Revival and Revenge of the Robot

Old Robot Dead - Long Live New Robot!

The Revenge and Revival of the Robot

"Catz" comic strip was a regular feature of the Chicago area newspaper The Illiana Beat. The above strip was first published August 6, 1984 by young cartoonist Rob Lattin. This cartoon is apt to go with the release of the Revenge of the Robot Part 1 & 2, dontcha think?

Last year, on the Fantom Phactory site, this article appeared about a new version of the song The Robot:

Revenge of the Robot: Son of Robot 3.0 Released

Digging in the vault of broken parts and dusty vibes, we found the extended version of TeknoGeek's The Robot (2009). The Robot 2.0 (also known as The Robot Returns) was a variation but this recent discovery extends the song into another "realm".

Hence, the song which crawls out of the original would be aptly called "Son of Robot 3.0."

Alternative title is "Revenge of the Robot". It's pretty cool, especially with the added segue of the intro music to "Son of Pumpkinstein Theme".

Well, 2016 brings a different surprise! We recovered a wave of the original Robot which had the Teknogeek nerds discussing their plot. Originally called “The Plot”, the vocal dialog was deleted and a cymbal crash began (and ended) the song.

The idea was to have these geeks who sounded like Steven Hawking, who had no musical talent, to come up with a dastardly plan to create rock music to make them famous since they failed at their tech jobs. The plot was to kidnap Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and force him to record music for them. However, they wimped out and noticed that their neighbor also played electric guitar. Apparently, they had created a robot in which to become a musician but that failed (as the robot destroyed everything - so the story was supposed to go).

Anyway they decide to use the Robot to kidnap their guitar playing neighbor. The song The Robot (originally distributed by Tunecore) then led into the title track of their album “The Abduction of a Rock Guitarist”. This album was released in 2009 and was no longer available in the US after 2012.

The plot thickens, naturally, as this scenario led to the creation of Dr. Pumpkinstein’s Monster, fondly called Son of Pumpkinstein, released by the Fantom Phactory on the spooky album "Lonely Ghost"..

So when we remixed and remastered the Revenge of the Robot in 2015 we added part of the theme of Son of Pumpkinstein at the end of the extended version.

The Fantom Phactory article about the Robot continues:

Most of the TeknoGeek GoonSquad songs (soundtracks) were to be chapters in their story relating to the discovery of the Robot, going to Seattle, plotting to kidnap Jimmy Page, and discovery an old cassette player which had a tape that plays screams of the dead. Pretty frightening.

Fast forward to April 2016 - with the discovery of this slightly different version (wave and digital live) take of our friend the Robot, we kept the nerd dialogue, removed the cymbals and remastered the Latin rhythm backdrop. My original guitar tracks were re-inserted, as well as a remix of the Robot's voice. Cool!

Then, re-recording and remixing the second part, we added more dance rhythms, as well as robot sounds and an ominous undercurrent. Yes, he’s really a bad, bad robot.

With this discovery and re-mixing, etc, we have titled the song “The Revenge of the Robot Part 1 & 2” and it can be heard on YouTube in its entirety. The video isn’t about being a video, but a means to listen to the song so if you want to comment, please comment about the music and not the visuals.

Here it is everybody - don’t you just love the digital music freedom?!




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LINKS

Lost in Space Robot
Can Robots Dance?
Robby the Robot
Bad Robots of Dr Who??
Good Robot of Dr Who? Dr Smith!

The Final Frontier: Space Safari

Star Trek Meets
Jurassic World
- Space Safari

Going Beyond

Going beyond Star Trek, beyond Space 1999, and easily beyond Star Wars.

Converging with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Jurassic World and Jurassic Park.

Welcome to Space Safari. 
Ah, the Final Frontier! 

Sparing all effort on technological creativity and operating under a budget of $1.20, I finally finished the video accompaniment to the space soundtrack "Space Safari."

