I had to post this as this guy Ethan Hamlin is so full of crap. I could care less whether he likes it or Ima Robot, but at least try to make sense with the references buddy.

The part the gets me the most is; "Moreover, his lyrics are ridiculous. It's true that Ebert was never a brilliant lyricist, but he refrained from tackling serious topics on Ima Robot."...Ethan Hamlin looses all credibility with this statement.

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Thursday, October 05, 2006 Ima Robot offer a mechanicaland sterile take on '80s synth-pop Band follows up inventive self-titled debut with 'Monument to the Masses,' a disappointing release complete with ridiculous lyrics, lack of musical diversity and an obvious nod to Joy Division by ethan hamlin In 2003, Ima Robot released their self-titled debut album -- a lovely electro-pop romp which was at times beautiful, at times funny, and for the most part, composed of raw awesomeness. The band's unique brand of caffeinated rock would certainly have been adored in the current era of synth groups like The Killers and Panic! At the Disco. Ima Robot's first effort was unfortunately ahead of its time. Three years later, they are back with a follow-up album (Monument to the Masses) and hopes of seizing greater popularity now that keyboards are cool again. Sadly, the album boasts a collection of shockingly unoriginal music. The opening track, "Disconnect," clearly rips off Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." The closer, "Lovers in Captivity," mimics the catchy hook from The Kinks' "Lola." Everything in between is a rough carbon copy of Devo, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran and the DDR soundtrack. Even worse than being unoriginal, Monument to the Masses is frightfully boring. With the exception of stand-out track "Stick It to the Man" (a nod to Ima Robot's former over-excited style), the songs tend to bleed into one another. There isn't a tenth of the musical range that the band demonstrated in their promising debut. Ninety percent of the album sounds like different takes on the same song. What happened?! The most apparent answer is that two of Ima Robot's crucial band members left the group. Bassist Justin Medal-Johnsen and drummer Joey Waronker (both of whom used to play in Beck's band) wrote rhythms that grounded Ima Robot's new-wave tendencies with energetic hip-hop influences. This made for an interesting sound, and the music was more, well, fun. Without these two, the rest of the band went overboard trying to emulate its favorite '80s artists. Truth be told, the only significant link between Monument to the Masses and Ima Robot is frontman Alex Ebert, whose distinctive voice sounds much like Eminem might if he decided to sing instead of rap. His voice was oddly appropriate for the band's eclectic first album. In fact, it was one of Ima Robot's most individualizing aspects. Ebert's strange vocals are subdued only slightly on the newest album, but they feel grossly out of place when sung over the mellow keyboard and guitar chords that permeate the record. Moreover, his lyrics are ridiculous. It's true that Ebert was never a brilliant lyricist, but he refrained from tackling serious topics on Ima Robot. This made his obtuse lyrics bearable and, at times, humorous. On Monument to the Masses, he actually attempts to engage in politics, resulting in lines such as, "Information when we were so young / that we're the nation that's free and fun... / education to keep blind and dumb / our generations for years to come." Is that a coherent complaint? Does he really know what he's worried about? Perhaps Ima Robot will gain more fans with this album. The hook-laden single "Creeps Me Out" screams for radio play, and that proud minority who misses the '80s will dig the band's new sound. Most of us, however, would be better ignoring this release. by ethan hamlin http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=28004&pid=1488

the uninformed shouldn't try to write

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Originally posted by Evil the uninformed shouldn't try to write

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Originally posted by Phobiac Quote: lack of musical diversity and an obvious nod to Joy Division

he should have listened to more than the first three seconds

this dude is dumb as a box of rocks. If he read the sleeve he would have noticed that JMJ is on this album, he pretty much left after the album was done.

somebody needs to be slapped in the face for this review.

i think we should track him down and egg his house.


i'm serious.

holy shit i am in so fast

Lets just hope that when someone googles his name this thread pops up:

Ethan Hamlin doesn't understand music.
Ethan Hamlin doesn't understand the meaning of the word boring.
Ethan Hamlin wouldn't know a good lyric if it whispered sweet nothings in his ear.
Ethan Hamlin should do more research as to Ima Robot hip-hop influences and where they come from.
Ethan Hamlin needs a fact checker.

Ethan Hamlin ... ?

Ethan Hamlin...

ethan hamlin is a douche, straight up

that guy totally asked if i would give him search and destroy. here's a link to a site which tracks his musical taste.

http://www.last.fm/user/mr_ethanboy/

ethan hamlin is a little punk ass bitch who listens to B****** S*****.

eww. i dont like the eminem comparison.
and can you condemn the band for the joy division influence in disconnect? theyve admitted it on a lot of press releases and such several times...

