music (for robots)

I got drunk last night

i:cube feat. RZA - Can you deal with that?

following up on blair's excellent selection from the other day, here's a much more recent i:cube track featuring the grand wizard of the Wu on Versatile recordings (French, I believe). if you listen to the remix that blair posted, this song almost retains more of the remixed qualities (that shuffle-and-go beat is front and center on this recording) than the jazzy sound i:cube had previously. regardless, this is a track that has everything dialed for the times, and the result is a fantastic hip-house track that never blows up into a big swirly dancefloor filler, but if your shoulders aren't moving 20 seconds or so into this song than you're more robot than we are [buy it, human].

hump day dance-a-thon

here's a few cuts to keep you going today:

"Hitmaker" by Kiko -- this song killed me the first time i listened to it at a record store listening station, with its classic 80s synth sound, a great beat - kiko got his start by opening up a techno record store, Ozone, in grenoble, and has worked closely with the french tech-house crowd, inclucing the Hacker, Money Penny Project and Oxia. his Midnight Magic full-length is a classic disco-techno album, and all of his productions are marked by his stand-out sound. check your local dance-music record shop or gemm.com to pick up more.

"Electric Renaissance" by Belle and Sebastian -- really this is unlike anything else they've done, a brilliant dance-song, propelled by a joy division-esque bassline and loads of fuzzzzz - this is from Tigermilk, originally released as 1000 vinyl-olny copies by Electric Honey records in 1996, then re-released by the brit jeepster label (1998), then re-re-released a few years back by matador (1999), to much cries of joy by fans, and frustrated chagrin by collectors (original copies of the record were changing hands for upwards of $700!) - the rest of the CD sounds similar to their second and third albums, loaded with sweet-yet-sinister chamber-pop, which i like very much, so pick it up

"The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz and the Plastic Population -- this is a slice of history, early rediculous UK acid-house, with those uplifting vocals and 303 analogue synths - as far as i can tell this is among the first Coldcut productions, and you can certainly hear 'their sound' in this (listen to their Eric B & Rakim remix again after you hear this), and for Yazz (ne Yasamin Summers), they definitely helped, because the song held the #1 spot on the UK charts for 5 weeks. check gemm.com for more of their releases if you're interested.

Little Bit of Weed is All I Need

The music game is a bitch and jewels dropped are not always recovered. All the more reason to celebrate the unlikely issue of The Ebony Rhythm Band's _Soul Heart Transplant_, a compilation of impossibly obscure tracks from the Indianapolis combo. Never heard of them? Don't worry; ERB only released one commercially available single; back in '69, they made their bread recording as the house backing band for Naptown’s long defunct LAMP label. The vast majority of what you’ll find on _Soul Heart Transplant_ is demo material, just fuckin’ around one-take tape-reel filler never intended for release. Damn if it ain’t hot, though.


With a sound built from equal parts psychedelic rock, gospel, R&B and jam-band jazz; ERB’s instrumental tracks are a good sight more multiculti than those of your average crossover crooners and pack twice the hipster quotient. There's music for all tastes: experimental prog-funk like "Vanilla Fudge" with its two minutes of halting and strangely compelling guitar plucking out a single E sharp over and over and over again; Meters-style booty shakin' soul like "The Thought of Losing Your Love"; the somewhat tongue in cheek 'Just Say No' anthem "Drugs Ain't Cool," that slyly winks while it pulls on the pipe; the cooled out, butter smooth cover of The Doors’ "Light My Fire"; even pre-mix master mashups like "Get Yourself Together," which artfully intertwines “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” and Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" in a way that leaves both of them feeling fresher.


Copious liner notes in the CD tell the story of the-band-that-could-but-never-did in obsessive detail. There’s even a happy ending: ERB went on to some moderate success in the seventies as The Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign.


_Soul Heart Transplant_ is the sonic equivalent of a Christmas present lost under the couch, finally and joyously discovered some thirty years later. Open it up.


More Info


Buy the album from Amazon

The Only Thing I Miss Is Myself

Chris Murray - One Everything. My man Chris Murray over here has been pushing the one-man-show ska thing for about a decade now. Formerly a member of King Appartus, Murray struck it out on his own in 1994 with just an acoustic guitar and a four-track. Three albums later, it's still just an acoustic guitar and a four-track.

He's a wonderful guy, and a great singer. He writes great little melodies, and has written some of the more catchy stuff for other ska bands, including Hepcat. This particular track is from his 4-trackaganza album that came out a few years ago. You can buy it for 8 bucks with shipping from Asian Man Records.

I've seen him in concert and it's always a treat. He plays just about every Tuesday at the BlueBeat Lounge at the Knitting Factory in LA. There's a big Ska Fest coming up there in August, with such skeletons in the closet as the Pietasters, MU330 and Big D and the Kids Table (as part of their Broke as Hell in 2004 Tour). I think it's less than 10 bucks.

