Possible taglines for today’s post include: “Music by robots, for robots, about robots” and “Tunes for days where you don’t want to be at work and would rather be home playing videogames.” Today’s picks have been dug from deep within my music collection.  Futuristic, often glitchy at times, each feature a purposefully artificial, robotically-manipulated take on pop melodies, which are present in each song.  I also originally intended to find a wacky robot themed picture, but this is infinitely the wackiest thing I’ve found possibly in my entire life.  It’s from RETrOZONe, a tumblr blog.

First up is a duo I don’t think the world was ready for when they reached their first peak while signed to now-defunct Merck records, that duo being . Ilkae are Aaron Munson of Quebec, and Krystian Lubiszewski of Poland, and they have been making some of the most original electronic music I’ve ever heard, I’d call it post-IDM if there were such a pretentious title…their sound can be described as a mix of videogamey chiptune, hip-hop and experimental. This track is from their 2004 release Bring Extra Dragons, which used to be relatively hard to find compared to Pistachio Island or their most famous Stained-Glass Confetti (consequently my least favorite of their releases). Bring Extra Dragons is a little less self-contained, although stylistically a lot closer to Pistachio Island, however, the songs are much longer and free-flowing, unlike the latter, which was 45 tracks worth of colorfully titled 1-2 minute diddies that could be looped seemlessly. If you like Ilkae, you’ll be happy to know that they are still an active project, you can check out what’s going on (and score some free tunes!) here.

are one of the most well-known groups of it’s genre (whatever that may be), with a much more folksy, instrument-based approach to presenting songs as a symphony of aural stimuli, or in the case of this track “a mixed consolate of selfed instruments.”  This opening track off their 2005 release Lost And Safe is a patchwork of remotely related melodies and rhythms, peppered with sound bytes and lyrics.  The seemingly spontaneous quality of their songs are due in large part to their being programmed that way.  I once read somewhere that they set up their compositions such that all the sound bytes are pre-loaded, the recordings are then “set loose” and take their own course.

I know I posted up Twerk less than a week ago, but I think this track of his, which you can get for free on his blog, make a good addition to this lineup.  So without going into redundant detail, I’ll just recommend you go check ‘er out.

Finally, this is a rare track from John B, a complete departure from what many might consider his usual (and arguably more appealing and unique) sound.  It appeared on the drum n bass compilaton Weapons of Mass Creation, which came out in 2004.  It sounds like a Daft Punk love song over drum n bass, speeding through a futuristic city at a thousand miles an hour.  His more-oft heard sound is a wild 80’s electro and trance mix drum n bass, sometimes even being referred to .  What that means, I don’t know, but this track has nothing to do with any of that, it’s a straight shot of synth and vocoder-drenched energy-packed DnB.

Ilkae – Smok Battle

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The Books – Be Good To Them Always

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Twerk – Haiiro

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John B – Without You

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Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Mar 18 2009 12:00 pm

Tags: Ilkae, John B, Merck, The Books, Twerk