ARTICLES
Listening Post: E. Honig
Label Profile: Ad Noiseam

ALBUMS
Leo Abrahams
Ammoncontact
Anka
Lloyd Barrett
Beach House
Bibio
Christina Carter
Davis & Jerman
Ecstatic Sunshine
Ensemble
Fluorescent Grey
Freiband
[guÿôm]
Chris Herbert
Home Video
Larvae
Lullabye Arkestra
Mathieu / Schaefer
MONO & w. end girlfriend
My Robot Friend
Nicolay
Pieter Nooten
Nuccini
Obfusc
Objekt4
Over the Atlantic
Para One
Proem
Red Sparowes
The Remote
Root 70
Florencia Ruiz
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Alan Sparhawk
Andy Stott
Thumbtack Smoothie
Tortoise
Triosk
Vlor

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
Ad Noiseam 2001-2006
Another Generic Sampler
Bip-Hop Generation 8
Diary of a Sweet Day
Idea Hoard Uncut
Innature
Morrow Choral Orchestra
Noise Factory Vol. 3
Squadron 2
Warp Works

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Alias & Tarsier
Audion
Caroline
Home Video
Iz & Diz
Sami Koivikko
Mai
Mathhead
Monomachine
Narcotic Syntax
Quinoline Yellow
Sigur Rós
Samartzis & English
Samartzis & Inada
Andy Vaz
Andy Vaz Remixes
Waterprotection

My Robot Friend: Dial 0
Soma

Apparently, NYC's My Robot Friend (aka Howard Robot) boasts an arresting stage presence (resembling a Tron-like character lit up like a Christmas tree, MRF prowls the stage powered by a neon-lit 30-pound battery pack)—I wish the same could be said for his Soma debut album Dial 0. Certainly the concept is promising enough—eclectic, high-energy electro-pop influenced by B-52s, Devo, and Soft Cell—but the material sometimes grates. The cute robot-pop of “Problems” is so contrived it verges on annoying, and a cringe-inducing cover of Blondie's “Rapture” makes one wish Debbie Harry would invade the studio and wrest the microphone away from whatever chorus is desecrating the original—a shame, too, considering the piece might have been bearable minus the vocalizing.

An even greater shame is that the disc starts off so promisingly. Merging glockenspiel rainfalls with squalling guitars and an electro-rock-steady grind, MRF's cover of Luna's “23 Minutes In Brussels ” pumps mightily but the song ends too quickly and, unfortunately, much of what follows occupies a lower tier compared to this strong opener. Even so, “Dial Zero” is a decent enough stab at Devo-styled electro-punk, though MRF's vocals lack the manic shrillness of Mark Mothersbaugh's. Elsewhere MRF hands the vocal reins to Antony Hegarty (of Antony And The Johnsons) for the pre-teen electro-pop of “One More Try,” the vocal style both histrionic and Ferry-like in its croon, while Autojulie 3000's violin and Jay Kauffman's classical guitar enhance “Dead” and the otherwise lyrically inane “Electric Pants” (“Can I have this dance / In my electric pants?”) respectively. What's frustrating is that for every positive, there's an accompanying negative: the Zombie Nation-produced “The Cut” wends a strutting techno route but a deadpan vocal delivery (“Figures never stop / Touching you, touching you”) verges on monotonous, and a rambunctious funk groove in “Swallow-Rap” (“I swallowed everything you gave me”) is undermined by MRF's vocals and Crasta Yo's rap. Dial 0 shows that Howard Robot possesses strong production skills but the album's juvenile sensibility is ultimately off-putting.

October 2006