Florio Time D.J. - Time Out

Time Out was an hour-long dance music radio show primarily hosted by Florio "Florio Time D.J." Imparata. It was broadcast from 1980 to 1989 on Radio Piombino, an FM radio station in the small city of Piombino in Italy.

Someone has set up a tribute for the show at http://xoomer.alice.it/fivedance/. The site is mostly in Italian, and contains a few sound files in the venerable VQF format. I had images and transcoded versions of the audio files here in this post, but the owner of the site asked me to remove them.

Florio Time D.J. (where has he gone?) apparently released only one song of his own: the silly, druggy, theme "Time Out".

• Florio Time D.J. - Time Out (Vocal)
• Florio Time D.J. - Time Out (Instrumental)

This 1983 melodic electro cut is perhaps one of the greatest examples of pure Italo Disco, naïvely flaunting several defining traits of the genre, including heavily accented, speak-sung English lyrics — which, even when deciphered correctly, don't entirely make sense.

Behold:

Time Out is not the most story Time Out is not which is own yours Time Out the fable becames reality A wonderful story I come here today And here's a story of Time Out Three years ago There was a DJ That liked funky music Just as we do So one day As a play He had an idea And say to house My dear friend I want to make a program A program with the music We all love! Come on girls Come on boys Let's all dance With the music of tomorrow And every day If your television's on A new sensation You'll be feel But eat the cereal It's good for you There is a disco For a night under the moon The moon like it too That's why you dancing With your music The electronic sound! Time Out Music in my heart Time Out, Time Out Music in your heart Time Out, Time Out Music in my heart Time Out, Time Out Music in your heart

Turntables mix A one headphone And any way good This is Time Out The sound you will like It gives you a shock This is the music Of the Time Turntable mix And one headphone And many record This is Time Out The sound you like And give you a shock This is the music Of the Time Time Out Music in my heart Time Out, Time Out Music in your heart Time Out, Time Out Music in my heart Time Out, Time Out Music in your heart Come on girls Come on boys Let's all dance With the music of tomorrow And every day If your television's on A new sensation You'll be feel But eat the cereal It's good for you There is a disco For a night under the moon The moon like it too That's why you dancing With your music The electronic sound!

These blogs also posted about the song "Time Out":
Italo Deviance (September 2008); Kontrapunkt (June 2008); My Secret Playlist (December 2008)

Flemming Dalum - Italo Classix

Flemming Dalum's expertly crafted "Italo Classix" mix straddles the line between DJ set and megamix, briefly visiting the essence of nearly every above-par Italo Disco track from the genre's heyday. Although it's packed with hits, he thankfully sticks to the relatively edgy songs that have the most longevity, steering mostly clear of the guilty-pleasure, overt pop and Hi-NRG side of Italo that would sound dated and jarring in a modern set. With 100 tracks in 80 minutes, it's the best mix of '08, for sure. Original post and link to the mix are at http://djhistory.com/forum/showthread.php?p=411156 http://djhistory.com/forum/flemming-dalum-italo-classix-100-tracks-in-80-min

Magic Waves posted an interesting interview of Flemming Dalum, probably one of very few people in the world with nearly every Italo Disco record ever made.



He's also posted another set recently: The Dark Side of Italo: http://www.djhistory.com/forum/showthread.php?p=416708 http://djhistory.com/forum/flemming-dalum-the-dark-side-of-italo. This one is shorter but is mostly instrumental, built from Italo loops, plus effects.

C-B-S and Intergalactic FM

The Cybernetic Broadcasting System (C-B-S), located at cbs.nu, shut down this past July, ending a 5½ year run.

C-B-S was mainly two things:

1. A collaborative Internet radio station overseen by Ferenc van der Sluijs, a.k.a. electro recording artist I-F (Interr-Ference). It featured vast amounts of synthesizer music, most of it either techno, electro, or Italo disco, sometimes ambient, sometimes synth-pop.
2. A forum / community of C-B-S listeners & synth music junkies affectionately called "robots." The name of the forum was Robots For Robots.

When the station shut down, Robots For Robots posts were removed and replaced with a single thread announcing the station's demise. Immediately, a new version of the forum, nearly identical to the old, was launched by users on another site. However, the original Robots For Robots posts were eventually restored on the original site, and some new posting does seem to be occurring. Both forums are linked to in the Forums section at left.

The C-B-S broadcasts DJed and hosted by Ferenc himself were highly entertaining. His on-air style was humorous and full of energy. It was immediately obvious that he loves all the music, and yet doesn't take things too seriously. He invested thousands of hours and probably tons of money into keeping the stream going, but according to his farewell post, the station just wasn't getting enough listeners to make it worthwhile.

Archives of some of the broadcasts can be found on file sharing networks. The year-end Top 100 countdowns, based on votes from listeners, are especially popular. These shows are full of cuts from Ferenc's library, interspersed with clever station IDs submitted by the "robots". Some of the countdown tracks are so rare, the records they come from (when they can be found) trade for hundreds of Euros, and the only copies to be found on the file sharing networks were ripped from C-B-S.

