I saw MC Lars for the first time when he opened up for an Aquabats show at B.B. King’s in the summer of 2007. Lars and his live band put on a great show; I enjoyed the set so much that I took the time to meet the band afterward, and bought a copy of MC Lars’ 2006 release, The Graduate, from his guitarist for $5.
Driving back to LI with a friend, we decided to give the CD a listen, and were sorely disappointed. While we recognized the songs, they were nowhere near as great without a live band. Now, a few years later, I see just how wrong I was. My introduction to the music wasn’t anything like the recorded versions and my expectations of the album were, at a minimum, what I had experienced at that show.
With all of this in mind, and hearing that The MC Bat Commander sings on a track, I approached his latest album as if I had never heard any of his music in the past and ended up loving every minute of This Gigantic Robot Kills. The production of this album is much better than his earlier releases, and the lyrics are as well thought out and witty as expected. Oh, “Weird Al Yankovic” plays the accordion on it too.
This release is named after an album by Wesley Willis which was never completed. Willis once told Mc Lars, “Lars Horris! I like your songs, I’ll write a song about you. I’ll probably write it on my next rock ‘n’ roll record, which is called ‘This Gigantic Robot Kills’.” TGRK has a bunch of great tracks, but the two that stand out the most for me are the title track and “No Logo” featuring Jesse Dangerously. The title track of the album is a ska-infused song featuring Suburban Legends and MC Bat Commander, while No Logo is a commentary on bumper sticker activism and uses a sample from Fugazi‘s “Waiting Room”. Hipster girl is another standout song on the album that pokes fun at hipster culture, and it’s pretty much dead on. The disapproving stares from my Williamsburg confirm all he has to say.
In the end, TGRK is an album filled with humor, clever lyrics, a great variety of guest artists, and deserves space on your iPod.
