MC Lars – This Gigantic Robot Kills
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Firstly, I must admit to being a huge MC Lars fan for many years, so I’d been excited about this release for a long time and to see some of the names attached to This Gigantic Robot Kills, my excitement only grew; it’s a like a geek’s musical wet dream: on this album is anyone who appeals to those amongst us with a slightly nerdy slant.
The list is certainly impressive: Parry Gripp from Nerf Herder, “Weird Al” Yankovic, MC Bat Commander of the Aquabats, all the biggest stars of Nerd Core Hip Hop (MC Chris is excluded for good reason, which Lars mentions on the first track) and he ends with a cover of a great Atom and his Package song; these all recognisable names to those who dabble in geeked-out punk or hip hop and are all amongst my personal favourites.
MC Lars seems to be more firmly associating himself with the Nerd Core Hip Hop crowd these days, and This Gigantic Robot Kills showcases some of the very best talent from that rather obscure genre, MC Frontalot (who coined the name “Nerd Core Hip Hop”), YT Cracker, Jesse Dangerously and others, and on these tracks where he collaborates, he is at his best. Some of the best songs I have heard from MC Lars feature on this album, the upcoming single “Guitar Hero Hero” is easily one of his best and includes the aforementioned Parry Gripp and Paul Gilbert from Mr. Big. Other stand out tracks include “True Player For Real”, “O.G. Original Gamer” and “We Have Arrived”, which are all very strong songs, and work well together stylistically.
Unfortunately they’re not all together; they’re interrupted by some of the weaker tracks, which, as you may have guessed from the tone of the article so far, happen to feature Lars without the support of others and every time the album lulls, it’s usually a result of Lars attempting to expand his repertoire away from the light, fun, upbeat and slightly geeky hip hop he does so well.
Altogether, the album displays MC Lars at his absolute best, and those tracks are in the majority. It is a shame that a few tracks show him badly and the changes from a style he is really comfortable with really make the album feel a little disjointed, previously, he had a very definite style and sound to his releases but this album shows none of that cohesiveness.
It is a must have CD for fans of MC Lars or Nerd Core in general as it features some genuinely excellent tracks and some great artists, but if you’re new to it all, then I would find this hard to recommend over his fantastic earlier material.
Rating: 
