"Out of touch and not afraid to admit it"

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In the walk-thru to Tesco's car-park in Hackney, there's a bunch of Kings of Convenience posters. On one, as well as hipster sunglasses, a wag has meticulously penned the following speech-bubble: "Erland, I want to be in Robots in Disguise."

a) Put me fully in the picture, as patronisingly as you can. b) Ask the question most likly to earn YOU the response: "Fuck off grandad/small-fry/saddo"

mark s, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Know very little about KOC (blushes) but was given a 'what,you're not interested' look after asking the following :

'So what does that digivolve into ?'

'Why is he called Mr. Ass ?'

'So are you preparing for your SATs ? '

Geordie. . .ouddatouch+ouddatime, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

a) Kings of Convenience are Norwegian acoustic drone-merchants, Robots in Disguise of course was some kind of 80s cartoon (Transformers, I think). KoC are pretty fucking boring, which I think explains that quip.

b) "Why is Robin Page endlessly wheeled out by the London media as representative of rural Britain, and why do 'liberal thinkers' often regard all ruralism as utterly beneath them?"

(the answer is a convoluted set of arguments related to Thatcherism and punk which I won't go through again. But I forgot. I'm only 20, so I shouldn't care. Sorry. Fuck off.)

*we apologise for the interruption in debate and will return to ILM's true subject as soon as possible*

Robin Carmody, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Robots in Disguise are an 80s revival band based imagine the electronic Ladyron crossed the post punk Life Without Buildings.

Robots in Disguise write songs about life as they experience it and regularly engage in discussion forums to rival Ricki Lake and The Late Show. The Robots' unique blend of robotic rocking, mystery and sci-fi lullabies is currently causing a stir across the capita l(and on its airwaves- already being played frequently on XFM and also getting plays on Radio One and London Live). Since their first gig at the ICA, their live parties/gigs have been avidly followed by fans with similar haircuts.

Robin, you are slipping just like the C.Palace! at least you can be in touch with the latest football scores ! here

DJ Martian, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I know I'm slipping like the Palace, Martian. I've virtually lost touch with the rest of humanity altogether. Apart from ILM, of course.

Robin Carmody, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Kings of Convenience - are crap, also one of them looks like a junior dork from the Proclaimers.

Did anyone see advertising for the KoC album quoting a journo, this deserves to win the Technics Mercury prize. (as this prize is for British/Irish artists only - it was a stupid thing to write)

DJ Martian, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Robots in disguise wasn't a cartoon - it was the tagline for Transformers, silly. Oh, and some questions not to ask metallers are: 1) But why do they have to shout all the time? 2) Why do you all wear baggy trousers? 3) Don't you mean heavy metal? Like Iron Maiden?

DG, Saturday, 14 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

one of kings of convenience is dating one in ladytron, i can't imagine it being the slight spectacled one although if he was the lady magnet of the band that would be more interesting.

keith, Sunday, 15 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

And my indie gossip source sez: "Nope, that's not true! One of KoC *wants* to be dating one of Ladytron, but she's not INNERESTED!!!"

Apparently, she invited him over to listen to records, and he was really upset when it turned out all she wanted to do was *listen* to records. Or, so sez Mr. Gossip.

And my question is... why do members of indie bands *always* unsuccessfuly fancy members of other indie bands who destroy their hearts and make them turn to writing endless miserable wibbling songs about it? Erm... not that that's ever happened to me. Oh no sirree.

kate the gossip, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

you aint out of touch Mark - you'll recognise the kings of convenience - just put on "Sound of Silence", kick in one of your speakers, adjust the other to only register three notes and cover your ears with dishtowels dripping with cold gravy. The dim, precious sludge you now hear corresponds with the Joe 90 poster you saw. Robots in Disguise? Cockfarmers. that'll be the connection then.

Patterson, Tuesday, 17 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I have no idea what this thread is about but I did ask some band (who was soliciting requests) to play a Dave Clark 5 song. They questioned my sexuality. So I guess the question is "Will you play 'Anyway you Want it' by the Dave Clark 5?".

Steven James, Tuesday, 17 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

two months pass...
Robots In Disguise r a lektronic 2-piece, 2 girls, i have their album and it's ace. I imagine KoC would prefer to be in RID

Noelle F, Wednesday, 20 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I offer that KoC aren't all that bad. Unless there's another KoC running around. The one I know is an acoustic duo singing songs that are shyly pretty. Twee, twee, twee - they once had indiepop cred, for what THAT'S worth. (That'll get you a Hello Kitty wallet and a pair of barrettes. At least emo cred outfits you with a snazzy pair of glasses.)

As for the question...oh, there are so many...

David Raposa, Wednesday, 20 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Don't know much about KoC but I have the RID mini-album, and it's very good. Their website is www.robotsindisguise.co.uk

Lex Johnson, Monday, 25 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

four months pass...
First off,this is the funniest thing I`ve ever encountered on a "kings of convenience" search on the net. a) One of the girls in Robots in Disguise lives in Hackney, or at least she did in Dec.99, so she probably had a laugh on the way home.

