O Superman : Laurie Anderson

I'm the first to admit that this is possibly the most tenuous 'robot' song so far on 101 Songs About Robots. O Superman was played on BBC 6 Music a few days ago and I'd forgotten just how much I like it. I also recalled it having a vague robot reference towards the end and figured it might just qualify as a robot song. As said, it's tenuous, but the lyric "So hold me, Mom, in your long arms. In your automatic arms. Your electronic arms." is near enough for me.

I take my hat off to the British 7" single buying public of 1981 as it is they who got this minimalist work of art to number 2 in the charts. If it wasn't for them, this song would most likely remain largely unheard. So without further ado, here is Laurie Anderson with O Superman: the unlikeliest of chart smashes.

Ska Robot Army : The Aquabats

Once again it's Ska Sunday here on 101 Songs About Robots, making it 111 songs about robots!!!

Last week, doing a regular Ska Sunday seemed like a great idea, but this week I've realised that I only have two robot ska tracks... so this fledgeling feature is about to come to an abrupt end. Unless of course my loyal readers can point me in the direction of some more robo-ska.

I've previously featured The Aquabats with their excellent Giant Robot Birdhead, and Aquabat front man MC Bat Commander also sang the chorus on last week's This Gigantic Robot Kills... so it should come as no surprise that this second and final instalment of Ska Sunday comes courtesy of The Aquabats. Taken from their 1996 debut album titled 'The Return of the Aquabats', it's Ska Robot Army.



At least Ska Sunday ended on a high note.

The Robot Song : Project: Out of Bounds

As a warm-up for Ska Sunday, here's a reggae influenced robot song by San Diego's Project: Out of Bounds. From their Facebook page...

"Project Out of Bounds is a progressive reggae-fusion band that has been taking California venues by surprise for the last five years. In a musical age where success is manifested through kissing ass and blasting social media sites, P.O.B. is the band that lets their art speak for itself. Their music is creative, edgy, and hip. They usually sneak under the radar right before sucker punching the crowd with an explosion of energy. They have accumulated a fan-base of true music aficionados that don’t buy into hype. Yes, this is a band for the true music fan, not just the reggae fan."

Need I say more?



See you tomorrow on Ska Sunday!

This Gigantic Robot Kills : MC Lars

It's 'Ska Sunday' here on 101 Songs About Robots, and what better way to celebrate than with a chunk of that modern punky pop the kids call ska? This song may well be a long way from the authentic sixties ska that laid the foundations for rocksteady and reggae, but it's got the jump and the jiggle and the jaunty brass, and it's bang up to date with a bad ass rap.

This Gigantic Robot Kills is written & performed by MC Lars and features Aquabats frontman MC Bat Commander singing the chorus, along with LA based third wave ska band Suburban Legends providing the trumpety jumpety backing track. Taken from his 2009 album of the same name, it's MC Lars with This Gigantic Robot Kills.




I might be back later on with another song for Ska Sunday, or I might be back next week, but right now... I'm off for a bath.

Robot : Trip Lee

Well here we are on All Hallows, so lets put those satanic shenanigans behind us and kick off a new month with some religious rapping courtesy of Trip Lee. Not all rap-hop revolves around guns, bitches and a string of profanities, nor does it all advise the listener to join a gang, slap a ho, buy some bling and a Lexus yo! Trip Lee differs from the wannabe gangsters of the rap-hop world as his rhymes entwine the gospel truth with beats and breaks that raise the roof and spread the word of God... muthaf*cka!