suited for those brief Skanfrom, Plaid, and "micromusic" tracks, but not so good for anything longer).
- the spoken voices (in UK or US English, French, German, with more to come) attempt to be too "human" and realistic, which can be frustrating for those of us who like our robots to sound like robots (though they still have a decent "SimpleTalk" vibe, and the whole Kraftwerk-esque idea of a multi-lingual robot is pretty irresistible).
- there are still a few bugs, but there are forums for discussing them.

So, fellow robots, it's time to welcome this new species of cute robotic rabbit into our dwelling-units. If you want to say hello to mine, his name is "Duplo"...

There are some purists who like their robots to be totally devoid of emotion. Then there are those, like me, who like the full range of robot "emotion" in their music (call me sentimental). So, let's imagine some sort of robotic "emotion chip" and consider some musical examples...

MELANCHOLY
Let's face it: robots go through existential crises too, whether it be from loneliness, heartbreak, or doubts about their purpose in the world. And humans can sympathize with robots: when the robot sings in Kraftwerk's Radioland, I get a lump in my throat...

= mr_hopkinson's computer™ does a haunting cover of The Smiths song Asleep on the album Mr_Hopkinson's Computer Sings, available here.
= Solvent does a lovely, bittersweet version of Slowdive's When The Sun Hits from Blue Skied An' Clear: A Morr Music Compilation.
= Memory Boy as a broken-hearted "emo" robot in There Is No Electricity from Ghostly International presents Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau.
= Wolfgang the robot has a touching back story behind Not In Love Not True.
= Microvax - Robarthes is a pensive French robot. Je pense donc je suis.

SWEET
Robots are cute: just look at Astroboy, or real life robots ASIMO and PaPeRo, they're adorable.

= Tobiah's epic chiptune I Love Your Music from the Glitter & Bleep (Joystick Pop) compilation, also available at Micromusic.
= ISAN - Iron Eyes, from the album Meet Next Life.
= Plastik Kettle - Green Travel, from the album Our Toys Are Better Than Yours (a great title). Fans of the Suction Records robots will like this.
= Plone - Plock, from the album For Beginner Piano. Shame on WARP for never releasing Plone's still unreleased 2nd LP.
= Mikron64 - Ikea, from the Etwas Zeit EP.

HOSTILE
Obey these sinister robots or they will crush you. Translation: "Destroy All Humans!"

= Industrial Bass Machine - Devastate The Planet from the excellent album, A Taste of Armageddon.
= Datathief - Night Raid from the SKAM compilation Skam 0161.
= Tinfoil Teakettle - Think Like Us, from the Suction Records compilation Snow Robots Volume 3.
= Datassette - Run Human!, from the Maintenance Werk EP available for download here.
= Mr. Velcro Fastener - Real Robots Don't Die from the album Lucky Bastards Living Up North.

ARROGANT
You have to love a robot with an ego: Pushin' more power than a Duracell. These are "funky" robots, here to give you what you need, and what you need is bass!

= Plaid's fantastic remix of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's Scorpio on their remix album Parts In The Post.
= Man Parrish - Boogie Down Bronx. Just a 'bot from the block. On the real.
= Exzact - Sub.Sonic. Base from the Second Wave EP.
= Solenoid - The Narcissist from the album The Narcissist.
= Multiplex - Rock Robot, from the Pinghaus Frequencies LP.

ROBOTIC
Sometimes robots just sing about being robots, okay? Whether it be data, hard disks, calculations, or being made of metal...or "making circuits" with pleasure bots.

= Console - 14 Zero Zero, from Rocket In The Pocket is one of the best robot songs ever.
= Bochum Welt - Feelings On A Screen. Yes, the title of this article is taken from this song.
= Abfahrt Hinwil - Syntax Data, from the Toytronic compilation, Neurokinetic.
= Hong Kong Counterfeit - Metal Disco [Legowelt vs. Orgue Electronique RMX].
= Gimmik does math in Rc Units from Slow Motion Process.

At the moment, I'm getting ready to move to a new apartment [thanks to my best friend shacking up at his girl's place and bestowing upon me his coveted abode]. Since I don't own any major furniture, the bulk of my work entails boxing up the ever-growing record collection, always a fun event. There's the all-important sorting, à la Rob Gordon in High Fidelity [a novel/film dear to my heart] - you need to make sure your categories are well thought out. For me that means there are separate boxes for 80s, Industrial Dance/EBM, 89'-'92, mid-90's Techno, Indie, "IDM", Italo, Ambient/Experimental, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, GTO/LFO/MBM, 7"s, and of course, many for mid-90's through present-day Electro. Not an easy task, mind you.

One part of this process involves revisiting old classics that you probably haven't heard in a number of years. The track I came across tonight came out in 1995 on a remix compilation for the Japanese group Soft Ballet. Done in a dance-y ambient-breakbeat-dub stylee by Global Communication [aka Reload, Jedi Knights, etc.], this was released at a time when "Intelligent" dance music was still dance-orientated, before the machines completely took over. This music is not computer algebra - this is E dance music to which one can chill. I urge you to turn off the lights, slip on the headphones, and don't be afraid to get your groove on to this one.

Soft Ballet - Ride (Global Communication Dub Mix)
[it starts out a bit quiet for the first 30 seconds or so]