inner nerd » Keyser Söze

Keyser Söze Alert: Magnifique – Magnifique (1979)

beaker — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:31:36 +0000

There is absolutely no fronting on this straight-up funky disco track from Canada (Ontario, I think)! The video, which features clips from the terrible 1979 flick Roller Boogie, is a stroke of genius. Now, the first three minutes of this song may not do much for you, but when the breakdown begins, the song deconstructs into some pretty trippy disco.

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Keyser Söze Alert: Clay Pedrini – New Dream (1984)

beaker — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:21:29 +0000

This may be the single greatest manifestation of Italo every pressed. Who the hell is this guy?! Claudio (Clay) Pedrini Came out of nowhere, cooked up this tasty Italo biscuit and then went back into the night kitchen forever. Even when you can find it, be prepared to dish out upwards of $500 for an excellent copy. Fortunately for vinyl nerds hit by the recession, this has been officially repressed by I.D. Limited, complete with reinterpreted cover artwork. You’ll have to pay shipping from Europe, tho.

SCHEMATIC: A short music video clip and cover artwork…

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Keyser Söze Alert: Trophy – Slow Flight (1982)

beaker — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:24:30 +0000

This unstoppable Italo electro-disco jam from 1982 spawned the fabled Fuzz Dance label. Italo master Maurizio Dami (aka Alexander Robotnick) was heavily involved with this label as both a producer and remixer. Does anyone out there know if he produced this track, too?

Here’s the spacey instrumental version ripped from my vinyl copy.

SCHEMATIC: Record scans and Alexander Robotnick dropping some disco knowledge…

This video spurred me to go on a one-year rare disco vinyl collecting rampage and start this blog. Consider yourself warned!

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Keyser Söze Alert: Gay Cat Park – I’m a Vocoder (1982)

beaker — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:18:57 +0000

Wait…Who? Don’t let the peculiar name distract you from the raw genius of this track. This masterpiece marked the genesis of Italo thoroughbred label Il Discotto Productions in 1982. By the way, you can learn a ton about vintage vocoders by watching our vocoder youtube playlist or checking out our friends over at Matrixsynth.

SCHEMATIC: More vocoder intel…

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Keyser Söze Alert: Los Autómatas – Viaje Espacial (1982?)

beaker — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:58:21 +0000

100% addicted to this song. Which is a serious problem, because other than this single, solitary video, I can find no trace of the band’s existence. Anywhere. Are vinyl pressings gathering dust somewhere in Argentina? A handsome reward for any information leading to my successful capture of this track on wax.

SCHEMATIC: The real story…

But wait! The plot thickens! I found this video by the Dutch band, Nova for their first single, Aurora from 1981. Same video. Different song. Same band???!!

I tracked down the following picture of Nova performing on TopPop (TV) in April of 1982. The photo features band members Rob Papen and Ruud van Es. Based on this new evidence, the videos clearly feature Nova. But the original questions still remain.

I got in touch with Ignacio, who originally posted the Los Autómatas video. It turns out that he made this video as a joke using his own music that he put together in an hour or two!! The actual song is Systenova – Viaje Espacial. “Systenova” is his pseudonym for Italo-Disco, HiNRG, Spacesynth, Synth-pop, Disco, Acid Techno, etc…

You can find some old unfinished/abandon demos on youtube and myspace.

Once I listened to Viaje Espacial using headphonesm, the digital production value really came through. I was duped. But so what?! I’m happy we now have an ally in Argentina!

Thanks Ignacio!!

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Keyser Söze Alert: Iko – Iko ’83 LP (1982)

beaker — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:31:48 +0000

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.

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

A2) Gonadotropic Synthesis

A3) Subway 49

A4) Communication Off

B1) Approach on Tokyo

B2) Digital Delight

B3) Model Type A

B4) Radioactive Mist

*** Military Service (non-album track)

A2

*** Surrender to the Dream (non-album track)

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Keyser Söze Alert: Fric – Erreur Erotique (1982)

beaker — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:43:05 +0000

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

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

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

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

Mon rêve délire
My dream delirium

Mes passions brûlent de désir
My passions burn with desire

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

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

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

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

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

Mon rêve délire
My dream delirium

Mes passions brûlent de désir
My passions burn with desire

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

Folie maléfique
Evil madness

Eruption magnétique
Magnetic eruption

Et platonique
and platonic

Egocentrique
Egocentric

Domination domestique
Household domination

Automatique
Automatic

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

J’suis une erreur
I am an error

Erreur érotique
Erotic error

Mon rêve délire
My dream delirium

Mes passions brûlent de désir
My passions burn with desire

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Keyser Söze Alert: R.E.M. – Computer Communication (1983)

beaker — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:37:19 +0000

No, Michael Stipe and did not dabble in Italo. Actaually, Computer Communication was the second of four releases to appear on the short-lived Xanadu label from Italy in 1983. This is a readily available and largely underrated Italo classic 12″ that you can still buy in excellent condition for around $20. They’re pretty tough to find for sale in the US, so you’ll probably have to pay international air postage from Italy if you’re dying for the track.

SCHEMATIC: Automan 11 bootleg reissue…

Beyond buying a few records to lower the per unit shipping cost or waiting for one to show up in the US, this track was reissued as a high-quality bootleg as the B-side of Automan 11 in 2005 along with Junior Byron’s Dance to the Music and Kazino’s Binary on the A-side. A NM example is currently available in the US for $10 on Discogs Marketplace.

I embedded youtube videos for all three tracks, since they’re all pretty rad. That being said, I do prefer the dub version to Junior Byron’s track, which was used to great effect on DFA label co-owner and LCD Soundstyem frontman James Murphy’s FabricLive.36 compilation.

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Keyser Söze Alert: Zed – Plastic Love (1983)

beaker — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:31:55 +0000

I want this record SO badly that I am reluctant to even make other people aware of it. The third release on the legendary italo label Fuzz Dance.

SCHEMATIC: Bootleg reissue…

Plastic Love is now available on Safety Copy 07, a limited edition (333 copies) clear vinyl german bootleg. This same pressing also features Kirlian Camera’s Communicate.

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