inner nerd

Deux – Decadence LP (2010)

beaker — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:52:58 +0000

Vive La Synth Baguette!!!

The life of an anachronist is no picnic: One’s soul (do robots have souls?) is spread across time like brie on pain chaud. Fortunately for those of us stuck surfing time-space, there is music this good to keep us afloat. Minimal Wave nails it again with another anthology repress, this time by French duo, Deux. Might as well double-up on the vinyl while you’re there buying Futurisk Player Piano LP to save on shipping. If you’re feeling flush, I would pick up the Medio Mutante EP, Inestable single, too.

SCHEMATIC: Not convinced?! Check out the full Deux posting HERE!!!

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Robot Rock du Jour: Futurisk – Player Piano LP (2010)

beaker — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:20:36 +0000

Hot off the press!!!

Aptly-named revival label Minimal Wave has compiled Futurisk‘s entire catalog and pressed it on collector-quality 180g vinyl, including this alternate take of their signature track, Meteoright. Destined to be a collectible. At $22, you’d be crazy not to pick one (or two) up.

SCHEMATIC: Need more Futurisk videos??? Get your fix HERE!!!

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Robot Rock du Jour: Crash Course in Science – Flying Turns (1981)

beaker — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:00:54 +0000

This EP/12″ gets me all wound up with some serious non-goth electro industrial madness!

Crash Course in Science was formed in 1979 while the three members were attending art school in Philadelphia.Flying Turns is off their 12″ Signals from Pier Thirteen originally published on Press Records in 1981.

SCHEMATICS: More videos and MP3s from the 12″…

Clean, first pressings sell for upwards of $100, with second pressings from 1986 on LD Records fetching only slightly less.

Cardboard Lamb (2:41)

Crashing Song (2:35)

Factory Forehead (2:56)

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Robot Rock du Jour: The Units – High Pressure Days (1979)

beaker — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:00:34 +0000

High Pressure Days is a filthy, gnarly animal.

Let Uncle Rico’s time machine teleport you back to 1977 San Francisco. Eschewing guitars in favor of synths (good move, fellas), The Units become one of the very first synthpunk bands. They then start tearing it up, self-releasing the original version of this track in 1979 on what is now an absurdly rare 7″ record (sells for about £100). This video features the album version, released in 1980 on the Digital Stimulation LP.

SCHEMATIC: The ENTIRE Digital Stimulation album, band portrait and flyer (via synthpunk)…

What follows is the entire Digital Stimulation LP with each track listed in its proper order. This album is an opus and deserves a concentrated listen. The last track, Cowboy, is a mind-warping experience. I just yoinked an original 7″ copy of High Pressure Days from eBay and will make/post vinyl rips and videos as soon as it arrives. In related news, an anthology was released in 2009 called History of The Units – The Early Years: 1977 – 1983 and is available through discogs.

Digital Stimulation

Warm Moving Bodies

Go

Mission

Bugboy

Tight Fit

Passions or Patterns

Town by the River

Cowboy

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Robot Rock du Jour: Freeez – I.O.U. (1983)

beaker — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:24:24 +0000

This video somehow manages to aggregate nearly everything that was so boss about the early 1980s: 7″ records; boomboxes/ghettoblasters; BMX bikes; popping and locking; synthesizers; fashion; and even a healthy dose of naïve sexuality. If this song sounds like a cross between Afrika Bambaataa and New Order, that is because legend Arthur Baker produced it! Thanks to fellow nerdbot Tom in the UK for the heads up on this one.

SCHEMATIC: Acapella & Dub Versions…

These versions are included primarily for posterity rather than actual musical interest.

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Equipment: Speak & Spell

beaker — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 02:21:50 +0000

Jack Burton once advised: “You never know when you may need to call upon the vocal synthesis wizardry of the Speak & Spell.” Disappointingly limited vocabulary aside, here is a web emulator for use on those occasions where nothing else will quite do the trick.

end of line…

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Dans La Rue: Bay Area Maker Faire 2010

beaker — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:05:29 +0000

The Maker Faire is like an engineer’s craft show on acid. There’s dudes riding around in go-carts that look like cupcakes, sixty-year-olds playing Jules Verne in the Steam Punk pavilion and lots of fire. This first video features Mark Galt’s intoxicating “Quadruped” kinetic sculpture at the Bay Area Maker Faire in May 2010.

SCHEMATIC: More videos and photos from Maker Faire 2010…

Mark Galt – Electric Motor Man

Atoms & Electrons – Apple IIe + Twitter

So this fellow bought an Apple IIe for $15 and rigged it up to turn twitter avatars and feeds into 8-bit artwork. Wicked!

Life-Sized Mousetrap

Remember that game mousetrap? How about a life-sized version for your backyard?

Purincess Labs – Deathwheel 3000dx

With a perverse sense of humor and penchant for fun, classmate Purin’s Deathwheel 3000dx was a huge hit at Maker Faire.

Goligorsky Laboratory – Super Relax Concept Electric Research Vehicle (Tandem Bicycle)

David Goligorsky, Design’s Oscar Wilde, developed this electric tandem as part of his graduate thesis project at Stanford’s Design Program. Also shown is a road bike David designed and built, as well as “Hyper-Lincoln” whose red LED eyes signal out The Gettysburg Address in Morse code. This guys is off the chain. Sorry, bad joke.

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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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VIdeodrome: Patrick Jean – PIXELS (2010)

beaker — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:14:07 +0000

This video is remarkably awesome.

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Robot Rock du Jour: Zwischenfall – Flucht (1983)

beaker — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:18:09 +0000

Chew on this dark wave nugget for a while.

SCHEMATIC: Limited edition repress, original female vocal version and more videos…

Flucht was one of my very first blog posts. There is something about this song that works its way into your bones. Josh Cheon of Dark Entries Records in SF just did a limited, hyper-quality repress of the Heute EP including the superior German version of Flucht. For $13, you’d be nuts not to grab one while they’re still in supply. Josh also wrote up his great interview with Stephen Kraemer of Zwischenfall.

Flucht (Female Vocal Version) (1984)

The female vocal version of Flucht was actually the b-side of the Sandy Eyes single released on Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and Italo champ Fuzz Dance.

Sandy Eyes (1984)

This song has a much warmer, almost pre-balearic feel to it and was NOT on the Heute EP.

Atemlos (1983)

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