To be fair I would be incredibly shocked if everyone who listened to ima robot's new albulm liked it.......but maybe people should try and make sense of what they write about it. Like someone said before..justin left the band after they finshed the albulm?
Also, when he talks about them ripping other band off..with pretty much any song you listen to you can always find another song which sounds a bit like it..or may has the same chord bla bla bla. Oh well. I like the albulm..a lot!

[Edited on 18-10-2006 by blackamnesia]

[Edited on 19-10-2006 by blackamnesia]

just curious, why is his #12 overall favorite band on his page..
IMA ROBOT!??!?!

so he can be one of those ppl who say "i only like their older stuff":D

hmm.

hi, i'm ethan hamlin. i stumbled on this forum quite accidentally, but it appears that a while ago i was quite a topic of conversation. i'm glad you guys didn't find my house & egg it; that would have, well, sucked.

sorry that i didn't like the album. i loved the self-titled debut, i really did, but i didn't think their latest was all that good (for the reasons i listed in my review). i'm sorry if you don't like my comparisons, but i don't see how they are invalid, and your angry comments shed much light on that.

and yeah, i had read that jmj left the band, but i didn't realize that he'd done it after recording MTHM. ima robot's kind of an obscure band, so there weren't good fact checkers for that either. sorry!

--- ethan

p.s. i don't listen to B****** S*****, except for "toxic", which is an excellent song & i will not hear you say otherwise.
p.p.s. i am still interested in the "search & destroy" ep, but i have the feeling i'm not going to be getting it any time soon, haha.

fuck your mother

eh?

only joking, young chap !

haha, oh man.

INTERNET FIGHT!

mrethanboy;

kudos on speaking up! there's no reason to apologize...your opinion is your opinion. obviously your review triggered some controversy (at least here) and that's a good thing...yes?

I think the problem with your review is the blending of subjective opinions and often incorrect objective facts…resulting in what was your final opinion; at east from my perspective. I just really ended up with a 'this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about' feeling and if he 'doesn’t know what he’s talking about' why in the hell is he writing this!

I would have been 100% fine with your review if it just came from you; that subjective part. Does that make sense?

“It's true that Ebert was never a brilliant lyricist,” ??? O.K., I lied and would not have been ok with that part!!! Ebert via Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes is pretty much a genius when it comes to lyrics.

It's frustrating when you know the potential of a band and others just don't get it; and then again that what makes it so wonderful! Yes?

So please don't apologize and let the flaming trickle off your back. I hope it’s all in the love of and passion for music...more over...for Ima Robot!

So were you "Googling" Ima Robot or Ethan Hamil to run across this thread??? :D

i'll admit it: i was googling myself. it was only through my infinite narcissism that i was able to find this thread.

i genuinely don't think ebert has good lyrics. they are fun, i guess, but i tend to appreciate more poetic, eloquent words. that probably sounded ridiculously pretentious, but hey, that's the truth. i'll always take joanna newsom, paul banks or ian anderson before ima robot. but the lyrics didn't really get in the way of my appreciation of ima robot until he tried to tackle songs like "stick it to the man". it's my favorite song on the album, but it's also totally inane and it sounds like ebert isn't even sure what he wants to do about his perceived media saturation.

but i mean, "dynomite" has silly lyrics too. but it's a silly song! it's fun to listen to, and seriously awesome! i have this same thing with beck. i mean, what does devil's haircut really mean? odelay's not a word, is it? of course not. but that's part of the fun: nonsensical lyrics.

& yeah, i guess i got at least one fact wrong (that JMJ hadn't left the band), but we didn't really have an accurate fact checker for such a small-time band.

& please, don't get me wrong. i like ima robot quite a lot. their debut was seriously amazing, and i have a collection of b-sides to that album which are almost as good as the a-sides. but i really just didn't like "monument to the masses", for the reasons i listed above. i DID think it was boring. i DID think that ima robot watered down some of the influences that made them such an interesting band to begin with.

but yeah. that's just my opinion, as you said.

I hear yah mrethanboy...

I'm glad our ploy of the "google trap" got you here.

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Fixing a drink On the hot shower finger Calling you names Gets me nowhere quicker Go on, shoot up the house ‘Cause nobody’s home The reason you died Is reason alone

One of the first and one of the best...still!!!

I'm sure you'll enjoy Search and Destroy more than MTTM...

Phobiac