You Sound Like A Robot

VIDEO: Field Mouse, “Glass”

Skittle — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:47:46 +0000

The four-piece dream pop band Field Mouse released a new music video earlier today. It is for a new song titled “Glass”.

The band hails from Brooklyn, NY. This is not their first time on the site. A few months back I set up an interview with Andrew Futral from Field Mouse, among other things. There is a lot of cool information there, check it out after you watch the new video. “Glass” is a great tune, really showcasing the catchy vocals of Rachel Browne along with the shoegazey indie sound that the rest of the band makes oh so well. Cool people too.

Official site | Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp | SoundCloud

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The video for “Glass” is entirely shot in slow motion and prominently features the lovely face of singer and guitarist Rachel Browne. It premiered over on Stereogum earlier today. I also included an mp3 of “Glass” as the band is offering it up as a free download! I told you they were cool people.

Direct link to the video

Download “Glass” now! (Right-click, save as)

VIDEO: Professor Elemental, “Fighting Trousers”

Skittle — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:56:07 +0000

Following in a Chap Hop theme, steampunk and tea enthusiast Professor Elemental hails from jolly old England.

Although he lacks the granddad’s mustache and banjolele that fellow chap hopper Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer has acquired as a trademark his skills on the mic and dashing steampunk attire are simply… well… splendid! The track that I included below is from his studio album The Indifference Engine, titled “Fighting Trousers”. I know what you’re thinking… what an aggressive song title! Well there is a feud behind the track, you know hip hop can be brutal. More information follows after the break.

Official site | Twitter

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“Fighting Trousers” was written in response to “biting” from Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer. This warm tea fueled fued has been going a while now and the two often book shows together to perform rap battles as only proper gentleman rhymers can. Go and fetch your listening trousers and watch the video below. Listen in for all of the jabs at the mustachioed Mr. B.

Direct link to the video

VIDEO: Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer, “Chap-Hop History”

Skittle — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:11:50 +0000

I was introduced to a new genre of hip-hop recently. It hails from the UK, a prim and proper type of music known as Chap Hop.

Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer is a leading face in chap hop. I included a video below featuring a track from his debut LP, Flattery Not Included, titled “Chap-Hop History”. It is a five minute opus detailing thirty years of hip hop history, referencing well known tracks of the genre from “Rapper’s Delight” to “My Name Is”. Mr. B can be heard on MC Frontalot‘s new album Zero Day, armed with his trademark banjolele on the track “Better at Rapping”. He also released a newer album of his own in 2010 called I Say! as well as one last year by the name of O.G. Original Gentleman.

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Direct link to the video

YSLAR Updates: January ’12

Skittle — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:10:48 +0000

We have finally arrived… the doomed year of 2012. If you’re a follower of the ancient Mayan calendar and a nutcase, you had better sell all of your belongings. The end is nigh!

2011 has had its ups and downs. Literally… YSLAR has been pretty sporadically up and down all year. Hehe. I am currently on a post-Christmas vacation of sorts in Alabama visiting family. Things will soon kick back into gear on the site once I return home. In the mean time, check out some older posts. I ended the year with some Korean girls, check out “Gee”.

VIDEO: Girls’ Generation, “Gee”

Skittle — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:21:44 +0000

So I’ve recently developed an attraction to Korean girl bands, namely Girls’ Generation. These ladies are also known to international fans as SNSD, SoShi, and Sonyeo Shidae in their native Korean language.

The nine piece has recorded pop hits in both Korea as well as Japan. They are currently promoting their newest single “The Boys”. This video, however, is an older one from 2009. “Gee” is an incredibly catchy tune that will get stuck in your head… even if you can’t understand a word they are saying! They are currently on top as far as girl bands in Korea are concerned. I included the music video for Gee as well as an alternate version that you simply have to watch.

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Direct link to the video

And, as I mentioned, you simply must check out this version as well. It is pretty epic.

Direct link to the video

MP3/VIDEO: Six Christmas Songs That I Am Into Right Now

Skittle — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:25:55 +0000

Ah yes, the return of the Six Songs post! This is a special edition of sorts, six cool Christmas songs released this season.

Enjoy six songs from the likes of MC Lars, Abney Park, Random, The Energy Commission, and mc chris after the break!

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1. Abney Park, “Through Your Eyes On Christmas Eve”

Seattle-based Steampunkers Abney Park released this original Christmas song on their FaceBook just yesterday. The song is written about seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child, Captain Robert’s in particular. It is a very personal track. Lyrics are available on this page as well as information on the new Abney Park novel, to be released on January 1, 2012.

Download “Through Your Eyes On Christmas Eve” now! (Right-click, save as)

2. Random, “Wishlist”

I just posted about Random, also known as MegaRan, the other day. I’ve actually been really into his music lately. Well, he released a nice Christmas album before their trip to Japan. It is free to download or you can make a donation during the download process. Check that out here. Ricky Henry directed and animated a music video for the track “Wishlist”. Oh, did I mention the album is done with the piano music from Charlie Brown?

Direct link to the video

3. Abney Park, “Jingle Bells”

Alright, so Abney Park released two good Christmas tracks this year. They redid “Jingle Bells” in the way that only they are good at. Give it a listen too!

Download “Jingle Bells” now! (Right-click, save as)

4. MC Lars, “Frosty the Flow Man”

MC Lars released his second Christmas album this year, The Frosty The Flow Man EP. There is an animated video directed by Richard Barham below for the title track of the disc. You can listen to the EP and buy it for a cool five bucks on his BandCamp. “Frosty the Flow Man” features music from K-Murdock and tells the unfortunate story of a snowman hip hopper who had it all until he became addicted to drugs and lost everything.

