Shit Robot – From The Cradle To The Rave

With some band names you know exactly what you’re gonna get. You know that Cradle of Filth probably aren’t tween friendly pop, and that The Field Mice possibly wouldn’t be the band to play your stoned seventeen year old dubstep loving brother. Shit Robot is not an example of this. While From The Cradle To The Rave may sound like something made by a team of barely legal bedroom producers sampling their N64s, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Shit Robot is thirty-nine year old Marcus Lambkin. He grew up just outside Dublin, leaving in 1992 to pursue a career as a DJ in New York. Since then he has been an influential character in the progression of dance music working alongside many including James Murphy with whom he now collaborates as part of the DFA family. That’s the abridged version anyway.

My point is that the debut album from Shit Robot plays out like an autobiography. Nestled in its sixty minutes is well over a decades worth of experience, genre, influence and flare. This can make for a disorientating listen. Before I properly understood the story behind the record I was surprised by the difference in style across the album. One song sounded like Detroit house, the next was techno, and then it was back to a familiar New York electro beat. At first I didn’t get it, but now that I do, it makes perfect sense.

Of course, the overriding similarity here is the quality. The production, construction and eloquence of the tracks are outstanding and completely accomplished. Nancy Whang’s guest turn on ‘Take Em Up’ steals the album for me; slick RnB groove vocals with a DFA sheen, it’s a wonderful piece of dance pop. Preceding it, Alexis Taylor provides Chicago house swoon over a krautrock glitch. Further through the album Juan Maclean clips his vocals over a dance punk backing that flares and howls.

There’s just so much to like here. The only moment I have where I wince a little is the track ‘Simple Things’, voiced by Ian Svenovious. The lyrics just feel a little lazy, but not out of place with the genre they echo, which like I said, is the point here. An educating listen that kills it harder than any screaming next generation synth wielders? Try telling that to the Mario Bros.