Remember when all the ska kids wore plaid?

like an exploder

I don't know how it took me so long to listen to T. Rex, but it did. I picked up Electric Warrior on a whim last weekend, when I saw it on sale for super-cheap. Damn, it's good! I had only really heard "Bang A Gong", which itself is much better than I remembered.
T. Rex was a band in the early seventies fronted by Mr. Marc Bolan, who, if the interview bonus track on the remastered edition of the album is any indication, was a very nice man who liked poetry and his fans.
There are some very excellent tracks on here - like "Jeepster" and "Cosmic Dancer", which provided the movie Billy Elliot with a song for its title sequence - but I chose to post Planet Queen because it's very pretty in its own funky way. And it'll be in your head all day.
Buy Electric Warrior here.

green piano

Midori Hirano - Another Root
Midori Hirano - Dim
Midori Hirano - White Tale

I learned of this artist via Jean Snow, and I love everything I've been able to get my hands on so far. Midori Hirano is a Kyoto-born, Piano trained Japanese electronic artist that makes beautiful, beautiful music. it's very similar to some of Bjork's best production, and though the piano is highly evident throughout her work, its presence is far from overbearing. it's subtle perfection, with warm electronic noise washing over the muted euphony of her piano and just a sprinkle of the synth and distortion we all love so well.

she has an EP out on Sounds From Nowhere, and you can optain a copy by e-mailing them [cough it up]. a stateside release is pending on Transparent recordings.

if you've ever enjoyed a Bjork, Sigur Ros, Matmos, Aphex Twin, or other electronic/ambient works of mastery, you'll love these songs almost as much as I do. I'm sending off for the EP and hope to snag any and all other materials when I'm in Osaka this August.

for my next number, i'd like to go way back...

monday afternoon, and since i'm not at work, i've got my whole catalogue to choose from - today that means dance tunes, going reverse chronologically:

"Disco Cubizm (Daft Punk Remix)" by i:cube -- c. 1996, this was i:cube's first single, and one of daft's first published remixes... the piano riff is all i:cube, but the weird shuffle-tech beat (a la kompakt anyone?), the canyon-deep filters, and the weird synth sound that comes in about halfway through the song is even more-so classic techno-style daft. this 12" is out of print, but the song appears on a handful of mix albums, as do tons of other i:cube tracks - check his 2000 album Adore for even greater diversity.

"I Called U (but you weren't there)" by Lil' Louis & The World -- c. 1989, the cheese factor on this one is pretty high, with the bad spoken vocals and the v.v.early simple-house beat and piano rolls, but there's something still very appealing about this song. FYI this lil' louis isn't half of Masters At Work, that's lil' louie. rather he's one of the progenitors of chicago house, having djed since middle-school, played out at some of the first house parties there, and worked with other big names of the early scene, like marshal jefferson, byron stingily and larry heard - this particular rip comes from a european 7" version, but originally the song appears on his album From the Mind of Lil' Louis which is now out of print, but you may find it here or on gemm.com.

and

"Rocket To Your Heart" by Lisa -- c. 1983, here's a Hi-NRG/italo-style classic, but unfortunately i've been able to find out next to nothing about Lisa, moby dick records (who released the record), aside from the fact that it appears on a handful of 'top dance songs of the late 70s-early 80s' lists, random discographies, and her best of cd - i just know it is totally awesome.

I Walk These Sounds

Wrens - Everyone Chooses Sides (demo). This is from the same session that I posted earlier this week, and is much less distorted than the album version.

Just thought I'd post it real quick before the weekend, and hopefully convince some other folks to hit up the LA show with me on Saturday night.

Oh, and also for you LA kids, don't forget to hit up SilverBake for Kerry on Saturday morning. It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and a bunch of bands are performing. Local darlings The Like go on at 12:30 (check out their song (So I'll sit here) waiting). There are a couple other bands, including OK Go at 3:30. I'm not totally sold on it yet, but I might go check it out and buy some brownies. We'll see.

have a good weekend.

you gots to chill

another friday and here i am, sleeeeepy... here's what i'm feeling:

"Man Research (Monkey Research)" by Spacemonkeyz v Gorillaz - from the dub excursions record Laika Come Home, where these apes remix the whole of the Gorillaz album as good, old-fashioned dub. this song is slow burner, only keeping a few elements of the original song intact, plus enough bass to rattle your windows, so either put those headphones on, or make sure your neighbors won't be bothered when their china starts breaking. you can pick up the cd with some ease, since it got re-relased here by EMI/Astralwerks, like so

and

"Comfortable With Failure" by Express Rising - gorgeous downtempo cut here from the memphix label: deep layered keys and bass, and an insistent little piano riff that picks up halfway through the song - essentially, these guys are what new downtempo (this is from 2003) is all about... smooth and silky, this whole album is one gem after another, and is still around on cd anyway, available here

industrial friday continued

back in the early 90's Ministry put out their album Psalm 69, and set a new standard for fast, heavy, guitar based industrial. their releases since then have been noticably mellower and haven't been very well received. i've been able to find something to like on most of them, but they really haven't compared to Psalm 69 or The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste.

well, Ministry's back. the new album is Houses of the Molé, which, i admit, is a pretty stupid name for an album. Paul Barker has, sadly, left the band but Al Jourgensen seems to have a renewed sense of rage that makes up for it.

if you were at all conscious of the industrial scene in the early and mid nineties, you'll remember that Psalm 69 was a masterpiece of insanely fast guitars, distorted vocals, jackhammer drums, and samples, many featuring papa Bush talking about the New World Order. Houses features insanely fast guitars, distorted vocals, jackhammer drums and lots of samples, many featuring baby Bush talking about Fighting Evil.

