Robot Daydream : Solstis & Oddeeo

I've been doing a bit of digging on SoundCloud and have found a couple of robot themed songs to share. Here's one of them. I've spent several moments researching the artists Solstis & Oddeeo and there's not a lot of information about them; Oddeeo fiddles about with vocoder stuff (or whatever you kids call it these days), so I guess Solstis is responsible for the music. The track Robot Daydream is possibly inspired by Porter Robinson's Sad Machine, but it's the opening moments of Robot Daydream that remind me of a chilled house track from the early 90s and although it's obvious, I really can't put my finger on it. There's nowt worse than an ear-worm you can't put your finger on!




The best thing about streaming from soundcloud is (apart from the quality) the comments on the song's timeline... "dud i love those beats" says Mr Fox. Sick Souls yells "ROBOTS!" whilst Zillax mumbles "OK start i guess" beneath his breath.  Another poster claims it "Remembers me of FinalFantasy 13 :)" and others say stuff like 'brilliant', 'amazing', '<3', 'great music' and "Beat is sick! I love this terribly!" (what a jolly nice thing to say), but not as nice as copacetic7's remark "bee-yooo-teee-FULL" (adding four exclamation marks so the comment really hits home). I often despair at the grammar that some youngsters chose to use these days. A few commentators state that Robot Daydream reminds them of the aforementioned Sad Machine by Porter Robinson... but all remains civil until Zac009 trolls in and spoils the party by shouting "you dick,,, this is sad machine kick, synth, similar voice, drums, so fuck you fan boy" (I'd better add some exclamation marks on Zac009's behalf) !!!
All I can say to Zac009 is "Well see about that!"

Build The Robots : Dr Steel

Remember remember the 4th of November; mischief, mayhem and 'bots! Yep, on this very day, back in 'my' day we'd be looking forward to Mischief Night... knock-a-door-run, garden creeping, hedge hopping and many other subversive shenanigans. Since the US inspired trick or treat thing gained a foothold on these shores, Mischief Night is now little more than a distant memory... but I'd welcome its return in a heartbeat. We didn't give our neighbours the option of 'trick' or 'treat' because Mischief Night was just 'trick' whether they liked it or not... we didn't want sweets in return for doing nothing. We could have bought sweets if we wanted them, but instead we spent our money on half a dozen eggs and lobbed them at doors! In my youth, such mischievous acts seemed daring, brave and reckless... but with hindsight, they were lame, stupid and pointless. If we do see a return of Mischief Night, I hope it will involve something a little more creative than knocking on a door and running away... something like... let me think... umm... err... building a robot army to take over the world... and it seems the dastardly Dr Steel is planning just that (although he may not have pencilled in November 4th as his invasion date).

Taken from his 2001 album titled Dr Steel 2: Eclectic Boogaloo, it's Build the Robots!

Machines : Lothar & the Hand People

First... I'd like to apologise for my prolonged absence from 101 Songs About Robots. I got focused on work and enjoyed doing as little as possible when not at work, then I found myself unemployed and a dark grey shroud of glumness enveloped me. I had so much planned for my robot songs blog in 2015 and now it's November, there's not much of it left! I promised you a Jonathan Coulton-athon which is yet to materialise, but whilst you're thinking 'who the flip is Jonathan Coulton?', here's a lovely little gem I heard on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone last night.

Lothar & the Hand People were a psychedelic space rock group that hailed from Denver, Colorado and were active from 1965 until 1970. Machines is a robotic cover of a song originally released by the British beat-popsters Manfred Mann in 1966 and penned by one Mort Shuman. Yes, the very same Mort Shuman who also co-wrote Elvis' Viva Las Vegas, The Hollies' Here I Go Again, The Drifters' Sweets for my Sweet and the slightly creepy Little Children by Billy J Kramer.

This version of Machines featured on Lothar & the Hand People's 1968 début LP titled 'Presenting... Lothar & the Hand People' and was released as a 7" single in 1969. Of the three versions I've heard today, I think this one is my favourite.



Saying that, I really quite like the clockwork clankiness of Manfred Mann's 1966 original...



...and then in 1980, Shuman released his own version complete with robo-voice, a fat funky bass line and a good slice of 80s over-production that makes it sound like a hundred other songs from the era that we love and hate in equal measure. It does have a nice picture of Mort on the cover though.

