Tag: 80s

Mix

My Other Voice

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cropped shusei nagaoka
Image credit: Shusei Nagaoka, 1982.

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This mix explores vocals that blur the lines between human and machine through their use of vocoder, phasing and similar techniques.

Key themes: robots, androids/cyborgs, human-machine, retro-futurism, sci-fi, neon, technology, human/machine, 1980s, neon, unfeeling v.s. feeling

Track listing:

  1. GIORGIO MORODER – faster than the speed of love
  2. MIRAGE – lady operator
  3. PARALLELS – dry blood
  4. NUN – burn
  5. MARSHEAUX – what a lovely surprise
  6. STEVE HAUSCHILDT – constant reminders
  7. SPARKS – my other voice
  8. RENI JUSIS – w zwolnionym tempie
  9. KLAUS NOMI – i.c.u.r.o.k.
  10. D A V I C I I – skruszone serce 
  11. oOoOO ft. LAURA CLOCK – without your love
  12. KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH – to follow and lead
  13. MARGARET BERGER – robot song
  14. SANTIGOLD – walking in a circle
  15. GAZELLE TWIN – i am shell i am bone
  16. LOREEN – ’71 charger (strings version)
  17. JANELLE MONAE – cybertronic purgatory
  18. EYELINER – homo electronicus
  19. CHIKISS – dusha

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hidden treasure · Unique samples in mainstream music

Bananarama – “Look On The Floor (Hypnotic Tango)”, 2005 (interpolation of My Mine – “Hypnotic Tango”)

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Long story short I wound up listening to Bananarama’s 2000s album Drama awhile back out of curiosity. It’s a surprisingly good album seeing how this was long past their chart-topping prime in the 80s. The lyrics are nothing special, being the usual love+partying topics, but overall it makes for very pleasant poppy background music. Plus, a couple of songs sound like Goldfrapp (!!!) so you know I’m there.

Another surprise was that one of my favorites, “Look On The Floor”, interpolates the chorus from the cult Italo-disco single “Hypnotic Tango”. What I love is how they give it more of a mellow warmth as opposed to the more uptempo original. If you love Italo, it’s sure to sound familiar:

Look on the floor

And all is spinning around

Someone told me this was just a dance

Then take a chance and I’ll give you more

Do you really think we have a chance?