2008 Woodie Awards
Ima Robot
Indie Band Invasion
Joe McCormack
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Ima Robot is the red paint peeling off of fake bricks in a Los Angeles alleyway. The group sounds like The Sex Pistols playing Mötley Crüe songs. Its members feel like a darker Andrew W.K., and they dress like they thought the '80s were cool long before you did (which is probably true). Ima Robot comes from L.A., where the band has a huge fan base for its live shows, like the one that propelled Mötley Crüe to stardom. The group compares itself in interviews to the Killers and Panic! at the Disco, but is always careful to complain that it has been at it a half-decade longer than those two bands.
If you're looking for fun songs, danceable songs, hipster irony, and charisma, this is your band. If you're looking for good songwriting, singing, lyrics, musical integrity, catchy hooks, fun, danceable songs, hipster irony, and charisma, try Head Automatica.
I am very excited to see this band live. The frontman Alex Ebert and his compatriot Timmy "the Terror" Anderson have a motto. As they explain in Campus Circle magazine, "every show has to be a memorable experience for everyone in the crowd." I am inclined to believe that they will deliver on that promise after hearing the ferocity of the album, even the ferocity is impotent. It attack your ears like a de-clawed lioness, all the more enraged for her lack of ability.
The paradox that is Ima Robot is encapsulated by the lyrics. It shows an attempt at deep thinking and an attempt to reconcile pain, alienation, love, obsession, murder, and politics. At the same time, the songs all sound like they were written under the influence of very strong narcotics, not only because they are trite and under-thought, a kind of stoner-philosophy, but because they are so heavy-handed and inelegantly written. Take for example, "Oh, ow, stop it hurts/pretty things make it worse/soon ima hit the dirt/so unfair - such despair/poetry beauty desperation of love," part of the rap section in "Cool Cool Universe."
The middle of the group's new album, Monument to the Masses, has some bright spots, with "Happy Annie," "The Beat," "Stick it to the Man," and a fun little ballad called "Lovers in Captivity." In an arena, when you cannot make out what the singer is saying, the energy lifts Ima Robot up to where Mötley Crüe once lived: Revving up crowds, seducing girls, and casting an ironic wink on the whole thing. Without the lyrics that irony pervades throughout the sound and look of this band, taking from U2 and the Sex Pistols in the same sentence and not thinking twice about it. Come on, it's fun. . . right?
If you're looking for fun songs, danceable songs, hipster irony, and charisma, this is your band. If you're looking for good songwriting, singing, lyrics, musical integrity, catchy hooks, fun, danceable songs, hipster irony, and charisma, try Head Automatica.
I am very excited to see this band live. The frontman Alex Ebert and his compatriot Timmy "the Terror" Anderson have a motto. As they explain in Campus Circle magazine, "every show has to be a memorable experience for everyone in the crowd." I am inclined to believe that they will deliver on that promise after hearing the ferocity of the album, even the ferocity is impotent. It attack your ears like a de-clawed lioness, all the more enraged for her lack of ability.
The paradox that is Ima Robot is encapsulated by the lyrics. It shows an attempt at deep thinking and an attempt to reconcile pain, alienation, love, obsession, murder, and politics. At the same time, the songs all sound like they were written under the influence of very strong narcotics, not only because they are trite and under-thought, a kind of stoner-philosophy, but because they are so heavy-handed and inelegantly written. Take for example, "Oh, ow, stop it hurts/pretty things make it worse/soon ima hit the dirt/so unfair - such despair/poetry beauty desperation of love," part of the rap section in "Cool Cool Universe."
The middle of the group's new album, Monument to the Masses, has some bright spots, with "Happy Annie," "The Beat," "Stick it to the Man," and a fun little ballad called "Lovers in Captivity." In an arena, when you cannot make out what the singer is saying, the energy lifts Ima Robot up to where Mötley Crüe once lived: Revving up crowds, seducing girls, and casting an ironic wink on the whole thing. Without the lyrics that irony pervades throughout the sound and look of this band, taking from U2 and the Sex Pistols in the same sentence and not thinking twice about it. Come on, it's fun. . . right?