inner nerd » 1979

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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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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Robot Rock du Jour: Justine and the Victorian Punks – Still You (1979)

beaker — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:47:45 +0000

This track treads a fine line between funky disco and satin-smooth pillow talk. This particular cut is actually experimental composer/saxophonist Peter Gordon’s lovely re-arrangement of Battisti Lucio’s early Italo track, Ancora Tu, with some lover’s chat provided by pioneering NY-based designer/artist Colette.

SCHEMATIC: Battisti Lucio’s Ancora Tu video and photos of Colette’s work…

Battisti Lucio – Ancora Tu (1976)

Regardless of what on Earth this dude is running from, this video is unmistakably Italian.

Deadly Feminine Installation at Fiorucci (1978?)

Living Environment (1981)

Art on Stage at Danceteria (1983)

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Robot Rock du Jour: The Units – I-Night (1979)

beaker — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:30:16 +0000

Damn, this track is sick. I originally had this song in the SCHEMATICS section of the High Pressure Days posting, but this aggro synthpunk brain-melter it is far, far too choice to ride the pine. I-Night is the b-side on the Warm Moving Bodies 7″.

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Robot Rock du Jour: Kraftwerk – Autobahn (1974)

beaker — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:54:01 +0000

An 11-minute face-melting video edit of Kraftwerk’s 23-minute opus. The real cybernetic acid trip is the five-minute breakdown that beings around 3:06. Animation by Roger Mainwood and John Halas in 1979. The video was posted in two parts, so load the rest of the post to view the second half…

SCHEMATIC: Video part two, Mainwood interview and high res vinyl rip…

The title track off Kraftwerk’s 1974 LP Autobahn was a genesis moment in nerd music, marking the completion of Kraftwerk’s robotic transformation. Without this band or track, electronic music would probably not be what it is today. It represents the seemless merging of musical genius with avant-garde technology. The entire album is available on iTunes for only $3.49!!

Mainwood discussing the history of the film:

No, I never made contact with Kraftwerk, and they had no input into the film images themselves. John Halas got the commission from Kraftwerk’s record company, and it was deliberately experimental in nature and designed to be released on one of the first ever laser discs. Unfortunately the laser disc technology never took off. The film was entered into various film festivals around the world and won a few prizes, but it never got a commercial release in cinemas but was shown on the TV a bit in the UK and I presume in Germany too. I have no idea what Kraftwerk think about it or whether they have even ever seen it.

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Party Time: Saturday Robot Party @ The Idle Hour (Baltimore, MD)

beaker — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:52:53 +0000

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…

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Robot Rock du Jour: ‘Lectric Funk – Shangaied (1979)

beaker — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:48:21 +0000

Man, have I ever been there?! There is a ubiquitous sample in this track at 1:53 followed by a pretty sick instrumental jam. I can see why Johnny Jewel (Italians Do It Better) moved here to Montreal: This is how chicks dress here. Thank you American Apparel.2

Shangaied (Unidisc 12″ Single Version)

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