The raves continue, this time coming from beartown.co.uk:



Ima Robot 'Ima Robot'


If we had a record of the week, this week's star piece of vinyl, (yes, I know it's not) would be Ima Robot's debut self-titled album.

It's not immediately accessible and it reminds me of pop punk experimentalists XTC but it's a bit different, a bit clever, it grows and it's a refreshing change from all the albums knocking about at the moment.

Ima Robot, as their name might suggest, belt out rock with a techno feel to it but it's enthusiastic rather than polished; full of energy rather than laden with production. I can't quite think of anything like it at the moment but it reminds me a great deal of the days when indie music first came out, and bands bursting with ideas were popping up all over the shop. (The shop in question being A&A in Capitol Walk, so long ago it still had two As running it).

If you see this album at a listening post, listen first to bonus track Black Jetta, which compares ex-girlfriends to the darkly shaded autos from Germany. It's catchy and clever and while not the best track on the album, captures the spirit of the C.D. pretty well. The beat comes from New Order's "Blue Monday" (I just typed Blue Order's "New Monday," it's been a long day) and the lyrics go: "Ex girlfriends, Black Jettas . . .they're so popular you can't get away . . . the difference is they're older and the body shape has changed."

The main point of music, which is often overlooked in the effort to categorise with labels, is that it should entertain and this is very entertaining, catchy tunes and all, but it's also interesting - you can't sit back and listen to it while doing something else and its spiky tunes and uneven rhythms don't go well if you're feeling fractious.

As Ima Robot say on one of their more quirky tunes, "Here come the bombs": "Now we're award winning, get this one-time offer, buy our album please! We got five stars, it may even change your life and make traffic bearable, for only 15.99, get it 'cuz you're running out of time!"

If you like easy on the ear bland pop you won't like this, but if you're even a tad adventurous, you'll like it. And if you were a fan of XTC, I don't even know why you're still sitting here reading this. It's out on Monday.