Here is the intro text to the video in case you have trouble reading:

"1700 years a go, a pre-Cambrian Englishman was commissioned by the Neolithic Universityfor the studies of imaginary black holes . . .
to study strange new worlds and civilizations and boldly go where no caveman has gone before . . . but he was irascible.

Being a young whippersnapper with a chimp on his shoulder he decided to ditch the scientific dogma of the Big Bang and . . . embark on his own interstellar expedition to discover if there are other zoological creations in the galaxy.

Since this was 1700 BILLION years ago, a time when space travel was very difficult, this mad Englishman, by the name of Fred Figstone, employed the assistance of his number one student, Barney Rebel, to develop a time machine to travel through the universal atmosphere. 

Barney was the discoverer of the aether, and since gravity wasn't discovered yet for billions of years, there was no gravity to hold them back.
They were looking to bag big game and place head trophies on their cave walls.

Unfortunately, Barney was too advanced for machinery and their time machine - space ship exceeded warp factor five and thrust them into a wormhole which stranded them in Outer Space in the year 1985 . . .

They subsequently got Lost in Space on their very special Space Safari."

That last part just brings a tear to my eye. In any event, I was just having fun and hope you got a kick out of the video. The meat lies in the music. This version of Space Safari (the soundtrack) is the extended version to cover the length of the video.

Did you know that the original song was under 3 minutes and the full video was over 10 minutes?
So, I extended the song (remastered it, too) and edited the visuals. Yes many cool scenes were cut and ended up on the projector floor. Oh, that's right, I didn't use movie film. Duh!

Anyway, since this is about space, and time travel and dinosaurs and elephants, it fits in perfectly with the work we are doing here at Mad Experiment.

Related links:

Star Trek Theme (Always brings a tear to my eye!)
Star Gate SG1 Theme - Best Sci Fi Theme in recent years
Space 1999 - I love Martin Landau and Barbara Baines
Jurassic World 2015

Special Note:

Although I love the original series of Star Trek (and The Next Generation) as a kid, I did not watch Kirk and Spock. I was a fan of Lost In Space and watched that instead. NOW I watch reruns of both shows and hands down, I love the themes from Lost In Space first and foremost. (It's not as sad as Star Trek's).

Listen to this . . . .

2 version of Lost In Space Theme
My Favorite Version of Lost In Space Theme
(This version opens with computer-like sounds and has great brass, composed by John Williams. If this link breaks or is discontinued, please let me know.) And I love the robot.

Gotta get back on the big hunt on my Space Safari.

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Experimental Music: When The Government Hires Mad Scientists

Welcome to my Mad Experiment

It's A Mad World
Because WE ASKED
For It.
And We Got It


What happens when the government hires mad scientists to conduct tests on humans?

Well, it has happened in the last 100 years by some totalitarian nations, Germany and Russia to name a few. But how about in the US or Britain or even Australia? Well governments are getting out of control as voters have become zombified in this gimme gimme society.

And so the government gives, and it takes as well. Without getting into the political debate about what is going on in reality, let's imagine the near future should the regimes continue to usurp more power than ever before.

Let's say they not only use humans as guinea pigs with your seal of approval, but they actually employ mad doctors and scientists to conduct atrocities on you. Lobotomies, amputations and grafts, and shock treatment, all these things return and there's no stopping them. No one can save you.

It all started with indoctrination in the public schools and overflowed into total control of the media outlets. You only know what THEY want you to know. And that point is emphasized in my new song "The Edge of Nonsense", which should be available this year for you to hear. There I sing what Big Brother wants you to see, eat, feel or live.

 The extension of this idea is captured in the instrumental "Mad Experiment", which this blog is also based on. This song has the robotized nurse instructing you what is going to happen to you. If the test fails, it done over again, until the results are achieved. If you die, your family will be notified. Similar to Obamacare, eh?

 Listen carefully to the under-sounds and you'll hear some wild shock treatment going on. This song is actually a horror song as it is too close to reality. But, it's also a dance song! All you zombies out there can dance to this while the poor lab rat, (me), gets experimented on.

