http://music.for-robots.com/ en-us 2010-03-18T13:30:14-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002634.html mark 2010-03-18T13:30:14-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002633.html Hot Chip - I Feel BetterHot Chip | MySpace Music Videos And that's how you make a music video.... mark 2010-03-17T13:33:29-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002632.html Okay, I'm officially homesick. Dessa - Dixon's Girl. That is, homesick for a town that was never meant to be a permanent home. My wife and I caught a P.O.S/Dessa show while in Vermont last week, and it reminded me what I love about the Twin Cities scene: so much trying. P.O.S, Dessa, and Plain Ole Bill put everything they had into this show, even though the room was half-empty on a Friday night. Not to get all Garrison Keillor on us, but I think there's something to that "midwestern work ethic" talk - that's how I always feel... david 2010-03-17T07:47:26-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002631.html There's rain in the forecast here in Boston, which doesn't make me want to play the usual TGIF song. (It's Phil Collins' "That's All", if you must know.) Holly Miranda - Waves. This one fits the bill just fine. It's atmospheric without being too dreamy, and the production - by TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek - is grounded enough to let the song levitate a bit. The Magician's Private Library is a good listen for a day like today, or any time you need a record to remove you from the here and now. The album's title comes... david 2010-03-12T07:50:41-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002630.html Percussion! Electric President - Safe and Sound. When it comes down to it, that's what I enjoy most about the work of Electric President. It's all so tangible, with acoustic guitars and drums like gears, all of it grinding away to keep the whole enterprise in motion. Electric President hails from Florida, and they've put out two other LPs on Morr Music. This is their first record on Connecticut-based Fake Four Inc. The Violent Blue is a good album, full of what we've come to expect from Electric President and member Ben Cooper's solo project, Radical Face. You can... david 2010-03-10T08:07:30-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002629.html We here at Music For Robots are pretty big fans of Titus Andronicus, if only for the crazy amount of enthusiasm with which they attack everything. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union. Their new record The Monitor has a Civil War theme, but it's rooted in everyday life - which is a funny comparison, but one that makes perfect sense in context. "A More Perfect Union" is the first track from this album, and it's a great introduction. This album is as epic as they come, but it somehow feels intimate, too. I don't know how they pulled... david 2010-03-02T07:48:52-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002627.html Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Anxiety. The funniest thing about the Eddy Current Suppression Ring is that they spent six hours and two hundred dollars to record their new album, and spent 800 dollars and just as much time flying their name on a banner behind an airplane for their album cover. It never occurred to them that they could just photoshop it in. And that tells us everything we need to know about Brendan and the rest of the guys. Without a doubt one of my favorite bands, I couldn't be more excited about this new record, Rush... mark 2010-02-25T12:45:48-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002626.html I don't know why I'm writing about Minneapolis so much these days. I think a lot of Twin Cities music has just come my way, for some reason. Dosh - Subtractions. When I lived in Minneapolis, I never fully looked into Mr. Martin Dosh and his amazing drumming, sampling, and looping abilities. I knew he was around, working with Andrew Bird and playing the Triple Rock, but I never listened as closely as I should have. Time to remedy that. "Subtractions" is from Dosh's new record Tommy. (I can't be the only one hoping this was a concept cover... david 2010-02-23T19:19:54-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002625.html Anyone else going to see Free Energy at Spaceland tonight? I hear their set at the Echo last night was the jam... Album drops digitally on the 6th, and physically in May. It's definitely worth the wait.... mark 2010-02-23T13:44:17-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002624.html Efterklang - Modern Drift. "Modern Drift" is the first song from Efterklang's new record Magic Chairs, out today in Europe and tomorrow in the US. As opening statements go, it's a good one - the piano starts quietly, then more piano, then those thumping drums, then it all breaks open. This track makes the record sound like a gradual incline, which it is. The album is an increasingly ornate piece of pop music that uses its bells and whistles wisely and sparingly. Efterklang hails from Copenhagen, and Magic Chairs is their third full-length. There's a lot to be said... david 2010-02-22T08:30:28-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002623.html I first heard singer Maggie Morrison in the late, lamented Minneapolis band Digitata. (Well, they maybe broke up? This July interview with Digitata drummer Drew Christopher makes it unclear. But it's funny.) Morrison's new band Lookbook keeps some of Digitata's essential elements: bloops, bleeps, synthdrama. Lookbook - Yesterday's Company. This track comes from Lookbook's first full-length, Wild At Heart. It's a good record, and as much as I love Digitata, it's interesting to hear Morrison front a band more interested in keeping things on steady ground. (Digitata simply isn't designed for that, in my opinion, which is one reason... david 2010-02-10T09:32:20-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002622.html One For The Team - Every Little Thing. I've been a fan of One For The Team for a while now, and it's been really interesting watching them change over the years. Their sound has deepened and darkened, and on Ghosts, their third full-length, an instrument that sounds like a Mates of States distorted electric piano adds some murkiness to the mix. It all still pops, of course, underneath Ian Anderson's lighter-than-air vocals, and it all clicks along as if no one can stop it. This band is from Minneapolis, and even though I moved from that scene about... david 2010-02-03T08:00:59-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002621.html S. Piliso & His Super Seven - Kuya Hanjwa. Look, I'm not the guy to sort out all the political, social, sociopolitical, and other implications of the indie fascination with South African, and specifically Sowetan, music. There's a lot to say about it, especially when it comes to the long American history of appropriation, and there are no easy answers. I will say this: I love that first Vampire Weekend record, but I think the band's characterization of their music as "Upper West Side Soweto" was pretty obnoxious. And when I saw Tune-Yards in Boston last fall, their bassist... david 2010-01-21T11:32:41-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002620.html Bobby Charles - I Must Be in a Good Place Now. And so we lose another one.... mark 2010-01-14T19:24:12-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002619.html This is a great recording of one of the many Jay Reatard shows I was lucky enough to see. Even from the back of the room it was a bloodbath. We're gonna miss him like crazy.... mark 2010-01-13T17:33:14-05:00