Sunday, February 18, 2007

MR. HOPKINSON'S COMPUTER

The idea of a computer "singing" hits of the '80s and '90s sounds like a larf, and yes, it can be funny, but the music of Bristol, UK's Mr. Hopkinson's Computer makes for quite the dreamy chill-out Sunday afternoon. Most of the songs he's chosen are picked not for novelty value, but because, well, they sound good sung by a computer and played on vintage analog-sounding electronics.

You can listen to songs by the likes of The Pixies, Portishead, and The Stone Roses here, and Gnarls Barkley and even one by cult legend Ivor Cutler
here. On this page he's joined by his girlfriend the Audrey 3000 for duets (e.g. "Fairytale of New York," sure to be a Christmas mix must). Gotta love this version of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti's "Twin Peaks" theme:

Mr. Hopkinson's Computer w/the Audrey 3000 "Falling" - Hey, wasn't "Audrey" the name of one of the characters on "Twin Peaks"? Hmmm...



5 comments:

Dr. Zoom said...

Surprisingly, I really liked this. Some haunting stuff -- I particularly liked "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Lost Cause."

Anonymous said...

A most satisfactory find!

Stas said...

Do you know 368dx? I think that Hopkinson guy is somewhat of a rip-off or a follower, whatever you may call it. I couldn't seem to find his website of Google anymore, but I do have the "best of" album which includes "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Don't Cry", "Light My Fire", "Anarchy in the UK", "California Dreaming" etc., all sung by a computer to the accompaniment of MIDI files.

Stas said...

I was stupid there for a second

http://www.easylife.org/386dx/

Mr Fab said...

368dx: oh yeah, I remember this guy! Forgot all about him. Thanks for bringing him back.