AI? AI? Oh!

Having dug up a couple of classics by M aka Robin Scott at the weekend, I was a little surprised that there was in fact a new single released a couple of weeks ago, in anticipation of an album, The FAQs Of Life, on 11th July.

Topically titled AI? Robin writes that "(t)he point of the song is to open up the conversation and controversy surrounding around Artificial Intelligence. 

In the creative world it could be a real asset. I know people are concerned about copyrights and so on but I think it’s basically because it’s in very early stages - I hope that all those questions can be answered to give artists security of mind.

 

I’m not advocating that it’s good or bad I just think it’s something that we ought to face up to because like it or not it’s here to stay."

 

Robin goes on to write that "(t)he video brilliantly uses the renaissance artwork we chose for the sleeve. I wanted the juxtaposition between that and the use of AI to be clear and thought provoking. Isn’t it incredible that we now view works of art with different eyes? I still marvel at the fact they were created by the human hand..!"

It's an interesting take, in as much as, of the 1,200 or so views (at the time of posting), I don't think there will be anyone experiencing the song or video and having a revelatory moment. I think it's fair to say that the conversation and controversy surrounding (or around) A.I. was well and truly open some years ago, so this song feels somewhat dated already.

And, having listened to the song a few times, I'd say that the meaning of the song as described in the promo blurb - A.I. is neither good nor bad, but it's here to stay so deal with it - is almost entirely lost in the lyrical narrative.

As for the video, yes, on one level it's impressive and I get Robin's point about the juxtaposition of human- and A.I.-created art. On the other hand, it (and the proliferation of A.I. music videos) feels somewhat bland and predictable. 

After a couple of views, I switched to audio only. And then started to question whether the music and lyrics were also A.I. assisted. Still, it could be much worse, as Martin from New Amusements has discovered and written about brilliantly.

So, it was nice to find that Robin is still creating M music nearly half a century after Pop Muzik - and his voice sounds great - but on the strength of AI? I'll pass on The FAQs Of Life.

Welcome to this world

From whence have you come?

We’re working on it 

But we’re still not done

Homo Sapiens are losing control

Destroying one another, mind, body and soul

We thought we were alone, drifting through space

Are you here to rescue a hopeless case?

Are you the answer to the human race?

AI 

Let me introduce you to

AI 

God doesn’t have a clue

AI 

Let the aliens through…

Let the aliens through!

I was knocking on my neighbours door

My new friend defies Newton’s law

Drag yourself away from the breaking news

This guy’s got the remedy for blues

We thought we were alone, drifting through space

Are you here to rescue a hopeless case?

Are you the answer to the human race?

AI 

Let me introduce you to

AI 

God doesn’t have a clue

AI 

Let the aliens through…

Let the aliens through!

We couldn’t see them, but they could see us

In the fourth dimension we’re a speck of dust

Tempted by the apple, I have sinned

I’ll be blown away by the solar wind

We thought we were alone, drifting through space

Are you here to rescue a hopeless case?

Are you the answer to the human race?

AI 

Let me introduce you to

AI 

God doesn’t have a clue

AI 

Let the aliens through…

Let the aliens through!

Given all the stars in our galaxy

Why would you pick on humanity?

Basically we’re flawed, we have to admit

Earth could be heaven, but now we’re in the shit

We thought we were alone, drifting through space

Are you here to rescue a hopeless case?

Are you the answer to the human race?

AI 

Let me introduce you to

AI 

God doesn’t have a clue

AI 

Let the aliens through…

Let the aliens through!

AI 

Let me introduce you to

AI 

God doesn’t have a clue

AI 

Let the aliens through…

Let the aliens through!

Muzik For Hair Gel

Day 2 of the Eighties 12" Weekender with a new selection, based on an old idea.

Digging out archive Dubhed selections to include with yesterday's post, I'd planned to include Muzik For Hairspray, a mixtape I'd compiled circa 2000 and posted here in May 2021.

I was barely six months into the blog, Muzik For Hairspray was my 29th post and I had no expectation at the time that five years and over 1,500 posts later, I may want to re-post the selection...so I deleted it.

In recreating the original mixtape (again), I was inspired to create a companion set, inspiringly titled Muzik For Hair Gel.

The idea was simple enough: use exactly the same artists and sequence of the Muzik For Hairspray mixtape*, just different songs, and ideally ones that I hadn't used on a previous 12"/80s compilation. And it was that last bit that took the most time!

That said, I'm pretty happy with the end result. After the controversy of 1979's Pop Musik on the previous comp, today's song by M (aka Robin Scott) was genuinely released in the 1980s...just. 

Official Secrets was only released on 7" in the UK and many other countries, though the Spanish put the full length album version on theirs, and Mexico went one step further by putting it on a promo 12". Tick!

I've used the dub remix of Love Calling by Sir William of Idol in a previous Best of Billy selection, so I stuck with the album version. As with Mexico, it was Australia to the rescue this time, releasing this version on a promo 12" single. Double tick!

