My Robot Friend
My Robot Friend releasing first LP in seven years, featuring Dean & Britta and cover of TLC’s “Creep” - Brooklyn Vegan
"Boasts a generous handful of surprisingly thoughtful, well-constructed songs that linger long after the spectacle fades." - Pitchfork (on “Dial Zero”)
My Robot Friend is an electronic music/performance art project started in 2001 and led by Howard Robot.
My Robot Friend has pursued a wide musical arc over the course of three previous albums: from the electroclash-laden, humorous album “Hot Action!” (2002) to the rich, emotionally complex songs of “Soft-Core” (2009).
"With Soft-Core, My Robot Friend has shown it can function as a very good indie pop band as well as an exercise in concept art. This is an album you can really get into, one that makes effective use of synthesizers and occasional irony, but does not flaunt them. And it has plenty of heart. In other words, it’s one of the best pop albums of the year." - Popmatters (on “Soft-Core”)
Out on March 4, 2016, “Open the Book” is the fourth album and first full length release from My Robot Friend in over six years. Howard Robot started writing songs for “Open the Book” back in 2010. One of the reasons the album took so long to complete was because of an extended search for a vocalist on some of the album’s key tracks.
“I knew I needed to find someone else to sing who was capable of expressing emotions in a way that was beyond my grasp as a singer,” says Howard Robot, “and I also wanted to find someone with a unique voice, who hadn’t yet broken through to a larger audience.”
In the past, My Robot Friend’s songs have been recorded by some of the top selling and critically acclaimed vocalists in the world including Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), Alison Moyet (Yazoo), Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), and Robbie Williams. However, despite these previous connections, the search for a vocalist wasn’t easy. It took four years until Howard Robot found the singer he had been searching for: Andre Williams.
Andre’s beautifully androgynous voice is matched by his open-hearted spirit. An orphan twice over and a cancer survivor at 21 years old, Williams has been through a lot more in his life than an average musician and it comes through in his voice. He makes his recorded singing debut on the tracks “Creep,” “Open the Book,” “Now I Know,” and “For You.”
The album also features several songs with long-time collaborator Dean Wareham (Galaxy 500, Luna). The musical connection between the two goes back to 2006 when My Robot Friend recorded a cover of Luna’s “23 Minutes in Brussels.” The ensuing years have brought remixes (“Say Goodnight”) and original tracks (“Astronaut” and “By Your Side”) from their collaboration. “Open the Book” captures some of the best work that they have done together including “Gone,” “Emancipated Hearts,” and the Velvet Underground cover “I’m Not a Young Man Anymore.”
The musical range of “Open the Book” is broad, but it retains a deep emotional intelligence and pop appeal throughout. The album’s leading single is an extremely catchy, electronic update of TLC’s hit song “Creep” from 1994. Other recommended tracks include “Goodbye,” the electronic dance track “909,” the Dean Wareham assisted “Emancipated Hearts”, and the acoustic pop song “For You,” inspired by Haruki Murakami’s 2009 novel “1Q84.”
Although no formal tour is planned for the album, a limited number of surprise engagements are planned. My Robot Friend’s live show is a unique experience, falling somewhere between the manic energy of Devo and the refined performance art of Laurie Anderson. Howard Robot performs in an elaborate, personally-designed light-up suit while interacting with illuminated objects, wireless video cameras, pyrotechnics, and other odd homemade props. Performances have amazed and confused audiences at venues ranging from art house crowds at MASS MoCA to thousands of festival party-goers at T in the Park.
RIYL: Hot Chip, Dean Wareham, Metronomy, New Order
TRY: #1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 11
Download full album here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/
More Info Here:
http://www.myrobotfriend.com
https://soundcloud.com/myrobotfriend
https://www.youtube.com/user/myrobotfriend
https://www.facebook.com/myrobotfriend/
https://twitter.com/myrobotfriend