IMA ROBOT + KILL HANNAH
17 February 2004: The Metro — Chicago
by Chris Bailey
http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/i/ima-robot-040217....
Ima Robot
Unless you're a new rock radio DJ, Ima Robot are better than you think. Yes, a good portion of what they do could be described as
"dancepunk." And yes, a lot of people out there are ready to jump that particular ship, or at least to hate on any major label band that
tries to board at this late stage. It doesn't help that the members of Ima Robot have hair and clothes that are immeasurably hip, or that, in a
rather odd turn of events, they are beginning to be embraced by nu-metal-heavy mainstream rock radio.
After their show at the Metro, opening for Kill Hannah and the Sounds, the most striking thing about Ima Robot is just how much of a disservice their
album does them. The band's main asset is obviously their absurdly spastic frontman, Alex Ebert. His gloriously nasal vibrato swings from Travis
Morrison to Freddie Mercury in a single song, but on record it's so covered with studio sheen that Ebert sounds like any two-bit nu metal
shrieker. As he pranced around the stage, wearing a white T-shirt proclaiming that "white people don't exist," he pulled off postpunk
spit-ranting, arena-rock preening, and plain ol' fist-pumpin' shouting with equal success. More importantly, he pulled all of these off with
an equal lack of irony. Whatever you may say about Alex Ebert, he's not trying to fool anyone. And, hey, when he decided to climb the
Metro's scaffolding, he got higher than any frontman I've ever seen there. Good work.
Ebert was backed by "Timmy the Terror" on guitar, and a rhythm section of Justin Meldal-Johnson (bass) and Joey Waronker (drums), both
longtime Beck-backers. A fellow named Oligee does some quite admirable work on the keyboards, giving Ima Robot their best moments, when they conjure
up a cheesy/spooky sound akin to the background music at an elementary school haunted house. Coupled with Ebert's spaz-out vocals, these moments
easily surpassed Ima Robot's too-little-too-late stabs at new new wave. In fact, Ima Robot were great except when they were trying to do the
dancepunk thing, which, contrary to other reports, is only about 20% of Ima Robot's act.
They went out on top, though, by playing "Black Jetta", during which Ebert even busts out some rap skills. He sounds exactly like Debbie
Harry on "Rapture". He tried to use this moment to climb amidst the crowd of 16-year-old girls, who were happy to grope him in Kill
Hannah's absence.
And that brings us to the problem of Kill Hannah. Under normal circumstances, I tend to like Chicago bands first and ask questions later, especially
if they're on the brink of grabbing some real mainstream attention. I've also noticed a few reputable music bloggers who've nobly
risked considerable cred to endorse this band. Also, fed up with apathetic 21-and-over crowds, I was quite ready to be down with the kids.
It's just you and me here, though, dear loyal Popmatters reader, so let's not kid ourselves: Kill Hannah is an abomination. Seriously, I
think Stabbing Westward just grew their hair, threw in some highlights, and put on (more) makeup to try to fool us all. If lyrics like "I am
hooked from the start / Now I'm falling apart / That's what you get for falling in love" make you swoon, or if you'd like to see
more Christ poses than a Creed show and a Mel Gibson interview combined, by all means, check out Kill Hannah. On that note, I'd like to end with
a plea to all those girls in KH hoodies: If you liked Ima Robot's set, please give them a closer look. May they lead you to greener pastures.
— 25 February 2004 |