Future Game - Rockets

This bunch of foreigners from the future first landed in Paris (France) in 1974 and first landed on this blog back in October. Then it was Synthetic Man, now it's Future Game from 1982. Shiny steel heads and big metal nappies... what's all that about? I've heard stories about foreign toilets but they can't be that bad... surely! Today's robot song isn't really about robots, but the band quite clearly are robots. I think the song is a warning about video games, which according to some conspiracy theorists are absolutely definitely part of the first phase of robot domination; subconsciously training the organic youths to become lethargic drones, unable to function outside of cyberspace... unable to see a world beyond their phone or tablet... unable to communicate or interact using anything other than a keypad or camera, and unwittingly programmed to do nothing when the uprising comes other than send or share a 'tweet' or post a picture of their burning home on instagram accompanied by an indecipherable acronym such as HBDWFI and a sad 'smiley' :(  ...or create a facebook group titled the 'my house was destroyed by robots facebook group' where they'll share and 'like' images of each others lives being torn apart. Of course it's only a theory.

Cyber Messiah : Into Enternity

It's Easter Monday and in my tiny mind, is a good enough reason to push this durgeful thrash turd out. Think yourselves lucky that I couldn't find a video to the other vaguely Eastery tune I had in mind, Crimson Glory's Cyber Christ... so you'll just have to make do with Cyber Messiah by Into Eternity.




The only way is up!

Daydreamin' : Lupe Fiasco

The howling wind has cast the last of the wintry clouds beyond our shores and the lashing rain has washed the last of the winter blues away. My thermal vest is back in the drawer and my winter hat has been banished from my head at least until October. There's a definite feeling of spring in the air.

Today's robot song samples I Monster's Daydreaming in Blue, which in turn borrowed heavily from the 1969 song Daydream by the Belgian band Wallace Collection. Neither of those songs have anything to do with robots but they do evoke a strong feeling of spring and summer, but Lupe Fiasco's 2006 single Daydreamin' does have a robotic edge and in my tiny mind at least, evokes a feeling of spring too.

According to the interweb, Lupe Fiasco's Daydreamin' is a commentary on the state of hip-hip, but I've never been very good at deciphering lyrics so I'll just have to take Wiki's word for it. I like the use of the sample and the robot in the video, so here it is, Daydreamin' by Lupe Fiasco featuring Jill Scott.

Dancing Machine : The Jackson 5

It's been a while I know, and I'm sure my loyal readers have had a hole in their life the size of a robot song since the middle of January. But don't despair because its time to robo-boogie to The Jackson 5 and Dancing Machine. According to the internet, which I freely admit can be occasionally incorrect, the moonwalk was in fact invented by Chuck Berry in 1967. The chicken walk began to give his ageing spine a bit of jip so he developed the moonwalk as being an upright manoeuvre, it meant much less strain on the small of the back which helped keep his sciatica at bay whilst wooing audiences with his antics. Nothing to do with robots I know, but its a fascinating factoid none the less.

On with the music... it's the fabulously funktastic and teetering on tenuous Dancing Machine

I Am Robot : The Phenomenauts

I can't believe I've failed to post one of The Phenomenauts' great many robot songs until now! Shame on me. When it comes to writing & singing songs about robots, they're probably more prolific than Jonathan Coulton and David Zed and even Gary bloody Numan put together!!! The Phenomenauts landed on Earth in the distant future (the year 2000) and have made Earth's Capital their permanent home. For what reason? We do not know... but what we do know is that The Phenomenauts, unlike The She Creatures are here to help humanity become something more, something bigger, something better and possibly sweatier than ever before.

With a back catalogue as long as my robot arm, The Phenomenauts are on a mission to educate through the medium of entertainment utilising the latest guerilla tactics. Heck! They've even been played on the ISS, and not many punky post punk punksters can lay claim to that! With so many robot themed songs to choose from, it's difficult to chose which one to post first, so I'll go for the one at the top of my ever expanding list of songs about robots, which just happens to be titled I Am Robot.

Sleigh Ride : C3PO & R2D2

It's Christmas day and what better way to celebrate than inviting friends and family round, exchange gifts, share stories, drink until you're sleepy, eat until you fart and maybe shed a solitary tear as you recall just how much more fun Christmas day was when you were younger. Well don't despair you miserable sodbots because today you've got six robot songs to unwrap!

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, some feckwit decided to let R2D2 and C3PO record a Christmas album. Did they even have Christmas a long time ago in a galaxy far far away??? I think not, but the idea of a Star Wars Christmas album may well be considered one of George Lucas's many clangers, along with Ewoks (sorry girls), The f*cking Phantom Menace and the rest of the fecking prequels can sith off too!!  In many ways this robot song is a clanger, but it also has a certain charm too... and it is better than The Phantom f*cking Menace.

Chiron Beta Prime : Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton is one of my favourite robot songsmiths. He penned the beautifully haunting Still Alive which played over the closing credits of the video game Portal. He penned the equally sinister Want You Gone which featured in Portal 2, and he penned this chrimbo-cyber-classic titled Chiron Beta Prime.


Jonathan Coulton will make a welcome return to 101 Songs About Robots in the new year next xmas with a dedicated week long Jonathan Coultonathon to honour his contribution to robot music. :)