GROVEL, YE INTERNET! HEAR US MAKE SQUEAKY MONKEY-NOISES! :::: GO :::: Music Print Food Comment pen&ink RANT! Top Ten pulp Ice-Cream old stuff Masthead FORUM SHOP tangMail About the Author Column Archive The Robot Ate Me: They Ate Themselves 7.9 (rating key) if you like this you'll like: The Microphones, Olivia Tremor Control, Flaming Lips, Ugly Casanova, the Eels, Sparklehorse, Tom Waits, The Unicorns, Beck. REVIEW: The Robot Ate Me: They Ate Themselves 6.29.2003 by Sean The Robot Ate Me: They Ate Themselves [Swim Slowly, 2003] (mp3s) Three words? Strange surprise success! The 90s brought us lofi - proof positive that kids in their bedrooms could record music as vital and refreshing as the best of the majors. With the 00s, something new has become clear - ProTools makes every studio Abbey Road, and suddenly the indie kids can not only record good music: they can make it sound as good as their major label counterparts. The Robot Ate Me is the missing link between Lou Barlow and the Flaming Lips, and They Ate Themselves is a dusty, confident debut; psychpop with violin, accordion, harmonica and saw. Despite their unfortunate name, The Robot Ate Me demonstrate equal flair for schizoid Elephant 6 jams ("Sugar & My Rotted Teeth") and poignant Sparklehorse lovesongs ("You Smile"). Flashes of Okkervil River and Neutral Milk Hotel appear on "Everyone Was Still," while Ryland Bouchard channels The Eels' E on "You Died." There are influences are too many to number, and ultimately there is a scrapbook feel to these seventeen songs... but the record is far too much fun - and too colourful an adventure - to let that overwhelm things. Take a minute to fill out this nice form and give the nice columnist some nice feedback. Our columnists are volunteers, they do this for you, let 'em know you care. Your message of love: Your email address (optional): Disclaimer | Email Us | Dance! Text, images, design, and our groovy mojo are ©. Warning: require(): http:// wrapper is disabled in the server configuration by allow_url_include=0 in /home/public/columns/includes/footer.php on line 3 Warning: require(http://www.tangmonkey.com/includes/ads.php): Failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/public/columns/includes/footer.php on line 3 Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Failed opening required 'http://www.tangmonkey.com/includes/ads.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php/8.0.30-nfsn2/lib/:/usr/local/php/lib/') in /home/public/columns/includes/footer.php:3 Stack trace: #0 /home/public/columns/105691480350078.php(79): require() #1 {main} thrown in /home/public/columns/includes/footer.php on line 3