Silicon Teens - Music For Parties

I said I was going to post this about two weeks ago, and sadly that didn't happen, so I'm gonna make it up to everyone and post it today. This album is all Daniel Miller doing his very minimal synth take on classic rock and roll, and one look at the track list will tell you these songs represent the truest definition of classic in this sense. Not much more to say, other than you should totally check this out. It's VERY cool! Hit their wikipedia reference for more info and click here to see the video for Memphis, Tennessee. I love when they show the number was actually written on the wall!


Silicon Teens - Music For Parties

01 Memphis, Tennessee
02 Yesterday Man
03 Doo-Wah-Diddy-Diddy
04 T.V. Playtime
05 You Really Got Me
06 Chip N' Roll
07 Do You Love Me?
08 Let's Dance
09 Oh Boy
10 Sweet Little Sixteen
11 State Of Shock (Part Two)
12 Just Like Eddie
13 Red River Rock
14 Judy In Disguise
15 Let's Dance
16 Sun Flight


PS - A friendly reader named Laurie Laptop left a note in my post about Daniel Miller's work as The Normal, and offered a track to check out. It's an old-school analog synth goodie definitely in the vein of these Daniel Miller recordings, and you should give it a shot. It's called Petrol and is credited to GeminEye and you can check it out here. And thanks to Laurie for the link, very cool track!

PS2 - Also wanted to note it's amazing how many images of naked teens come up with I do a google search for Silicon Teens. I probably shouldn't be that surprised, but I am. Also, the image posted here is from an early ST single, not the album. I thought this looked a little cooler than the album's real cover, but that's included with the MP3s.

The Normal - Warm Leatherette / T.V.O.D.

Daniel Miller is, above all, the founder of Mute Records. He has also produced a number of bands, most notably Depeche Mode, and recorded several of his own projects. The most notable of his recorded output is The Normal, who apart from a bizarre single-sided live EP with Robert Rental, released only one single, the ridiculously influential Warm Leatherette with T.V.O.D. on the flip side. Clearly influenced by J.G. Ballard's Crash, Warm Leatherette is a sick sexual trip about getting it on in a car crash. That might be over-simplifying things, but it's still fairly accurate. T.V.O.D., while not explicitly linked to any pre-existing content, is about plugging yourself directly into a television signal with your antenna/aerial. By today's standards, these songs aren't all that shocking, but they get Miller credit for being an early example of popular music being created with minimal electronic equipment.

Miller also recorded as Silicon Teens, labeling that moniker a band and even coming up with fake members. Next week I'll post their sole full-length, Music For Parties. It's very much in the same vein production-wise as The Normal, but instead focuses on synth-pop covers of early rock classics like Memphis, Tennessee and You Really Got Me.

This is transferred from a US promotional 12" with each song on an individual side. I don't know why they bothered to press a 12" for such short tracks when a 7" would have done just fine, but someone must have thought a DJ might cue these in a live set and would prefer a larger record. Really though, who knows? If you're curious, here are links to the discogs reference for this single and the pressing these files were made from. Enjoy!


The Normal - Warm Leatherette / T.V.O.D.


PS - Grace Jones recorded an excellent cover of Warm Leatherette in 1980 that's very funky. You can download it HERE. She's not the only one to cover it, either. Check the wikipedia reference for a list of additional artists who have covered it.