Party Time: Saturday Robot Party @ The Idle Hour (Baltimore, MD)
VIGR is in the house. 4+ hour rare vinyl set. Need I say more? Hope to see you there! I'll try to keep track of the setlist...
Keyser Söze Alert: Iko - Iko '83 LP (1982)
Virtually Nothing is known about this Montréal (?) group, but I've deduced what is going on here: Iko was an android trio from the future that traveled back in time to 1982 in order to learn what it meant to be human in the decades just preceding the merger of man and machine. Archetypal and powerful nerd music.
http://youtu.be/sl6cbHCnE98
Only 500 copies of this LP sold. So if you account for DJ/radio promos, maybe 1,000 were even pressed, making this gem truly obscure. The $100+ price tag for this album is one of the deals of the century.
'83 is presented here in its entirety, ripped from my mint copy at 24bit/96kHz and converted to MP3 at 196 kbps for optimal sound quality. I also found and posted two unreleased tracks (9 & 10) for posterity.
SCHEMATIC: MP3s, album review and cover artwork...
Presenting neither a robotic dystopia nor a sci-fi fantasy, instead ‘83 reveals our own robotic inclinations and highlights the struggle of the human soul to escape mechanization. The album envelops its listeners in a blanket of meditative synthesis, instructive beats, poignant lyrics and strangely syncopated accents reminiscent of the abstract music created from DNA sequences.
The coldly humanoid vocals are sung in both French and English. Iko must have spent considerable time in Montréal to pick up that distinctive Quebecois accent in both languages. But then again, their speech recognition and simulation circuitry was probably quite advanced.
Thank you DAX (synthesized harmonies & melodies, voice), U-GEN (triggered & synthesized melodies, voice) and ZAO (computed rhytm & bass, voice), whenever you are.
A1) Elevator
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Elevator.mp3|titles=Elevator|artists=Iko]
A2
A2) Gonadotropic Synthesis
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Gonadotropic_Synthesis.mp3|titles=Gonadotropic Synthesis|artists=Iko]
A2
A3) Subway 49
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Subway_49.mp3|titles=Suybway 49|artists=Iko]
A2
A4) Communication Off
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Communication_Off.mp3|titles=Communication Off|artists=Iko]
A2
B1) Approach on Tokyo
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Approach_on_Tokyo.mp3|titles=Approach on Tokyo|artists=Iko]
A2
B2) Digital Delight
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Digital_Delight.mp3|titles=Digital Delight|artists=Iko]
A2
B3) Model Type A
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Model_Type_A.mp3|titles=Model Type A|artists=Iko]
A2
B4) Radioactive Mist
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Radioactive_Mist.mp3|titles=Radioactive Mist|artists=Iko]
A2
*** Military Service (non-album track)
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Military_Service.mp3|titles=Military Service (non-album track)|artists=Iko]
A2
*** Surrender to the Dream (non-album track)
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Surrender_to_the_Dream.mp3|titles=Surrender to the Dream (non-album track)|artists=Iko]
Keyser Söze Alert: Fric - Erreur Erotique (1982)
A synthy, robo-erotic slow jam created by two guys that look (and sound) like perverted middle school math teachers. Sung in Québecois French and vocoded to perfection. Need I say more? Pretty robo-heady lyrics, so check out the SCHEMATIC section for the original French and English translations. Here is their (not so) live performance on Musi-Video from the early 1980s.
SCHEMATIC: Hot cover art, original record scans, Montréal distributor's sticker and LYRICS...The background image featured on the Musi-Video introduction was taken from the D.J. Production's 12" sleeve design below. Pretty hot stuff, actually.
LYRICS - French with English Translation
Une potion magique A magic potion
Transforme ma vie Transforms my life
En rêve électrique Into an electric dream
La cage thoracique My thoracic cage
Fermée autour de l'écran Closed around a cathode ray screen
Cathodique
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus>
J'me berce d'illusions I delude myself with illusions
D'vant la télévision In front of the television
En érection I'm erect
Une dérivation filtre A derivation filter
Mes émotions My emotions
En éruption Erupting
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus>
Mon rêve délire My dream delirium
Mes passions brûlent de désir My passions burn with desire
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> L'esprit moteur The motor soul
Dirigé par le robot Directed by the robot
Ordinateur Computer
Calculateur Calculator
Réunissant les salves Gathering the salvos
Des sons et des couleurs Of sounds and colors
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> Mon corps mécanique My mechanical body
Poursuit sa rythmique Follows its rhythm
Mathématique Mathematic
Mes doigts arthritiques repulsent My arthritic fingers tap
La musique The music
Électronique Electronic
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus>
Mon rêve délire My dream delirium
Mes passions brûlent de désir My passions burn with desire
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> Folie maléfique Evil madness
Eruption magnétique Magnetic eruption
Et platonique and platonic
Egocentrique Egocentric
Domination domestique Household domination
Automatique Automatic
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> Mon rêve délire My dream delirium
Mes passions brûlent de désir My passions burn with desire
Robot Rock du Jour: Rational Youth - Cité Phosphore/City of Night (1982)
So let's get the show started right now with a very hot Montreal group...their name Rational Youth...here for their first time on TV singing their big summer hit, Cité Phosphore...enjoy the show.
Cité Phosphore (Musi-Video)
SCHEMATIC: LP Version (English), 12" Danse Mix (bi-lingual) and a scan of the original English lyrics...
Pretty hot shit, right? Additional videos posted below feature the album version (in English) off their 1982 COLD WAR night life LP and the 12" Danse Mix (bi-lingual). The album cut was taken from my mint original copy, ripped at 24bit/96kHz. I also found and posted the original lyrics sheet to City of Night from the Rational Youth website. The lyrics do not directly translate from French to English and I prefer the flow to the French cut, but in all fairness, I heard that one first.
City of Night (LP Version)
A2
City of Night (12" Danse Mix)
A2
City of Night (Original Lyrics)