Now there is word of a C-B-S radio's successor: Intergalactic FM. Not much is known about it yet, but it looks promising.


Also: This blog is not dead, just somewhat dormant. Music and information is being hoarded, sorted, organized and prepared for dissemination, don't worry. And the links along the left side have been getting updated. Mainly the changes have been in the Tastemakers section, which features music blogs -- i.e., free music sources -- you should be checking out if you're into space/synth/Italo disco and other interesting/weird tracks found by fellow crate diggers. The sites are in order with the disco-oriented ones coming first, more general ones last.

Please bookmark or link to hookedonstereophonics.blogspot.com, if you haven't already.

Thanks for visiting and reading. As a reward for getting this far, here's something you might enjoy: Evidence - Explosion of a Planet

Oppenheimer Analysis

Oppenheimer Analysis is a Cold Wave duo consisting of weapons of mass destruction expert Andy Oppenheimer and Brighton musician Martin Lloyd.

Thus far they've produced only two sets of tracks: the New Mexico sessions from 1982, and the Der Wissenschaftler sessions from 2005. Their discography is rather short:

• 1982 Andie Oppenheimer - demo tape
• 1982 Andie Oppenheimer - New Mexico tape
• 2005 Oppenheimer Analysis - New Mexico reissue on private CDR
• 2005 Oppenheimer Analysis - s/t 12" of 4 tracks from New Mexico (500 numbered copies)
• 2005 Oppenheimer Analysis - Songs From The Atomic Age compilation of tracks from New Mexico + unreleased '82 material
• 2005 Oppenheimer Analysis - Der Wissenschaftler EP 4 new tracks + 2 remixes thereof
• 2007 Oppenheimer Analysis - 2005 s/t 12" repress (500 numbered copies)

In both sessions, Andy Oppenheimer's disaffected, feminine vocals are reminiscent of those of Jenny "Looking From A Hilltop" Ross, perhaps with a hint of Neil Tennant and Alison Moyet. They fit neatly into the bed of transportive electro-disco pop supplied by Lloyd. The overall sound is moody early/mid-'80s in the style of early Pet Shop Boys, if PSB had only been a bit more like Yazoo, but bleak. It's very white, but steers clear of the excesses and clichés that dominated the latter half of the decade. A nice find.

Full track: Oppenheimer Analysis - The Devil's Dancers (Dance With Us)

The 2005 material sounds new but surprisingly recaptures the essence of the original sessions. One track, however, is dressed with a buzzy, inauthentic lead synth, the kind that has been an electroclash staple since the late '90s and really can't die soon enough.

Clips (direct MP3 links):

1. The Devil's Dancers (Dance With Us)
2. Radiance
3. Men In White Coats
4. from the 2005 sessions, Science

In 1981, an instrumental single was released by Martin Lloyd with Paul Ashley, under the name Analysis. It, too, is a lost gem for the retro synth heads. The two tracks from the 7" ("Surface Tension" and "Connect") can be heard on Lloyd's MySpace.

Moebius - "Urth"

Atlanteans, Lumanians, Lemurians, Welcome to Earth!

This is the first post in Hooked On Stereophonics, a music blog.


Moebius - "Urth": I was turned on to this over-the-top, vocal/vocoded synth disco track when I heard it in a Beppe Loda DJ mix on the Cosmic Disco and Beats In Space sites, but I had a hard time finding out the name of the song by Googling for the lyrics. To help other people who might find themselves in the same boat, I'm posting the lyrics here.

The song is apparently about ancient, lost, legendary civilizations of spacefaring superhumans returning to Earth. It was released on the group's self-titled album in Canada in 1979. The album was released 2 years later in Germany with the title Mirror Of Infinity. It's long out of print, of course.

In February 2008, Mutant Sounds made a post about the album which pointed to a place where you can download a rip of the whole thing (as MP3s in a .rar, hosted on RapidShare). The post attracted the attention of surviving band member Doug Lynner, who apparently is cool with it, although he'd like you to buy his recent album to show your support. The other band member, Bryce Robbley, is no longer living.

Anyway, to download "Urth", just get the whole album via the Mutant Sounds post. It includes "Urth" and their hit version of "Light My Fire", as well as some not-so-great tracks.

Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home
We're not alone
Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home
We're on our own

Lumanian
Woman and man
Children to be
Children of g
Supermen know
Super ego
Atlantean
Catch as catch can

Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home
We're on our own
Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home
We're not alone

Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home
We're in the zone
Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home
We're not alone

Lemurian
Lend me your hand
I am the moon
Welcome to you
Now that we're here
No need to fear
We hold the key
Be what will be

Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome back home
We're in the zone
Welcome to Urth
Home of our birth
Welcome to home