I am an experience designer and strategist
fostering dialogue between technology and people.
Wait...Who? Don't let the peculiar name distract you from the raw genius of this track. This masterpiece marked the genesis of Italo thoroughbred label Il Discotto Productions in 1982. By the way, you can learn a ton about vintage vocoders by watching our vocoder youtube playlist or checking out our friends over at Matrixsynth. http://youtu.be/qu4NpVvjeQo
SCHEMATIC: More vocoder intel...
100% addicted to this song. Which is a serious problem, because other than this single, solitary video, I can find no trace of the band's existence. Anywhere. Are vinyl pressings gathering dust somewhere in Argentina? A handsome reward for any information leading to my successful capture of this track on wax.
SCHEMATIC: The real story...
But wait! The plot thickens! I found this video by the Dutch band, Nova for their first single, Aurora from 1981. Same video. Different song. Same band???!!
I tracked down the following picture of Nova performing on TopPop (TV) in April of 1982. The photo features band members Rob Papen and Ruud van Es. Based on this new evidence, the videos clearly feature Nova. But the original questions still remain.
I got in touch with Ignacio, who originally posted the Los Autómatas video. It turns out that he made this video as a joke using his own music that he put together in an hour or two!! The actual song is Systenova - Viaje Espacial. "Systenova" is his pseudonym for Italo-Disco, HiNRG, Spacesynth, Synth-pop, Disco, Acid Techno, etc...
Thanks Ignacio!!
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.
http://youtu.be/sl6cbHCnE98
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.
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Elevator.mp3|titles=Elevator|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Gonadotropic_Synthesis.mp3|titles=Gonadotropic Synthesis|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Subway_49.mp3|titles=Suybway 49|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Communication_Off.mp3|titles=Communication Off|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Approach_on_Tokyo.mp3|titles=Approach on Tokyo|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Digital_Delight.mp3|titles=Digital Delight|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Model_Type_A.mp3|titles=Model Type A|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Radioactive_Mist.mp3|titles=Radioactive Mist|artists=Iko]
A2
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Military_Service.mp3|titles=Military Service (non-album track)|artists=Iko]
[audio:http://www.innernerd.de/audio/Iko/Iko_Surrender_to_the_Dream.mp3|titles=Surrender to the Dream (non-album track)|artists=Iko]
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
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus>
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
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus>
Mon rêve délire My dream delirium
Mes passions brûlent de désir My passions burn with desire
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> 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
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> 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
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus>
Mon rêve délire My dream delirium
Mes passions brûlent de désir My passions burn with desire
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> Folie maléfique Evil madness
Eruption magnétique Magnetic eruption
Et platonique and platonic
Egocentrique Egocentric
Domination domestique Household domination
Automatique Automatic
<chorus> J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error
J'suis une erreur I am an error
Erreur érotique Erotic error </chorus> Mon rêve délire My dream delirium
Mes passions brûlent de désir My passions burn with desire
No, Michael Stipe and did not dabble in Italo. Actaually, Computer Communication was the second of four releases to appear on the short-lived Xanadu label from Italy in 1983. This is a readily available and largely underrated Italo classic 12" that you can still buy in excellent condition for around $20. They're pretty tough to find for sale in the US, so you'll probably have to pay international air postage from Italy if you're dying for the track.
SCHEMATIC: Automan 11 bootleg reissue...
Beyond buying a few records to lower the per unit shipping cost or waiting for one to show up in the US, this track was reissued as a high-quality bootleg as the B-side of Automan 11 in 2005 along with Junior Byron's Dance to the Music and Kazino's Binary on the A-side. A NM example is currently available in the US for $10 on Discogs Marketplace.
I embedded youtube videos for all three tracks, since they're all pretty rad. That being said, I do prefer the dub version to Junior Byron's track, which was used to great effect on DFA label co-owner and LCD Soundstyem frontman James Murphy's FabricLive.36 compilation.