In a time of nearly uniformly bad news, Obama’s election is certainly a good reason to rejoice, and what would a celebration be without a good dose of Space Age Moog music?

o today I offer a mix that surfaced some years ago on the Internet for a short time, the compilation Switched-On Basic Hip. Who could resist a computer singing “I Walk The Line”, or Hugo Montenegro doing the Neil Diamond classic “Porcupine Pie”? It also features one of my favorite Walter Carlos tracks, the Burt Bacharach cover “What’s New Pussycat.”

Here are a few examples:

This is the sort of music people were making when Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, Brian Eno created music that’s influenced a generation of synth freaks since.

Amazing, isn’t it?

In the meantime, though, they’re unleashing free MP3 download teasers. Bands include:

• Black Math – Dark-wave buried in tape hiss, with grinding synth, electric cello, and drum machine. The three piece lists Depeche Mode and Big Black as influences, but they’re not straight up 80s. Carry That Weight (MP3)
• Olivia Block – Electro-acoustic composer Olivia Block moved to Chicago from Austin, Texas in 1996. Her work blurs the line between music and sound, organic and inorganic. Live In Toronto (MP3)
• EKG – The improv/electro-acoustic duo of Ernst Karel and Kyle Bruckmann. Karel — who has collaborated with just about everyone in Chicago, from Weasel Walter and Ken Vandermark to David Grubbs and Bobby Conn — plays trumpet and analog electronics. Bruckmann — formerly of Lozenge (see below) — plays oboe, english horn, suona, and electronics. Immaterial Side B (MP3)
• Illusion of Safety – This is the 25th anniversary of Dan Burke’s ongoing solo/collaborative project Illusion of Safety, which defies categorization but “has been called ambient, post-industrial, electro-acoustic, electronica, sound collage, improvisation, and power electronics” according to illusionofsafety.com: The project “intrepidly charts the terra incognita where sound, silence, noise and music intersect. Using conventional instruments, sound generating devices and random objects, IOS hews sonic sculptures that deliberately provoke, mesmerize and even affront listeners”. Time Remaining (MP3)
• Mahjongg – Their live show involves two drum sets, a percussion station, guitar, bass, several electronic workstations, a vocoder, and a smoke machine. Tell The Police The Truth (MP3)
• TV Pow – TV Pow is the electroacoustic trio of laptop composers/free-improvisers Michael Hartman, Brent Gutzeit, and Todd A Carter. Note: this track could shred your speakers. Terran Time-Slip (MP3)

MP3 links for each band above. More at WFMU’s site.