Here's one from rock-city.co.uk:

IMA ROBOT – Ima Robot
Posted by AlMachine on Friday, April 30, 2004



As the 1979 revival continues unabatedly – for Talking Heads see Stellastarr*, The Cars see The Killers, Public Image Ltd see Bloc Party – LA’s Ima Robot make an unashamed play for the title of Devo-tees extraordinaire. “We Are Devo”-in-all-but-name, which I suppose means we aren’t?

To be fair to Ima Robot, labelling them a Castale brothers pastiche would be causing them a huge disservice. Already gaining a reputation for their spontaneously furious live performances, their singles to date have also received both critical and minor commercial acclaim which suggests their new wave of the old new wave sound and look is well on the way to establishing them as credible artists in their own right.

Initially the brainchild of singer/songwriter Alex Ebert, a dead ringer for Ray Von from ‘Phoenix Nights’, it was the addition of Beck’s old rhythm section of Justin Meldal-Johnson and Joey Waronker that really forced Ima Robot into the spotlight.

Although musically there are no similarities between Ima Robot and Beck Hansen’s more recent output, both share a kudos for creating and cultivating eccentricity, and on this record this facet is undoubtedly one of it’s strong points.

From the moment current single ‘Dynomite’ explodes around Ebert’s revelation that “Here’s a story for the kids…” to ‘A Is For Action’’s bouncy Go Gos meets Talk Talk aural caricature of the alphabet, Ima Robot simply eschew an almost frenzied essence of immaturity that helps make this album a handy accompaniment to getting ready for a night on the town.

The winsome ‘12=3’ and the introverted – by their standards – ‘Lets Talk Turkey’ both display a more plaintive side to Ima Robot’s lyrical whims (the latter’s “we’re all going to die..” insistence being the most fitting example) while the opening verse to ‘Here Come The Bombs’ can only be described as a succinct marketing ploy to buy the album. Although its highly likely that if you’ve got this far into the record – track 10 for the statisticians – that you’ve probably already shelled out your £15.99 anyway.

The undoubted highlights on the album are the singles ‘Dynomite’ and ‘Song #1’, the latter owing more than a slight nod to Devo’s ‘Whip It’ while the former recalls the more efflorescent glam rock period of Sparks’ ever-changing musical horizon.

The biggest criticism here is that after these two initial bursts, the rest of the album almost resembles a massive anti-climax in comparison, and despite the fevered flirts of excitement courtesy of ‘Dirty Life’ and the aforementioned ‘A Is For Action’, its hard to imagine this record ever achieving the longevity of those whose talents inspired its creation.

Dom Gourlay