Ima Robot - 'Ima Robot' (Virgin)
3/5
By: Toby L
'Here's a story for the kids!' alerts Ima Robot's opening ten seconds of a debut-album. And so unfurls a bloody bizarre tome.
In keeping with the present scene-slaying craze of sabotaging the 80s with jerky riffs, implausible synths, mildly insipid, overly excitable vocals, and songs that cough and splutter about the place more awkwardly than a pensioner downing his day's medication, 'Ima Robot' is the frenetic, stupefied, coked-up series of soundbites and club-'slammers' you'd have thought we're far too intelligent as a human-race to produce.
Seemingly not. But thank curses that there are some souls still shameless and outlandish enough to create this barrage of c**t-punk while retaining a faithful gleam of dignity.
'Song #1' is the most immediate - complete with its 'f**k the rules!' sensationalist shout-outs, and opening keys-refrain - while the clanging guitars of 'Alive' make for a similar fit-inducement that could resemble 'dance-moves'. 'Dynomite' acts as the terrific, statement-of-intent opener, meanwhile, with its all-over-the-shop, ruddy confusion of hooks and noise, and 'A Is For Action' is simply baffling - its lingering sentiment 'All we wanna do is fight!' is made out to sound like a terrifically tempting proposal.
Then, you thought you'd heard it all (or enough) - we get the pouting sex madness of 'Dirty Life', an all-swaggering, sassy hornpot of a banger, brimming to the rim with sultry, cheeky, perilously pesky disco-pop perkiness. Not one whiff of a lie spoken there. The record's then a slight ease-out in comparison - the Kraftwerk-lite intro of 'Philosophee' aside, we get more of what we've just experienced: 80s-hoisting dance-rock anthems for a seriously deranged, degenerate generation.
Yet, despite all our better knowledge and what our parents taught us, we couldn't help but enjoy every single sodding moment of it all.
Artists in this article: Ima Robot
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