Vulgar Unicorn - Divadroid International - What About A Robot With A Human Brain?


Year of Release: 2000
Label: Cyclops
Catalog Number: CYCLUB008
Format: CD
Total Time: 61:02:00

VU. For a very long time these initials stood for Velvet Underground, yet for the last couple of years VU has also become synonymous for Vulgar Unicorn. When these British weirdos let their record label Cyclops listen to the material for their third proposed album, Malcolm Parker and C? found the material too dance oriented. Alternative yet too danceable, which meant this selection of songs could not be released as a "normal" Vulgar Unicorn album. In the meantime the band's third album Jet Set Radio has been played to death, whilst our friends have nevertheless decided to release the original material for the third album under the banner of Divadroid International.

Only 500 numbered copies of this little beauty have been brought into circulation, an album filled with loops and programmed samples in order to deliver material which could be placed somewhere between Massive Attack and Laurent Garnier. Fans of Hooverphonic, Air and Mellow will certainly enjoy this VU chillout. In fact, the CD is a multimedia extravaganza because next to a cool one hour audio mix of trance, drum & bass, and ambient, this shiny disc also includes an amateur film and no less than 50' of unreleased material offered here as MP3 files. Side projects such as Double Zero, Hugo Drax, One Ton Chip, Rock Workshop, Ruby Todd, Terminal Headspin, The Photon Torpedoes and Waldo Pepper illustrate the VU history from punk rock to drum & bass, from indie rock to wave, from funk rock to fun-rock in order to finally arrive at the isolated Vulgar Unicorn island. A musical octopus which in fact can't be labelled at all. The prog IKEA!


Tracklisting:
Money Penny / Baby Universe / Scotland Yard Investigates / You Were Spiralling / North By Northwest / Space Channel 5 / Cop Show / Muteki Otaku / Yellow 6

Extra MP3 files by: Double Zero - 'Evidence' (3:29) (pure punk rock) / Hugo Drax - 'Close Enough For Jazz' (7:45) and 'Merchant Of Venus' (8:52) (both great drum'n bass songs) / One Ton Chip - 'Stepford Wives' (4:22) / Red - 'Biscuits' (3:24) (indie rock) / Rock Workshop - 'Perish' (6:05) (heavy rock with Gary Numan approach plus violin) / Ruby Todd - 'A Mad Unthinkable Utterly Impossible Present' (4:59) / Terminal Headspin - 'Fly In My Eye' (4:05) (kind of Average White Band meets Red Hot Chili Peppers) / The Photon Torpedoes - 'David Is Dead' (6:52) and 'Sports Coupe' (4:41) (both funk rock or should that be fun-rock? Just listen to that thumping bass!) / Vulgar Unicorn - 'A Mad Unthinkable Utterly Impossible Present' (5:56) (dubbed: Gay present: this was a song which didn't make it on VU's second album. Sounds like Haircut 100 guitars with Blow Monkeys attitude) and 'Original Magic Carpet' (1:46) (fine acoustic guitar solo in Anthony Philips style) / Vulgar Unicorn ? 'MC Kitch Mixes - Jazz Night Fucked Up Mix' (3:01) and 'A Mad Unthinkable Utterly Impossible Present High Volume Mix' (5:15) / Waldo Pepper - 'Jazz Bar' (5:36) (strong contender for VU's second album blending jazz, drum'n bass and even disco before adding that special Unicorn flavour)

Musicians:
Brad Storch - programming, samples, vox, guitars, bass
Betty Simington - programming, samples, vox, synths, plastic boxes

Discography:
Under The Umbrella (2005)
Sleep With The Fishes (1996)
Jet Set Radio (2000)
Divadroid International - What About A Robot With A Human Brain? (2000)
The Fine Art Of Living (2004)

Genre: Experimental

Origin UK

Added: March 6th 2001
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website:
Hits: 2773
Language: english

  

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