Self-styled pioneer of “post-punk laptop rap” MC Lars is the musical equivalent of The Simpsons – he’ll make you laugh, he’ll make you think, and he’ll tackle just about any aspect of 21st century Western culture in an entertaining manner. ‘This Gigantic Robot Kills‘ is the follow-up to 2006’s ‘The Graduate‘, and sees Lars taking more of a band-centric approach to his songs (as opposed to previous efforts, which were mostly composed by Lars alone on his laptop).
He’s amassed an impressively long list of collaborators for this record, too. His hero Weird Al Yankovic plays accordion on the maddeningly addictive ‘True Player For Real‘ (essentially a self-introduction song), whilst Paul Gilbert from early 90s rockers Mr Big handles guitar duties on recent single ‘Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Doesn’t Make You Slash) – sample lyric: “Dimebag brought the dope harmonics, my five buttons are electronic”.
Elsewhere, there are songs about such diverse topics as Lars’ drummer’s filthy house (’35 Laurel Drive’), an imaginary tale of a kid forced to become a pro video-game player by his father (‘O.G. Original Gamer’), and a surprisingly poignant tribute to a dead friend (‘Twenty Three’)
There are a couple of duff tracks towards the end of the record, but with so much variety on offer, ‘This Gigantic Robot Kills’ is never dull. Check out ‘We Have Arrived’ on the link above.
Alex Gosman
Crossfire headed across the sea the other weekend to experience what we’d come to conclude is one of the most fun festivals ever. Groezrock is pretty miniscule compared to most UK fests (Download, Reading and Leeds etc) but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in sheer quality of bands. And the cherry beer works in its favour too! In itself, the fact that it’s slightly more on the ‘quaint’ side, makes the long days a lot more manageable and less exhausting than many other more epicly proportioned outdoor music events.
The sounds of YOU ME AT SIX on the main stage were filtering through as we erected our tent and we legged it to the arena just in time for the astounding UNITED NATIONS.
The next act we wanted to take a look at happened to be the UK’s very own BRING ME THE HORIZON. This turned out to be a not-so-pleasant experience as we almost got crushed to death. However, before the stampede reached its height and running away was necessary, we experienced ‘The Comedown‘ which sounded brutal as ever and seemed to act as a magnet drawing every single person in the vicinity of the stage (if not everyone in attendance at the festival) into the tent they were playing. Very cool but a little bit scary if you’re not really up for a circle-pit. UNDEROATH incite a similar manic response over in the main tent with their unbelievably tight mix of melody and aggression whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
Day two and we were all suffering slightly from the effects of tent-dwelling. The ground underneath my back was particularly lumpy. We didn’t know it yet but Sharpie-graffiti was to be the order of the day. Yes, we may as well be twelve years old with our ‘Meerhout ’09’ and ‘LOLZ,ROFL’ knuckle tattoos. There’s no lie-in here since the bands start at 10am. We take a little time getting into proceedings however and the first band of the day for us is the incredible THE GHOST OF A THOUSAND who absolutely slay the crowd in a slot which was originally H20’s. Relatively new to mainland Europe, the band show the Belgians what they’re made of and exactly why they’re so deserving of a coveted slot on Epitaph Records’ roster.
A swift move to THE GET UP KIDS‘ performance is in order now and it’s a sprint for many as tearing yourself away from a CBK set before the end is never easy.
Anglo-American writer/photographer Ted Polhemus has been writing and shooting about youth culture for almost 3 decades now, and with the help of the PYMCA has put together a photographic timeline of styles and cultures.
Local skate punkers 
Four bright-eyed, freshly tattooed teens from Leeds, brimming with enthusiasm and odoured with a lust for the top. Whilst their influences (Hot Snakes, The Jesus Lizard, Fugazi) might be clearly worn upon the skin of their intricately decorated sleeves, the potential for Holy State to do incredible things in the not too distant future is tangible.
Annihilation Time have announced they will be doing a brief tour of the UK in June.