No "W" should make it pretty clear how Al feels about the current political situation.

my second little industrial nugget for the day is My Bitch, by Nocturne. it's off the album Welcome To Paradise, which has since been rereleased and renamed as Paradise Wasted. this song always makes me smile. you just can't go wrong with lyrics like "my bitch took a bullet in the head for god" and "... with my 12 gauge pump slug spitting prick".

industrial friday

Project Pitchfork - Timekiller

this song reminds me of an all-night drive in 2001 from Boston to Delaware to watch anders and my friend Shu get married by a Wicca priestess on Rehobeth beach. not so much because of the song itself, but that's when Tucker played me this CD, Project Pitchfork's Daimonion [buy it].

There's a certain sound in most industrial music that is as universal and unoriginal as the post-punk drumming you hear in everyone from the DFA-produced bands to the bands Blair went to see last night. it's harder to describe, but it's something about the way the vocals are arranged around the bassline, and the way the guitars round out the whole thing to sound, well, to sound industrial. in this respect, PP sounds a lot like VNV Nation or Assemblage 23 or Covenant or Frontline Assembly or any of the other bands I've had played for me (and usually pick up a CD or two). but their album is good nonetheless, especially if you like the overall sound the way I do, and it sounds fantastic at 130 db. happy friday!

news items

there's an interesting article noting an online music service called OD2 which has been one of the largest online sellers of music in the UK thus far, beating out even the iTunes music store in a week-to-week count since they both opened. furthermore, they've increased their catalog by over a million songs, making them larger than iTunes and virtually anybody else. I wonder if they'll make it stateside?

in an even more strange twist, eBay may start selling MP3's.

on a more personal note, there's a neat website that hosts independent t-shirt designs called threadless. in my uber-boredom (school teacher + summer = nothing to do) I submitted a few designs, and you can vote on them to maybe get mine or other neat ones printed. also, you can order some pretty sweet tees for fair prices. check it out, and I'd appreciate the votes if you have a second.

Summer Nights and Days

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim--Girl From Ipanema

Mark's bro here. Following along Blair's Brazillian and Calypso treats, a little more Jobim, this time with Sinatra. It does not get any better. This is classy summer night with a classy summer cocktail--to impress a lady friend.
[Buy It]

Mighty Sparrow--Village Ram
I am a sucker for the Trojan Box Sets. They never disappoint and they're so cheap for the amount of great music you get. Calypso is one of my favorites. Mighty Sparrow -- a dominant force at the height of Calypso in the '60s. This track proves that MC's can still learn a thing or two from the islands.
[Buy It]

Struck me kinda funny

Man oh man, did I have a shitty day.
There seem to be a couple camps of people: those who need to experience something upbeat and uplifting when they're miserable, and those who like to wallow in whatever they've got going on. I think I'm somewhere in between. The last thing I want to hear is something perky (don't even say the word "perky" around me), but certain songs walk the line between sad and happy in such a rewarding way.
Case in point is this Aimee Mann & Michael Penn cover of Bruce Springsteen's Reason to Believe from a recent tribute album. Leave it to Springsteen to write a song about hope by including lyrics about a dead dog.
This is from Badlands: A Tribute To Nebraska, which you can buy here.
[I should add that the original Springsteen version is also excellent. It's from Nebraska. Buy that here.]

vegan invasion

hello all -

just a quick note to welcome John from the Tofu Hut as a guestblogger on music.for-robots! in addition to his regular postings at his site, he'll be pitching in some additional gems here.

cheers - the mgmt

to-nite!

i'm thinking about going to this show in my hood:

Sound The Alarm!
presented by InSound and Connect
The Unicorns, Erase Errata, Moving Units, Weird War, Les Georges Leningrad and Blood On The Wall
Volume - 99 N. 13th (btwn berry and wythe, in williamsburg, brooklyn) - Doors open @ 7:30 - $2! plus Free Beer while it lasts!
holy crap! two bucks and free beer?!?

here's a few mp3's of the bands (ones that i know anyway):

• "Between Us And Them" by Moving Units - this song is the reason i got into these guys, and they're great live (saw them in miami)


• "Tongue Tied" by Erase Errata - hard, jangly, angular


• "The Clap (Live in Montreal)" by the Unicorns - i can't wait to see these guys perform live!


• "On My Mouth" by Blood On The Wall - dig it!

so if anyone's going, please comment and maybe i'll see you there

also, Avenue D is performing tonight at Crobar in Manhattan, but they're on wicked-late, and since i'm an old man with a day job, i ain't going... however, they're also playing on saturday night at the Delancey, so be there!