Archive for the ‘Information Society’ Category

Lost Turntable: Now with 43% less migraines

Thursday, August 29th, 2013

You may notice a slight color change here! Why? Well, it’s a long story. Seriously, it goes back like six years.

When I first started this blog in 2006, I was still using an old-fashioned CRT monitor. Now, if you recall, back with CRTs, it was much easier to read white text on a black background than it was to read black text on a white background. Well, flash forward six years and several flat-screen monitors with increasing contrast later and oh my god reading plain white text on a pure black background makes my eyes want to pop out of my head.

So I was bored today and decided to finally give it a go at fixing it. I’m not super-happy with the results, but I do think it makes the site a bit easier on the eyes. What do you think? I know it’s not the prettiest color layout in the world, but hell, neither was hot pink and black. So whatever.

Now for a bit of shameless self-promotion. Over at my other site I wrote up a quick thing on this odd David Bowie record I found. And I also did a review of Death Waltz’s incredible Fog release. Read ’em. Love ’em. Share ’em. Make me happy. Repeat. And if you like reviews of hard-to-find and ridiculously expensive vinyl releases then check back at Mostly-Retro later this week and into the next for a review of the deluxe edition of Franz Ferdinand’s excellent new LP, as well as a look at a ridiculously rare record from a psych-rock band you’ve probably never heard of.

Cuz that’s the shit that really brings in the hits.

Information Society
Make It Funkier (Boot It Up Vocal)
Walking Away (SMD Mix)
Walking Away (House Dub)
Been a while since I posted any Information Society (or as the kids call them, InSoc). “Walking Away” was the second single from their debut album. It’s a solid tune, but let’s be honest here, it’s no “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Enegery).”

I don’t know what the fuck/funk “Make It Funkier” is, but it sure as hell ain’t funky.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
You Do Me (The Justin Strauss Remix)
You Do Me (Froggy Mix)
You Do Me (Just Right Dub)
You Do Me (7″ Mix)
I think I managed to go a whole month without posting some Sakamoto! Let me check to be sure…

Okay, so a few weeks ago I posted those Akiko Yano songs that he produced, co-wrote and performed on, but technically speaking they weren’t Sakamoto tunes, so I’m sticking by that. “You Do Me” is less disgusting than its title suggests, but it’s still not the best track. I like it for what it is, but when I get the Sakamoto itch (ew) I tend to go towards his work with YMO or even his classical stuff more often than this, it’s just a bit annoying if you ask me.

Posted in Information Society, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 5 Comments »

90s As Shit

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Since I know some people only read my posts that have MP3s, I want to mention again really quick that I am currently selling some of my LPs and singles to help fund my trip to Japan. Check out my “For Sale” post and if you see anything you want, follow the instruction on that page.

Now let’s listen to some dope 90s remixes.

Information Society
Now That I Have You (7″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ House Dub)
Information Society (who will herein be referred to as InSoc) occupy a weird space of electronica, “cyberpunk” and neo-hippie wackiness I like to call the early-90s. A time where ideas like the Sega CD, multimedia and the film Johnny Mnemonic seemed totally rad.

InSoc did a lot of wacky shit during this time. For instance, their first CD was a rare example of the CD+G format, which basically allowed for silly low-res karaoke style videos to play during the music. I remember popping in my copy of the album into my Sega CD and even thinking back then that it was pretty damn stupid.

What was cool though was the band’s idea to include tracks of modem noise on two of their albums. On Hack the modem tones could be decoded into a text file, while the story behind the modem tones on 1997’s Don’t Be Afraid (no longer the early 90s, I understand, but it was in spirit) could be used to start a wild goose chase on the Internet to find a hidden song. You can read about it here.

Anyways, I find it funny that surrounding all that wacky shit was a pretty damn great pop band who took a lot of the conventions of 80s synthpop and expanded upon them in a slightly more modern way that definitely made their overall sound feel very “90s,” at least for a couple years.

“Now That I Have You” is a lesser song (in terms of popularity) in the InSoc singles discography, but I still like it. I got all these mixes from a 12″ promo single. I don’t think that a non-promo version of this single was ever released.

Sting
Demolition Man (Soulpower Vocal)
Demolition Man (Jazzy Hip Hop Mix)
Demolition Man (Soulpower House Dub)
Demolition Man (Ridiculous Tribal Mix)
Demolition Man (3rd Floor Hump Mix)
Demolition Man (Hip Hop Dub)
I wonder if the makers of the 1993 Stallone/Snipes/Leary/Bullock opus Demolition Man came up with that name for the movie first and then realized there was a song with the same name, or if they got the idea for the name from the song? Either way, it’s pretty damn weird. When I think of non-stop action and adventure, I don’t think a Sting song that Grace Jones covered. But hey, I’m not in Hollywood.

The Grace Jones version is, of course, the superior version of this song. And it also has one of the most batshit crazy performance videos you’ll ever see. So I suggest you check that out. The Police version is…okay, but it’s just a little too jazzy for my tastes. I actually prefer Sting’s solo version over it, it’s one of the few times that Sting took something he did with The Police and made it rock harder.

These remixes, on the other hand, they’re kind of a letdown. As the titles indicate, they are more jazz, pop and hip hop-influenced takes on the song, with the heavier elements and guitar solos completely removed. They’re certainly great examples of how production can change the feel and even the genre of a song, but they still kind of bum me out. I assume someone out there will like them though.

Posted in Information Society, remixes, Sting | 1 Comment »