Enough of the serious stuff. I composed and arranged this tune to have sort of a jazz feel, with a little rock guitar thrown in. There are brief reliefs in the song for a drum breather with added sound effects to keep the thing interesting. After all, I'm strapped to a bed in a buildling in the middle of nowhere while 10,000 volts are being shot through my skull and that can be boring after a while. So it's OK to dance to this song.

 Here's a little info about this ditty at soundcloud:

Mad Experiment is about the near future where an overreaching government controls peoples lives, like "The Island" where Number 6, John Drake former secret agent is a prisoner. All the nutty professors and mad doctors operate on your brain to control your mind. Instead of testing laboratory rats or creating robots or even a monster like Frankenstein, they just want to play with your mind and body. This song tries to tell that story.

Here is that song:


Let me know what you think? frightening? boring? danceable? imaginative? SHARE THIS:

Album News & FREE Music Download

Eyenstein

Album News.

The Mad Experiment album is in the works with some final mixdowns and with additional new recordings. Most of the songs are rock based with one or two instrumentals. One instrumental "Space Safari", was issued as a pre-release for testing and is to be included on the new album to released 2014.

Although the songs are rock based, there is a lot experimentation done on song formula, lyric content, vocal style, and unpredictability. Not intended for regular radio airplay, the songs may fit the format of underground stations due to their brevity. Hoping for a popular following, they have a pop likability and even though they may be considered "eclectic", most can be considered sing along or even something to dance to. Keep in mind that this music is experimental. One remarkable thing about this is that while most groups and individual artists are following the pack to sound like the latest pop music, this music travels off the beaten path and trailblazing its own way to its own special beat.

Besides all the brand new material, Mad Experiment will also be doing a remix of some older material from the digital album "Abduction of a Rock Guitarist." An extended version of "El Destructo Mundo" can be sampled for free here. You can download it FREE from Sound Cloud for a limited time. When the free download is about to end we will send out a final notice.

El Destructo Mundo 2

El Destructo Mundo is based on man's destruction of the living earth. Unfortunately, man is not allowed to totally annihilate himself and the survivors of such a catastrophe begin to rebuild their world. It is a dark story that shows man's desire to build is stronger than his desire to destroy. The question is: would that re-built world be any better than the one destroyed?

Well, listen to the song and draw your own conclusions. Just click on the sound gadget below. Be sure to share and comment on it! You can download it FREE - for a limited time.

Album Title Suggestions

Album titles for the new recordings.

Suggestions sent to us from interested parties have been compiled and here are the top 5.
1. Rob Lattin's Mad Experiment
2. Space and Time
3. When I Wake Up
4. The Beginning
5. Reverse Concoction

For the Remix material, title suggestions included:

1. Rajneesh and the Banana Boy
2. Revenge of the Robot
3. Coffee, Tea, or Primordial Soup?
4. The Teknogeek Goonsquad
5. Tesla's Tales
6. Retrograde Motion
7. Lost In Space

Whatever is chosen, the remix is going to be great. The original was pulled down so remixes could be made, plus some added material. Among those kids that love teckno trance and electronica, the original "Robot" was a popular favorite. Because the marketing behind the original MP3 release was lacking and not many results were gained through Tunecore, the original was pulled down and made no longer available. The good news is that the remix beefs up the music and will be released through a more popular channel after the Mad Experiment's new album release. So first you will be able to get the new stuff and soon after, the remix stuff. 
Wherever or whoever markets the digital and physical copies, they will be available on Android through Google Play.

The Difference Is

What are the differences between the two albums, other than one being remixed and the other being newly recorded? Well, for now, let's call the Remix album Rajneesh and the new album Mad Experiment.

Whereas Mad Experiment features 90% of the songs as vocal songs, Rajneesh is 90% instrumental with one vocal song sung in Rap. Whereas Mad Experiment features heavy guitar and can be called pop, Rajneesh is more suitable as a soundtrack album, that features various genres: jungle, electro, jazz, and combo mixtures.