This is the fourth appearance on this blog of Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix) by Scritti Politti. However, whilst the previous three selections all featured an edit included on the UK 12", this time it's the unexpurgated 9-minute version direct from the U.S.A. 

Divine makes a welcome reappearance, again teaming up with Bobby Orlando for Love Reaction. But what 1983 12" single could possibly have inspired their own dancefloor smash?

* With one exception.

Having recorded this selection first, I then revisited Muzik For Hairspray, only to discover too late that I've accidentally missed off the last song on Side 1 when I originally posted the tracklist. So, apologies to Belouis Some for missing out on Muzik For Hair Gel. Them's the showbiz breaks, I guess!

This weekend's selections are dedicated to Mike, his mates and anyone else making their way to the Milton Keynes Bowl for today's Forever Now festival, featuring several of today's artists and some unbelievably great headliners to boot. Have a fab day!

And a very happy birthday to Green Gartside, who is 70 today!

Side One

1) Official Secrets (Album Version By Robin Scott): M ft. Brigit Vinchon (1980)

2) Love Calling (Album Version By Keith Forsey): Billy Idol (1982)

3) Cccan't You See... (8:15 To Nowhere Mix By Tony Mansfield): Vicious Pink (1984)

4) Love Reaction (12" Version By Bobby Orlando): Divine (1983)

5) Junk (Remixed By Harvey Goldberg): Bronski Beat (1984)

6) Dissidents (The Search For Truth Part II) (Remix By François Kevorkian & Dominick Maita): Thomas Dolby (1984)

7) Where The Heart Is (12" Version By Mike Thorne & Harvey Goldberg): Soft Cell (1982)

Side Two

1) Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero) (Full Length): Scritti Politti ft. Roger Troutman (1988)

2) Channel Z (Rock Mix By Don Was & Michael Hutchinson): The B-52's (1989)

3) On Your Own (New York Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero): Pete Shelley (1986)

4) Let's All Make A Bomb (New Version By B.E.F. & Greg Walsh): Heaven 17 (1983)

5) Shock (The Shep Pettibone Mix): The Psychedelic Furs (1987)

6) It's Called A Heart (Extended) (Remix By Depeche Mode & Daniel Miller): Depeche Mode (1985)

7) Without You (12" Mix By Tim Friese-Greene): Talk Talk (1984)

Side One (45:52) (GD) (M)

Side Two (46:19) (GD) (M)

You can find Muzik For Hairspray here

And, for your further 12/80s listening pleasure:

Flying In The Face Of Fashion (2022)

Just Walk Don't Talk (2022)

Fun To Think (2023)

No Games (2024)

Party Down, Rock The House (2024)

The Fake History Of Dub Muzik

An hour long selection of Dub Pistols remixes, to bring the (big) beat back into your life and banish the blues of another working week. This one's dedicated to Mooz, creator of the awe-inspiring Moozler Music site, a repository of some frankly quite brilliant, genre-defying mixes.

Three weeks ago, I enthused about Dub Pistols' ninth and current album, Frontline. Mooz commented that he was new to Dub Pistols, bar a couple of remixes, and I made a note to self that I would trawl through my admittedly meagre collection of same to create a future selection and post. Typically, said post can take months, if not years, to appear so the fact that a mere two weeks have passed since I made that vague promise is bordering on the incredible.

Anyway, these pretty much cover a two year period in the late 1990s, when Big Beat was all the rage and Barry Ashworth's crew were one of the finest examples of this. The dub and dancehall influences are still in there but these mixes are all about giving it some welly in a nightclub and flicking that sweat all over the shop as you bust your moves. Or something like that.

Of the two remixes that Mooz mentioned, of Audioweb and DJ Spooky, I only own the former but the mix of Faker is superb so I had to include it. I'd argue that Hurricane #1, Bush and Limp Bizkit only sounded half decent when remixed and reworked to within an inch of their lives. I'd probably press 'skip' on the original versions of all of the songs featured here, but the Dub Pistols remixes elevate them to another level. Likewise, Moby's cover of the James Bond theme, unrecognisable as such here.

As for Korn, the All Mixed Up EP is the only release of theirs that I own and is likely to remain that way. Potty mouth precautions for this one is you have sensitive ears in proximity to your speakers. By contrast, we also have Natalie Imbruglia. So there.

I've had the Danmass single knocking about for ages but I've only just realised that it's Dan Carey and Massimo Bonaddio. I won't pretend I know anything about the latter, but Dan Carey is all over my record collection, not least for his work with Emilíana Torrini, Kylie, Róisín Murphy, Franz Ferdinand and Warmduscher, to name a (very) few.

Dub Pistols originally remixed Dust Junkys' Nothin' Personal in 1998. The version here, also known as Hooligan (Dub Pistols x Vega Remix), was re-edited and released by Vince Vega in 2016. One of Dust Junkys' founder members is Nicky Lockett, perhaps better known to you and I as MC Tunes.

