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LP
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REC 105LP
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One of Australia's most fearlessly independent, individual, and inventive bands, Midnight Juggernauts are back bearing gifts with Uncanny Valley. In robotic engineering and CGI, the uncanny valley is a hypothesis -- coined by legendary roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970. He wrote in his work Bukimi no Tani Gensho: "I have noticed that, in climbing toward the goal of making robots appear human, our affinity for them increases until we come to a valley, which I call the uncanny valley." This "uncanny valley" is a phenomena in which human acceptance of robots grows more welcoming the more human their appearance, until they become too human, in which there's suddenly a precipitous plunge from acceptance to revulsion. The dark depths of this philosophical valley is a space the trio -- Vincent Vendetta, Andrew Szekeres, and Daniel Stricker -- have long explored. Running traditional rock instruments (guitar, keyboards, drums) through samplers, pedals, patches, and assorted effects, they pervert the familiar into slightly-off forms; robotic sounds made by human hands, with the waft of unsettling horror-soundtracks keeping things forever on edge. Since forming in Melbourne in 2004, the band has forged a unique path, pressing themselves firmly into the popular and unpopular consciousness, refusing to be bound by boundaries of genre, convention, or expectation. Eschewing an easy parochial path, Midnight Juggernauts have instead been international; taking their psychedelic Soviet-sci-fi pop to listeners near and far, around the corner and around the globe. Uncanny Valley is 43 minutes of warm-hearted cold wave, interstellar harmonies, early 1950s house, steeped in the darkness of dusty giallo soundtracks, audio spomeniks at once futuristic and rustic, a bold musical future envisaged through a soundtrack to a forgotten Eastern Bloc Tarkovsky film, sifting through the ruins of LPs past.
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12"
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REC 103EP
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This EP is the first taste of new material from Midnight Juggernauts. Situated at a self-styled nexus between genre and era, their new output may be described as warm-hearted cold wave, interstellar harmonies, and early 1950s house, steeped in the darkness of dusty giallo soundtracks, audio spomeniks at once futuristic and rustic -- a bold musical future envisaged through a soundtrack to a forgotten Eastern Bloc Tarkovsky film, sifting through the ruins of LPs past.
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12"
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INS 12020EP
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"In their native Australia, they are the next big thing: the Melbournians sent ripples across the world with airplay on BBC1 and MTV2 UK/Europe, and back home on Triple J radio. For its first non-French release, Institubes couldn't be prouder. They've remixed tracks for !!!, Kim, The Presets, Dragonette, Electric Six and Damn Arms, while Juggernauts' tracks have been remixed by Sebastian, Cut Copy, Popular Computer and The Presets. Lead single 'Road To Recovery' is a dizzying array of stomping disco beats, spiraling synths and effervescent guitars, a sonic mission through laser-soaked corridors and rainbow-lit roller derbies. It's the perfect intro to Midnight Juggernauts' debut album. On the flip, 'Tombstone' is a surefire party starter, so full-on, so anthemic when the drums and guitars emerge from the vocoderized incantation, the kind of indie synth-rock beast that the electro kids love. 'Popular Computer,' courtesy of Kitsuné and fresh out of a splendid New Young Pony Club remix, turns the synths way up and pours lush melancholy into the mix. Heart-breaking and hard-hitting."
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