Kylie Minogue song about a typeface

(abcdinamo.com)

234 points | by fauverism 21 hours ago

22 comments

  • munificent 17 hours ago
    A Japanese house producer ex-member of Deee-Lite making a house track about a techno typeface sung by Kylie Minogue is the most late 90s thing I can imagine. It's like a rave flyer spontaneously gained sentience.
    • cmrdporcupine 14 hours ago
      Damn I miss the 90s.
      • CapitalistCartr 4 hours ago
        The Matrix setting their simulated society in the late Nineties as the optimum time seems prescient now.
        • Rarebox 2 hours ago
          The peak of human civilization, before robots took over.
      • the_hoffa 8 hours ago
        Me too .. but at this point in our timeline it's not exactly for "nostalgic" reasons.
    • interludead 7 hours ago
      Honestly, I kinda miss when pop culture wasn't afraid to get this weird
  • robin_reala 21 hours ago
    If you don’t know Towa Tei, you might recognise him from Deee-Lite (“Groove is in the Heart”). Personally, I prefer his side project Sweet Robots Against the Machine. But he’s also an excellent DJ, YouTube throws up a load of clips of him having fun on the decks.
    • re 16 hours ago
      You might also recognize a few samples from/shared with "Groove is in the Heart" (at 0:30 and 3:39) in "GBI (German Bold Italic)" (at 0:25 and 3:19). (Timestamps are for the YouTube music videos, which have short introductions not found on the album tracks)

      https://www.whosampled.com/sample/8483/Towa-Tei-Kylie-Minogu...

      https://www.whosampled.com/sample/426057/Towa-Tei-Kylie-Mino...

    • wileydragonfly 11 hours ago
      This story always cracked me up, but SEGA totally got away with it..

      https://www.gamespot.com/articles/deee-lite-singer-loses-seg...

    • larodi 21 hours ago
      Both Towa Tei and Minogue super futuristic if not cyberpunk before it even was a thing.
      • zoklet-enjoyer 19 hours ago
        Kylie Minogue's first album was released 4 years after Neuromancer was published.
        • larodi 3 hours ago
          technically, you are right. whats more

          "The word "cyberpunk" was coined by writer Bruce Bethke, who wrote a story with that title in 1980."

          but this was not even as subculter, yet alone a thing people recognized. to me Neuromancer also marks the onset of cyberpunk culture, but Kylie Minogue was among the few artists such as Bjork, who seemed to be bold enough to explore it artistically.

  • nluken 20 hours ago
    1. I find the actual typeface made for the track rather pretty. Definitely of an era, but given how in that era's graphic design is right now I'm surprised I haven't seen more of it out and about

    2. Sadly the article neglects to mention Haroumi Hosono, whose vocals are also on the track. If you haven't checked out his work, either solo or with YMO, it's well worth a listen.

  • nine_k 21 hours ago
    (1) My respect towards Kylie Minogue, who I don't remember ever listening to, just got a boost. Maybe I should check out her other songs!

    (2) The page has the most playful "Accept cookies?" control of what I've encountered so far.

    • petercooper 18 hours ago
      Her music video directed by Michel Gondry is worth a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63vqob-MljQ

      For 2001 it has a rather striking effect. Kylie is walking around a circular area in Paris over and over and everything multiplies each time she completes a loop. It's a very clever effect given the technology of the time. By the end of the video there are five Kylies walking around loosely interacting with each other and the world in odd ways.

    • sho_hn 20 hours ago
      Kylie Minogue is, as far as pop music goes, awesome. Her stage shows are fantastic, and you should see the massive mobile server park and crew of nerds that runs it all. Pushing the envelope of stage shows as a product for sure.
      • bigiain 16 hours ago
        If anybody now anybody, summoning someone on her tech team to tell us about what goes on would be really great.
    • thih9 20 hours ago
      Fun fact, if you recognize Nick Cave’s “Where the Wild Roses Grow”, then you have heard Kylie Minogue - she sang in the duet[1][2]. I remember being surprised when I learned about it.

      This is also the “murder ballad” that the article refers to.

      > In 1995 she collaborated on a murder ballad duet with Nick Cave

      [1]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpnjE1LUvE

      [2]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Wild_Roses_Grow

      • _whoDis 17 hours ago
        Nick Cave encouraged Kylie to read hear lyrics at a public poetry reading. She got up and read I should be so lucky. I respect her for that
        • worthless-trash 1 hour ago
          I could imagine how surreal that would be, having the neighbours soap star turned #1 music star, reading at your local poetry jam.
      • hnlmorg 19 hours ago
        Great song though I’m surprised you didn’t immediately recognise her voice in it.