 

In other undercover news, Girl Eats Boy is/was an alias for Lol Hammond (Drum Club, Slab). I discovered this one on a US compilation called Funk Off..! Vol. 1, which is an interesting curio of big beat and drum 'n' bass sounds from the UK. I don't think there was a Vol. 2.

Pop Muzik is an all-time classic and a fertile ground for remix artists. Dub Pistols first had a go in 2000, when Robin Scott (aka M) reworked and re-released the song as Pop Y2K. I'm not 100% sure but I think that the remix that appeared on the 30th anniversary celebration compilation in 2009 was an entirely new version.

 

I'm sticking with the late 1990s for tomorrow's Wednesday's* post.

 

1) Faces In A Dream (Dub Pistols Tornado Mix): Hurricane #1 (1999)

2) Napalm In Bohemia (Dub Pistols Mix) (Edit): Girl Eats Boy (1998)

3) James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version) (Dub Pistols Remix) (Cover of John Barry & Orchestra): Moby (1997)

4) Smoke (Dub Pistols Vocal): Natalie Imbruglia (1998)

5) Gotta Learn (Dub Pistols Sick Junkey Remix): Danmass (1998)

6) Good God (Dub Pistols Mix): Korn (1999)

7) My Way (Pistols' Dancehall Dub) (Remix By Dub Pistols): Limp Bizkit (2001)

8) Nothin' Personal (Dub Pistols Hooligan Riot Remix) (Re-Edit By Vince Vega): Dust Junkys ft. The Collective (2016)

9) Faker (The Dub Pistols Mix): Audioweb (1997)

10) History (Dub Pistols Mix): Bush (1997)

11) Pop Muzik (Dub Pistols/U2 Remix): M (2009)

 

1997: Deconstructed: 10

1997: Faker EP: 9

1997: James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version) EP: 3

1998: Smoke EP: 4

1998: The Woman I Love EP: 5

1999: All Mixed Up EP: 6

1999: Funk Off..! Vol. 1: 2

1999: Only The Strongest Will Survive EP: 1 

2001: My Way EP / New Old Songs: 7

2009: Pop Muzik: The Remix Album (iTunes Edition): 11

2016: Appropriation EP: 8

 

The Fake History Of Dub Muzik (1:01:07) (KF) (Mega)

 

* I changed my mind whilst drafting another post for this week, bringing it forward to Tuesday, for reasons which will become clear.

Discollision!

Inspired by JC's disco diversion over at The Vinyl Villain yesterday, this is a You Tube recreation of a CD-R, compiled for my friend Kate in February 2006. Genuinely contains some of my favourite and most played songs.

1) Pop Muzik: M (1979)

2) Funky Town: Lipps Inc. (1979)

3) Relight My Fire: Dan Hartman ft. Loleatta Holloway (1978)

4) Stayin' Alive: Bee Gees (1977)

5) Love Hangover: Diana Ross (1976)

6) Moskow Diskow: Telex (1979)

7) Supernature: Cerrone (1977)

8) Everybody Dance: Chic (1978)

9) I'm A Man (Cover of The Spencer Davis Group): Macho (1978)

10) More More More: Andrea True Connection (1976)

11) Heart Of Glass: Blondie (1978)

12) Disco Inferno: Trammps (1976)

I should note that Loleatta Holloway was uncredited for her (epic) vocal performance on Relight For Fire. Similarly, Lene Lovich wasn't credited for writing the lyrics for Cerrone's Supernature but did her own version in 1987 for the Animal Liberation compilation.

 

Muzik For Hairspray

From my mixtape archives, circa 2000, "a collection of 80s 12" classics"... apart from Pop Muzik, which got to No. 2 in the UK in 1979. 

 

Side One

1) Pop Muzik (Full Length Disco Mix): M (1979)

2) Hot In The City (Exterminator Mix): Billy Idol (1982)

3) Fetish (Extended Version): Vicious Pink (1984)

4) Alphabet Rap (Full Length Album Version): Divine (1982)

5) I Feel Love / Johnnie Remember Me / Love To Love You Baby (Cake Mix): Bronski Beat ft. Marc Almond (1984)

6) She Blinded Me With Science (Extended Version): Thomas Dolby ft. Dr. Magnus Pike (1982)

7) What! (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing Remix): Soft Cell (1982)

8) Imagination (Dance Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero): Belouis Some (1985)

 

Side Two

1) Absolute (Version): Scritti Politti (1984)

2) Summer Of Love (Summer Party Mix): The B-52’s (1986)

3) Homosapien (Elongated Dancepartydubmix): Pete Shelley (1981)

4) Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Extended Dance Version): Heaven 17 (1983)

5) Heartbeat (Mendlesohn Mix (Long Version): The Psychedelic Furs (1984)

6) New Life (Remix): Depeche Mode (1981)

7) Life's What You Make It (Extended Version): Talk Talk (1986)

 

Side One (45:43) (GD) (M)

Side Two (45:56) (GD) (M)