On the Mira from Ladytron issue: Yes, she declined my advances. But, hey. One out of two electronica-band-girls ain`t bad scoring for someone resembling a Proclaimers dude.

erlend in kings of convenience

erlend ΓΈye, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Man on a bike! Can somebody please turn off Google?

Tom, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

*ring, ring*

"Hello? Google?"

"We're sorry, but our 'off' switch has had its handle removed. If you don't want someone to find out what you're saying about them on the Internet, then don't post it on a public site. This is a recording." :-)

Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

and here I thought the transformers song was "robots in da skies!" all these years.

fritz, Saturday, 27 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two years pass...
So like, who did Erlend score with?

Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Thursday, 26 August 2004 03:05 (nineteen years ago) link

robots in da skies!!! that's hilarious!!

dave k, Thursday, 26 August 2004 04:14 (nineteen years ago) link

seventeen years pass...

i fucking HATE autotune

Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Saturday, 6 August 2022 15:37 (one year ago) link

i think of autotune now in the same way i used to think of fretless ebass. that isβ€” kind of cheesy and really bad when it's used in excess, which is unfortunately the only way some people seem to know how to use it. i still like how it sounds sometimes and think it can definitely make a good song better ("why why why why why" by sault is a fine example).

and hell, since i'm on my last leg anyway, might as well come clean and say it: i like the song "heartless" by kanye west. genuine first listen love on that one and maybe one of 5 or 6 things he's ever done that i think is just plain old good music. it was also one of the first things i ever heard that really

yikes sorry quick hands on keyboard

consider this intermission, rest of thoughts coming shortly

so yeahβ€”

"heartless" was also one of the first things i heard that really hammered home the idea of `trust the art, not the artist` in a profound way because i love it without reservation despite two things: 1) i hate autotune and 2) i really do not care for kanye west, as you might already know.

so yeah, definitely love/hate with autotune. i'd like to see it get "hacked" somehow β€”β€” like some weird techy musician eccentric figures a way to hook it up to their marimba or something and hitting the "wrong" notes will actually make the "right" ones come out, albeit in this weird, somewhat unnatural sound. definitely has some mad scientist possibilities. i feel like sun ra would've really dug autotune.

oh yeah, forgot to end with the most important part:

i love fretless ebass now, even when it's totally ridiculous and hammed out. so who knows? maybe if i live long enough, i'll love autotune just as much.

believe me, i don't want to hate autotune. i want to be able to like just about anything. but at this point, the only autotune i want to hear is deep on the ocean floor, modulated by deep water flows, time-stretched to 400x length

i don't have too many dealbreakers like that, and whenever autotune comes up in real life i just try to think about other things and let it go by, because i don't want to be that guy who hates on autotune. except on this thread though

Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Saturday, 6 August 2022 21:12 (one year ago) link

honestly i would like a #autotune tag on any review that covers it, though. the worst thing is when the review makes it sound like incredibly pop, and maybe it actually is, but...

another analogy. it is like a great painter who always uses the same exact bright neon yellow green, on top of everything else, very thick, impasto, always, on every single painting

Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Saturday, 6 August 2022 21:13 (one year ago) link

the only autotune i want to hear is deep on the ocean floor, modulated by deep water flows, time-stretched to 400x length

it's been a long time since an ilx post made me weep for the beauty of it. ty The Postman

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Saturday, 6 August 2022 23:22 (one year ago) link

Autotune is to pop as eyelash extensions are to femininity; performative artificiality that highlights the underlying absurdity of idealised norms. It can either be super fucking hot or a total cringey bore.

The Ghost Club, Saturday, 6 August 2022 23:35 (one year ago) link

I couldn't quite ID why most modern pop music was exhausting for me to listen to until I watched hours and hours of "pop music producer shows you their Logic Pro workflow" videos. What kills me is that most songs now have at least 90+ tracks - each track tweaked and/or worked over.

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 6 August 2022 23:56 (one year ago) link

xp

<3 *puts 2 tacos into the mailbox*

Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Sunday, 7 August 2022 00:00 (one year ago) link

xp ghost club i think on my better days i agree with you, that it can be really good. i just think, imagine if there were a new song with a tambourine solo. and then suddenly, every single song had a tambourine solo. and this went on for like 20 years

Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Sunday, 7 August 2022 00:01 (one year ago) link

no, but what you don't understand is that THIS tambourine solo takes place over some really innovative discordant stuff

Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Sunday, 7 August 2022 00:03 (one year ago) link

("why why why why why" by sault is a fine example).

wow! have listened to this dozens of times and it using auto-tune never crossed my mind.

i'm out of touch with auto-tune use and not afraid to admit it.

stirmonster, Sunday, 7 August 2022 00:51 (one year ago) link

Like a lot of people I thought autotune was a fad that would wane, and so subsequently I've wondered if it would be analogous to something like heavy electric guitar distortion for people in the sixties, which also never went away (though rock has become marginal).

Funnily enough I was listening to Caetano Veloso's white album this morning and thinking "this is really good, but the guitar is like someone scrawling all over a beautiful landscape painting," which I assume must have been an intended effect.

eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Sunday, 7 August 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link

wow, the guitar parts are one of the best parts in the '69 album. Lanny Gordin ftw

fpsa, Sunday, 7 August 2022 16:09 (one year ago) link


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