My Robot Girlfriend -- dropping on Friday, April 15, at a release party at the Meadowlark presented by Analog Space and featuring an interactive DJ/live acoustic set with MU$A, Peter Black and Doug Anderson -- is a mix of tracks that are clever attempts to convey emotions from a robot, at times peaking with raw emotion and in polarity, deadpanning for two minutes before returning to the same sense, making the moment the project ends an almost sad one -- if robots could feel sad, of course.
A progressive mixtape centered on the emotions -- or masked emotions, rather -- of a robot and told through rhythm and blues sounds paradoxical, and the irony is not lost in the CD's cohesion on mashes like the one below of Goapele's "Closer" with Prince's classic "If I Was Your Girlfriend."DJ Mu$a spent several months in seclusion, chopping samples, choosing tracks and re-visiting old classic unused pieces of music from J.Dilla, along with rare threads like a Michael Jackson a cappella bit he's had under his hat for some time.
From a human's perspective, MU$A says he wanted to make a really cool mixtape with R&B songs that stands out among the high-profile mash-ups using the typical structure and songs.
"Mostly," he explains of the mixed CD, which is free with admission to the first fifty people, "I wanted to create something that has the elements of electronica that give it that cyber, robot feel but also expand on the parts of R&B music. You know -- I want to rock a party with music that feels good but is also blended together well and in a creative way."
