Paperjam

The Robot Is Your Friend - The Cybernetic Broadcasting System

Music // Steve // 6th April 2004

I don't like much radio - don't like Radio 1 any more, I'm not near death enough for Radio 2, can't be bothered with the indiecentric Radio 6, Nicky Fucking Campbell is on Radio 5, can't stand all the identikit commercial stations around here and their daft mid-Atlantic accents (...which is odd for Coventry) - but what I do like is the Cybernetic Broadcasting System.

Internet-only radio station C-B-S is heavily, but not exclusively focussed on electro, the spacey, bass-heavy precusor to techno, which some might think is stuck in the 80s along with Space Invaders and legwarmers. If all it was playing was the same-old, same-old electro-funk based Streetsounds Electro stuff it would be desperately dull - but the never-ending playlist mixes in the various mutating forms of electro from the late Seventies to the present, with daily themed playlists taking in house, acid, disco, Miami bass, mad Italian soundtracks and voguish ultra-cheesey italo/electro-disco. "You won't believe it's free" boasts one of their electronic flyers, and they're right - it's so good I'd subscribe to it.

Hailing from Holland, they are associated with the long-established electro scene there, which we heard about ages ago through the "West Coast Electro Sound of Holland" compilations and the superb "Fucking Consumer" album by I-F. Absolutely recommended for anyone who's enjoyed a private arse-wiggle in the kitchen to Shannon's "Let The Music Play" or Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" is the ecstatic (and rare, on CD) mix "Mixed Up In The Hague" by I-F, who has mixes played on the C-B-S.

A recent classic first heard on the C-B-S - 16 minutes of epic electro from Freak Electrique

I'll say this now - a lot of the stuff they play is exceedingly cheesy, and if you don't already have a penchant for the metallic disco sound then you won't be converted, but there's enough tough stuttering beats and staccato basslines to keep fans of that eight-oh-eight sound happy for a long time. The playlist has an annoying habit of breaking down just as they launch into a salvo of super robotic funk joy, but you can always ask around on the friendly forum after if you're desperate to find out what that vocodered voice was rattling on about.

Thirteen C-B-S Classics (how could I pick only ten...)

1. Alexander Robotnick - "Problemes d'Amour"
2. Mr Flagio - "Take A Chance"
3. Alden Tyrell - "Love Explosion"
4. Freak Electrique - "P.H.A.S.E.R"
5. Boards of Canada - "Trapped" (fabulous bootleg electro remix of the Colonel Abrams track - also check the Hell Interface version on Skam, also apparently by BoC)
6. New York Models - "Love On Video"
7. Steel Mind - "Bad Passion"
8. Black Devil - "No Regrets"
9. The Flirts - "Passion"
10. Doctor's Cat - "Feel the Drive"
11. Ice-T - "The Tower"
12. Mobb Deep - "God Part 3" (Instrumental)
13. Model 600 - Update

Links

The Cybernetic Broadcasting System

Here it is, 99% ace electro-disco (and more) action - would help if you've a fast link to the internet. Works with iTunes, Winamp and RealPlayer straight off the bat.

Panama GEMM Record Shop

Affiliated/attached to the C-B-S - an easier way to buy the tracks you hear on the radio, and support them at the same time. I can vouch for this - although it took a week and a bit for my copies of "Phaze me" and "P.H.A.S.E.R" to get to the UK from Holland - probably more down to the postman rather than their service.

Clone

Rotterdam record shop - worth keeping an eye on for all the new releases

Electro Empire and Electro Alliance

Couple of sites devoted to electro