MC Lars
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
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