Direct link to the video

5. mc chris, “Christmas Vacation”

There is a new mc chris Christmas song, inspired by the seasonal 1989 classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It is appropriately titled “Christmas Vacation”. There is not a lot of rapping in the song, although some verses do get dropped between the catchy choruses and upbeat jingle bells. Hey, that’s what Christmas is all about though. Check out that track below.

Download “Christmas Vacation” now! (Right-click, save as)

6. The Energy Commission, “Call of Duty Christmas”

The Energy Commission first gained popularity when a hip hop video was released inspired by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare a few years back. Well, they are back with a new one for the sequel. A completely different track, “Call of Duty Christmas” is a “Santa Baby” parody featuring the sultry voice of singer-songwriter Danielle Cales. I’ll just leave this video here for you. Make sure you watch until the end.

Direct link to the video

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YSLAR: Christmas Round Up

Skittle — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:49:12 +0000

So I haven’t been able to share a lot of Christmas music on here this season. There are a pretty decent amount of holly jolly tracks in the site’s archives, however.

See, I figure you can fit more presents underneath an upside down Christmas tree. This is me thinking logically (greedily?) here. The pimp hat tree topper is just for fun however. December is always the busiest month for You Sound Like A Robot as far as traffic. Apparently you people love holiday music… but only one month of the year. I suppose that is understandable. Below are links to five of my most popular holiday themed posts from Christmases passed.

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5. Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Wizards in Winter“

After I saw TSO live in Charlotte last year I was giddy with excitement. If you ever have the opportunity to catch their show don’t pass it up. A ton of incredibly talented musicians play along with mind blowing special effects as well as a ton of fire. Fire is cool, right? This instrumental became popular after a YouTube video showed a house synchronizing the song to dancing Christmas lights.

4. Ren & Stimpy‘s Crock O’ Christmas

I owned this album on cassette tape back when it was first released in 1993. I was really into Ren & Stimpy as well as all of the other Nick Toons from the mid 90′s era. Television was a lot different back in my day, ya young whippersnappers! Anyway, check out this hard to find Christmas album from Ren, Stimpy, and the whole gang.

3. The Star Wars Holiday Special

Oh yes. The infamous Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978 is on here. Every fan of the holy saga should definitely sit through this at least once in their lifetime. It aired one time and only survives today thanks to video uploads from shoddy third generation VHS tapes. It is pretty bad, but pretty fun in its own way.

2. Lou Monte, “Dominick the Donkey (The Italian Christmas Donkey)“

I stumbled upon this song on satellite radio at an old job. Maybe the best Christmas song? Jingity Jing.

1. The Star Wars album, Christmas in the Stars

Probably the most popular post on the site is my upload of the hard to find, out of print Star Wars Christmas album: Christmas in the Stars. I believe the post is actually on the first page of Google when you search for it. That helps. What would we do without Google, right? One of the coolest things is that this album was Bon Jovi’s first recording. Go and give it a listen!

VIDEO: Mirandom, “Wednesday”

Skittle — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:27:54 +0000

The new album from hip hop duo Mirandom drops on Tuesday, December 20. Mirandom is the combination of styling from Random, also known as MegaRan, and Mr. Miranda.

Those fortunate enough to catch the tour in Japan over the last week may already have a copy of The Memorandum. The rest of us can still grab one on Bandcamp when it comes out. In the mean time, however, check out this full stream through the weekend. Watch the video for the first single on the album after the break. It is titled “Wednesday” and hits pretty close to home as someone who works in retail.

Official site | FaceBook | Twitter

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As I said earlier Random and the gang recently went to Japan. Check out the videos he posted on his official site from the trip. Looks like they had a fun time!

Direct link to the video

MP3: The Crüxshadows, “Anmi’s Christmas (Red, Green, Silver, & Gold)”

Skittle — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:37:09 +0000

So do you want to hear a new Christmas song? Like… an actual original song that we haven’t been hearing for sixty years every December (and November lately, ugh)? Well The Crüxshadows have delivered a new song not to be missed. I know, it’s exciting.

“Anmi’s Christmas (Red, Green, Silver, & Gold)” is an original track dedicated to the most recent addition to The Crüxshadows’ family. Angelina, known as Anmi for short, is Rogue and Jessica’s new baby. She is pretty great. I had the chance to see her along with the band at Dragon*Con. Rogue posted a long news entry on The Crüxshadows.com with tons of new information, ending with a link to download the new Christmas track. You can check it out after the break or head over there to read all about what’s new with the band.

Official site | Twitter | Facebook | Reverb Nation

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Other new information on the Crüxshadows front is that the music industry is rough. This is actually not new information though. So please, if you enjoy listening to the track that the band was nice enough to offer up for free stop by and donate something! As much as you can or want, anything is better than nothing. After all, new babies ain’t cheap!

There have also been new rereleases of Ethernaut and Wishfire with bonus tracks and new artwork. While there is not much information on the much anticipated new full length album from the band we do have an album title now: As the Dark Against My Halo.

I have included a bonus track that is also available for free on their web site, a Christmas song from a previous year: “O Holy Night”. It is a beautiful rendition. Other Christmas tracks that you may be interested in are “A Promise Made (Wedding Day)” (well, Rogue and Jessica did get married during Christmas) and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”. You can get all of these tracks, except for the John Lennon cover, in MP3 and AAC format on their web site.

Download “Anmi’s Christmas” now! (Right-click, save as)

Download “O Holy Night” now! (Right-click, save as)

YSLAR: Back In Business

Skittle — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:53:33 +0000

So it seems that everything is up the way it should be on the website now. If you notice any errors, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail to let me know! Otherwise, I’m a happy cat.

Apparently all I had to do was post about the issues. The next day everything was back up with the server! Things should also move a bit faster with the downloads after these upgrades. No hate toward FileDen, I have been using them for years. Sometimes things just take a while. I don’t know.