Rajneesh will have bonus material. Besides extended versions of El Destructo Mundo and also an extended version of the Robot (Part 1 and Part 2),

Mad Experiment Blog

Upcoming blogs will include The Ballad of the Teknogeek Goonsquad, The Abduction of a Rock Guitarist Case, and The Banana Boy Affair. Later on, some of the lyrics will be available for the Experiment Album.
Clips of experimental music will also be available on this blog as well.These recording are merely clips and not in any fully recorded songs. Although they are "partials" these are not to be used in any way that will infringe on the copy rights of the musicians or composers.

Check out the artwork below and let us know what you "think". Pretty mind exploding, is it not? :)


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Lyric Sheet to Dinner With the Kannibles

Lyric Sheet to Dinner With the Kannibles

Usually my neighbors like me, sometimes
with corn on the cob and baked potatoes

Dinner With The Kannibles

(C) 2009 Robert Lattin All Rights Reserved

from the digital album "The Abduction of a Rock Guitarist"

(animal noises, an arrow into a door and a scream)

I peeked out my window and what did I see?

A moving truck, new neighbors moving in next to me

They had spears, weird animals and a huge barbeque

They played wild jungle music and there was screaming too

(a dinner a dinner a dinner chow, a dinner a dinner a dinner now)

Well one day we got an invitation to go over there for a meal

I told my wife about it and asked her how she would feel

She said "They're our new neighbors, let's go and don't be rude!"

Against my better judgment we'd go to the barbeque!

(a dinner a dinner a dinner chow, a dinner a dinner a dinner now)

Man I saw live chickens and heard a loud squeal

I was losin' my appetite and I wasn't ready for any meal.

They brought in some kind of meat sliced with a huge knife

I looked all around but you know what? I couldn't find my wife!

(a dinner a dinner a dinner chow, a dinner a dinner a dinner now)

Where'd she go?

Honey! Are you there?

Well, I wasn't hungry but they told me to eat

They told me when dinner was over that uh I was in for a treat

Then my wife came in from some room, she was in some sort of a trance

My neighbor started drumming and my wife began to dance!

Look at her go!

(a dinner a dinner a dinner chow, a dinner a dinner a dinner now)

She got the move!

She dances with her closed!

Where'd she get those knives?

((jazz record interlude))

(audience clapping)

Oh OH!

Honey?! Where did she go?

(a dinner a dinner a dinner chow, a dinner a dinner a dinner now)

Well I felt relieved when I thought that dinner was through

They said it was just beginning - Time for the barbeque!

I said I wasn't hungry I was uh, feeling kinda ill (aww)

Then they tied me up and carried me out to the grill!

Ow!

(a dinner a dinner a dinner chow, a dinner a dinner a dinner now)

Be careful with that knife!

Has anyone seen my wife?

Oh oh!

You can hear the song here on this post: Dinner With The Kannibles

Well I hope you sang along. I still like this song - and it seems that where ever I move, there's always a new neighbor moving next to me.

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FREE PREVIEW - Space Safari

Hi y'all! I wanted to give you a FREE preview of an unreleased track I made for my Mad Experiment. (If you want to learn more about what my Mad Experiment is about, then drop me a line and I'll share it with you.). ANYWAYS . . . this track is called "Space Safari" and is not for sale. It is not available for download either but you can listen to it for now. The link will be up for a short while and then I will disable as I am working on other projects and won't be able to finish this particular CD project I am putting together for Mad Experiment.

So listen now and let me know what you think.

Space Safari by Mad Experiment

Rajneesh: Song About the Adventures of a Lovable Indian Boy

From Wikipedia:
Khan as "Raji" in Maya, circa 1967.

Updated May 20, 2015

What can be more interesting than the mischievous adventures of a lovable Indian boy?

