Proud Of It

Laptronica must one of the most awkward words in music. It takes a type of music electronica and even simplifies it more by just associated the music with one particular type of equipment (a laptop, duh). Armed with a laptop (Apple MAcBooks have the upper hand here... they just look really good on stage...) and a hard drive full of software sequencers and samplers, Laptronica artists create music that is generally a bit too leftfield for the dancefloor. But perhaps a bit more accessible than other IDM artsts (Aphex Twin, remember Atari Teenage Riot?). Artists such as Four Tet, Mouse On Mars, The Octopus Project, Schneider TM, Mum all have combined glitchy elements of electronic laptop music with more traditional instruments to evolve this new music genre.I Am Robot and Proud (IARAP) is Shaw-Han Liem, a one man band from Toronto that creates Laptronica music. The title of his last album, 2006's The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing, says it all. At the end of 2007, he announce a new album this year.

there will be a new record in 2008.. work has slowly been turning into tiny pieces of songs. today i recorded a mandolin part... who knows, maybe it'll be "the new sound"?

also, some remixes for De De Mouse (avex trax, jp), Chihiro, and a collaboration with Gentleman Reg. here comes 2008!!!

He just wrapped up a mini-tour promotional tour for Yamaha to launch their new musical instrument invented by Toshia Iwai. The tour included artists Mouse on Mars, Pole, and To Rococo Rot.

Okay I have a soft spot for one of the titles of the songs I am posting. Maybe because I am going to Osaka next week! The girls are short over there? Yes! My friend confirmed. Those that know me, understand. The track is from a compilation that IARAP put together for Piehead records.

Tower Records, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan!

MP3: Girls Are Short - Osaka (I Am Robot And Proud Remix) (YSI)
MP3: I Am Robot And Proud - The Electricity In Your House Wants to Sing (YSI)
MP3: I Am Robot And Proud - The Catch (YSI)

When I Get My Ears - I Am Robot and Proud
(video by Toshinori Tanaka)

This Isn't Your Parent's Tour Guide...

I have been sitting on this track for a bit. It is a collaboration between Bpitch Control artists Ellen Allien and Apparat. Taken from 2006's LP Orchestra of Bubbles. It is interesting to see Apparat stray a little further from his IDM beginnings to something with a more structured sound.

It also appears on the most recent Timeout compilation The Other Side: Berlin. Looking at the track listing for this series, I am impressed with Timeout's willingness to showcase some underground music. Timeout basically picks an artist to curate the tracks on the CD. Other curators include Fischerspooner (NY), Black Strobe (Paris) and Damien Lazarus (London). I have all the discs in the series which on the flipside of the disc has the artists themselves touring their respective cities and giving hints of places that they like to visit, eat, and shop. (There is a sneaker store that I keep forgetting to visit when I am NY).

The first three were released at once a while back and I had begun to wonder whether the series was dead or not. However, why did they change the cover art? I like it when a series has a consistent look on my shelf. The new one sticks out like a sore thumb (at least it's a cute sore thumb with Ellen's photo on it...).

MP3: Way Out