inner nerd » Quebec

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…

Pssst...pass it on!

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)

Pssst...pass it on!

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

Pssst...pass it on!

Robot Rock du Jour: Rational Youth – Cité Phosphore/City of Night (1982)

beaker — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:48:33 +0000

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.

inner nerd » Quebec

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

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

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)

Keyser Söze Alert: Fric – Erreur Erotique (1982)

Robot Rock du Jour: Rational Youth – Cité Phosphore/City of Night (1982)

Cité Phosphore (Musi-Video)

City of Night (LP Version)

A2

City of Night (12″ Danse Mix)

A2

City of Night (Original Lyrics)