Some of the greatest music comes out of India. Most of what I have heard where from old LP's, India TV, and 90's pop videos. I fell in love with the sound and found a great radio station in Chicago that played contemporary Indian music.

As a composer, my catalogue would feel incomplete if I did not have a song which is about India, with Indian influences in the song itself. So what better reason to write an Indian song that could be a soundtrack for an action adventure song about a young Indian boy, like a young Sajid Khan, and how he gets in and out of trouble in the big city. Let's say he was from Kerala and moves to Bombay.

So I want to reintroduce this story and the song. No song would be complete with this genre if it didn't include elephants contributing to the beat and feel of this exciting song. And, being a guitarist, it has to have guitar in it to help support it edginess as well.

Here's Rajneesh: The story of a young boy from southern India who had a hypnotic power over the animals of the jungle. His saga starts when he realizes that he has this power and is trying to control it.
 


Personal note:: This is still one of my favorites. I always loved the music of India - it's chord progression, the love story duets, and even the retro pop songs. This song is intended for soundtrack use but is also the perfect song to dance to.

Yes it's also a dance song!

photo credit: Wikipedia

related links:
Sajid Khan
The Times of India (for latest news).
Bollywood Radio
Top 10 Movies About India



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Having a Bar B Q with the Kannibles Next Door Tomorrow - Should I go?

The neighbors, whose name is Kannible, invited me to dinner tomorrow for Memorial Day. Actually it is supposed to be a Bar B Q. I asked them what to bring and they said just to bring me and my wife. so I guess I'm in for a surprise. It's uncanny that their name rhymes with cannibal but maybe I'm just alittle paranoid.

Here a song I recorded:

Personal Thoughts About Nuclear Armageddon: El Destructo Mundo 2

UPDATE JUNE 8,2015

RECENT THOUGHTS
ABOUT NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON.

Nuclear Armageddon? El Destructo Mundo?

I just realized that I never had any thoughts about the reason for this song and what it means. So, here I am, reading all the nonsense about global warming, nuclear war, and recently "climate change". Yes, all the atheists and liberal nutcases are promoting that "man" is destroying the ecology, poor Mother Earth, boo hoo, let's wring our hands some more.

With no science to back it up, we are not going to destroy the Earth by not "going green". On the other hand, many believe we are going to bomb ourselves into oblivion with a nuclear Armageddon. There will be an Armageddon of sorts, but it won't be man-made.

The end won't occur on our timetable and Divine Providence determines when the end of the age will  be.However, this song is trying to capture what it would be like if we bombed ourselves silly.

Evil thinks he has won, but even he is powerless to destroy mankind. so at the beginning of the song, after the missiles launch and all seems to be wiped out, evil laughs and plays his evil metal guitar. 

But he won;t be laughing for long as there will be survivors. there will always be survivors. Recall the Great Deluge, 8 were allowed to survive and replenish the Earth. Satan cannot change Divine Plans.

So the song takes on a growing and developing mode, flourishing into a happiness, showing that Good does overcome Evil. 

This is a jazz-tinged instrumental. Take the time to listen through. This song tells a different ending than Steve Farmer's Amboy Dukes song about Armageddon "Psalms of Aftermath".

Here is the full version of El Destructo Mundo. The original was an abbreviated version which was offered through Tune Core back in 2009-2010.

  
Now, letting ISIS bomb us all, well, that's another tale to tell. Or perhaps we'll be invaded by aliens and turned into brain-hungry zombies. Perhaps not.

Related links:

Armageddon
Psalms of Aftermath - Amboy Dukes
Climate Change
Nuclear War

Song About Nuclear Destruction, Man's Resilience SHARE THIS:

Uncle Monkey Sampler

Here is a sampler about one of my favorite subjects: monkeys. No, not the band from the 60's, although I love their music and Mickey Dolenz' singing. With this song, I wanted to do something on the light side. Sound effects remind me of moneys and again I like to add odd music styles with either a strong bass or guitar. If you like this sampler or have questions or comments contact me.