What Writer Issue

Shit Robot

Source: The List (Issue 564)
Date: 22 November 2006
Written by: David Pollock

Nothing at all to do with Glasgow’s own New Rave acolytes Shit Disco, Shit Robot is the latest name to emerge from the stable of DFA Records, James ‘LCD Soundsystem’ Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy’s unbear ably good New York label.

EXPOSURE

Yet more semi-retro lo-fi NYC cool for us to marvel at, you say?

Not entirely, Shit Robot have more of a long-distance relationship with their label. Marcus Lambkin (the man behind the Robot) is originally from Dublin, yet left his trade as a cabinet maker to decamp across the pond in 1993. He and fellow Dubliner Dominique Keegan made a mini-empire out of the Plant brand, first DJing and recording under the name, then opening Plant Records (fans of the Sound of Young New York series may recall the imprint) and the Plant bar in 2000. It was at his bar that Lambkin first met Murphy, a team-up which has survived Lambkin’s recent move to Stuttgart.

So what does the Robot sound like? Hopefully not Shit?

Nope. As you would expect from any DFA affiliate, Shit Robot (originally the name of a night Lambkin and Murphy ran at Plant) creates a minimal and somewhat dirty sound that’s in tune with DFA’s spiritual home city’s past endeavours. The debut ‘Wrong Galaxy’ EP demonstrates, however, that Lambkin takes more of a cue from acid house and electro than post-punk, as it’s a minimal but infectious burst of groove-laden artifice.

Shit Robot plays Blitzkrieg Bop at the Arches, Glasgow, Fri 8 Dec, with Errors, The Matchsticks (formerly Flying Matchstick Men) and the Art of Parties DJs.

More: Exposure, Shit Robot, Clubs

Last updated: 4 Sep 2007 10:49 BST