        There’s a few an interesting tracks on that album. I quite liked “Death is not the end”, which I think was the last track on Murder Ballards and also features Kylie (amongst a few others).

      • stavros 19 hours ago
        The album was also called "murder ballads", as it contained murder ballads.
    • striking 21 hours ago
      Just be warned. You might find you can't get her out of your head.
    • bigger_cheese 12 hours ago
      As an Australian I've have repressed childhood trauma from being forced to dance to Kylie's "The Locomotion" over and over again in Primary school, it was the Macarena of it's time...

      She collaborated with Nick Cave in the mid 90's which was a massive hit, it was all over radio at the time.

    • ruuda 20 hours ago
      Kylie Minogue is the only female artist who had a #1 album in the UK in five consecutive decades (!), something even Madonna didn't manage to.

      Edit, the article says “across”, not a #1 album in every decade. In the 90s she only reached #4.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/thats-crazy-kylie-...

      • toast0 19 hours ago
        In the 90s she was busy being in movies and video games (including the acclaimed Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game)
        • havblue 18 hours ago
          And in 2007, a Doctor Who episode featuring the Titanic... In space!
          • Foobar8568 8 hours ago
            That Doctor Who episode was my introduction to the serie. <3
    • bee_rider 19 hours ago
      Too bad the playful “Accept cookies” button didn’t have a “no” option.
      • bigiain 16 hours ago
        I just used the reader mode button...
      • chriscrisby 14 hours ago
        That was a cool button though
    • gadders 2 hours ago
      Confide in Me is one of her best, but she has quite a few reliable pop hits. She also did a song with Nick Cave that is worth a listen.
    • zem 17 hours ago
      chances are you have at least heard "the locomotion" without knowing who sang it - I remember that song being played everywhere!
      • dylan604 16 hours ago
        To the point King Charles is a fan
        • LeonB 15 hours ago
          King co-wrote the song!

          (Carole King that is)

  • wewtyflakes 21 hours ago
    Never thought I would see Kylie Minogue on HN; what a nice surprise.
  • JKCalhoun 3 hours ago
    I thought of The Concretes song, Fiction. The only song I knew that referred to a font ("This font should be bold.").

    https://youtu.be/x-403FWsujw

  • celticninja 21 hours ago
  • gadders 2 hours ago
    This reminds me of the tweet where someone said their favourite font was "Ariana Grande".
  • ChrisMarshallNY 20 hours ago
    I have a friend that's a retired music industry exec, and he loves it when I send gems I get from here, to him.

    Sharing it.

  • type0 20 hours ago
  • ac50hz 20 hours ago
    And then there are the similarities, both video and song, between Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious from the UK musical/movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang… There was a mashup floating around somewhere, years ago. Probably lost.
    • MarcelOlsz 20 hours ago
      I will find this for you if it takes me a year. Bookmarked this comment.
      • trollied 20 hours ago
        It’ll be on soulseek. Most forget it exists.
        • MarcelOlsz 20 hours ago
          I'm hitting up all my sources and activating my music-finding sleeper agents. Soulseek as a last result but it's probably there.
        • MarcelOlsz 18 hours ago
          How is it possible that I can't find this. I found my dads highschool friends garage band from eastern europe from 1960 on my trackers but can't find this.
  • rbanffy 18 hours ago
    Maybe one day she’ll be moved to sing by the simple elegance of my take on the classic 3278-2 terminal font.
  • thomastraum 16 hours ago
    great subject let down by an annoyingly weak article that focuses on memes for whatever reason.

    another great unexpected music x font crossover is gucci mane tweeting about "Times New Roman"

  • aizk 18 hours ago
    This song is in my library, completely forgot about it, thanks for bringing it back to me.

    Some other artists I can recommend with similar specific Japanese vibes, Denki Groove and Yellow Magic Orchestra are really good.

  • andrewinardeer 20 hours ago
    "Whitney Mallett on That Kylie Minoque x Towa Tei Track"

    Has the author misspelled Kylie's surname in the article heading or am I missing something?

    • omnimus 18 hours ago
      It's the submitted title on HN. Her name is correct in the article itself.
  • nimish 18 hours ago
    Product market fit. Kylie has it.
  • interludead 7 hours ago
    I had no idea a song like GBI even existed, let alone that it came with its own font!
  • surfingonthenet 21 hours ago
    an absolute classic... love towa tei <3
  • helpfulContrib 16 hours ago
    [dead]
  • damnitbuilds 20 hours ago
    [flagged]