Thee robots got fonky this past Saturday night, with Georgio and myself throwing down a number of Prince [or Prince-related] jams. Getting prime billing was Dez Dickerson's [I Want 2 B A] Modernaire. Dez, who played guitar for Prince in 1979/80 [before leaving after becoming Born Again and getting replaced by Wendy], performed with his Modernaires for a scene in Purple Rain, but only 18 seconds of his song ever made it into the film. The track was supposed to get released as a single and appear on the Purple Rain soundtrack (which eventually became a Prince-exclusive affair), but Dez's song got shelved, multiple label offers fell through and a solo career failed to materialize.

Fast forward 25 years and the long-lost Modernaire finally gets a proper single release, mastered from a newly discovered tape recording. Put out by the fine folks at Citinite and pressed on translucent red vinyl, it also contains 5 funked-up mixes/remakes from DMX Krew, Luke Eargoggle [Faceless Mind], Hot Persuasion, Complexxion, and the ever heavy-breathing Egyptian Lover. Check Citinite's Modernaire page for online retailer/distributor links or go to Bleep.com to buy the mp3s. I suggest buying the vinyl pronto since it is a limited edition and I'm sure once those collectors find out, they'll be snapping them up like Prince at a high heels sale. So in the words of Morris Day, "I wanna see some asses wigglin'...I want some perfection."

Another act to look out for on the Prince/Midnight Star/Cameo/Zapp-inspired tip is Bumper, side-project of Mr. Pauli with Geoffrey T. Their sound incorporates LinnDrum, vocoders, and funky basslines, blending vintage Minneapolis genius with early Jedi Knight electro fuckery. Stream their Never Stop EP here to get a taste of new jack electrofunk, because when it comes to all things Prince, It Takes An Erotic Village...

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

Our favorite electro fetishistas from Spain are at it again. Looks like they're still keen on dressing like nuns and masturbating with crucifixes. Dios Mio!

[Most likely NSFW unless you work in the Adult industry.]

Vigilan. Dirty Princess from Dirty Princess on Vimeo.

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

...and we're back...Sorry for the lack of new content. Between scoping out a venue for the upcoming RobotSound monthly, going out to see live shows and generally watching too much TV [thanks a lot, TiVo!], I haven't been that great about keeping up with my ~once a week posting habit. I'll try to be better about that, okay? Not like I have any regular readers, do I?

Here's another abbreviated mix from a few weeks back. I didn't make a note of the tracks I played so the tracklisting is incomplete. If I figure out what the missing tracks are, I'll update the list [or, you're welcome to email me the names if you know what they are].

Friday Nite Transmissions

Tracklisting
Colder - To The Music (Midnight Mike Vocal Remix)
Bang Bang - Silicone (Volga Select Supernature Mix)
?
Bermuda Triangle - Enough (Sex Schön Remix)
Perspects - Autobody (Remix)
?
Umek and I Turk - Sun Drenched Land
Christopher and Raphael Just - Megablitz
?
Blackstrobe - Buzz Buzz
?
?

Today I've got special treats for you androids out there. No, they're not Ding Dongs, those round chocolate cakes with a flat top and a white creamy filling...Nope, I don't have advance copies of Google's forthcoming iPhone challenger, the G1 "Android" phone (Sorry, I know, that would've been nice)...What I do have are your very own RobotSound™ Ringtones!

A couple friends appreciated my Galaga ringer, so I thought why not make a few more to share amongst like-minded folks. Since most commercially available ringtones don't cater to my tastes, I tried to find sounds that kept the robot in mind which worked well in the cell phone context. Most are arcade game-centric but the few that aren't still sound like they could have been from games. All were made on Cellsea, which also lets you to upload wallpapers, video and games. If you want to make your own from your favorite coin-op game of choice, Digitpress has a great stock of vintage mp3s and sound effects you can use.

Game Ringtones
Computor Rockers - Galaga
Computor Rockers - Burgertime
Computor Rockers - Pengo
Tapper
Berzerk [My current ringtone]
Steve Claydon [ex-Add N to [X]] - Arkanoid

Non-Game Ringtones
Dis*ka - Being Boiled
Dis*ka - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Frederik Schikowski - Rubik's Cube
Frederik Schikowski - Utopia Brasilia
Le Car - Audiofile 10
Le Car - Flame Job

All of the above, plus several more can be found on this page. If your phone doesn't allow you to visit the site (like mine didn't), you'll have to find a program that lets you copy files directly to your phone, via USB. For my now-ancient RAZR V3 I used P2K Commander, which also allowed me to make space by deleting some of the crappy default ringtones the phone came with...

And so let freedom ring from the pixelated screens of Silicon Valley.

Let freedom ring from every byte and kilobyte of your carrier's Coverage Area.

...and sing in the words of the old robot spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank Bot Almighty, free tones at last!