This Gigantic Robot Kills

MC Lars | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 24, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Oglio Records
• ASIN: B001P9PX2U
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,036 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

MC Lars, the original Post Punk Laptop Rapper returns with "This Gigantic Robot Kills" on the new imprint Crappy Records (Carl Caprioglio from Oglio Records, Linus of Hollywood and Jaret Reddick from Bowling For Soup). The title is from a meeting MC Lars had with his musical idol, the legendary Wesley Willis, who told him "Lars Horris! I like your songs, I'll write a song about you. I'll probably write it on my next rock 'n' roll record, which is called 'This Gigantic Robot Kills'." Willis died soon thereafter, and Lars decided to dedicate his new album to Wesley's memory by naming it after that unfinished album.

To complete "T.G.R.K.", MC Lars also called on Weird Al, members of Wheatus, Simple Plan, Suburban Legends, The Aquabats, Cobra Starship, The Donnas, Parry Gripp, Paul Gilbert, Jesse Dangerously, Amie Miriello, Jonathan Coulton, K. Flay, The Former Fat Boys, his tour mates MC Frontalot and YT Cracker and more. MC Lars has toured extensively for the last three years creating a solid fanbase the old fashioned way, with a great live show. He has opened for the likes of Bowling For Soup, Gym Class Heroes, Bayside, Streetlight Manifesto, Simple Plan, Say Anything and much more. Many songs from "This Gigantic Robot Kills" have been road tested and are already fan favorites!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Gigantic Robot Kills..., March 9, 2009

By 

Alex O. Eschbach - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Gigantic Robot Kills (Audio CD)

MC Lars continues exploring the limits of a genre he created in his followup to 2006's The Graduate. Lars limits the interpolation of the tracks in this album, instead favoring to bring some friends to play with him on This Gigantic Robot Kills.

The title track features the MC Bat Commander (of the Aquabats) and Suburban Legends in a song that suggests it's time to destroy the kids of Laguna Beach and other MTV reality based shows to "bring the real Orange County back." It's this tongue-in-cheek humor that has helped my Lars a favorite amongst many in the punk/ska scene.

He continues the tradition by making fun of bumper sticker activism (No Logo), the hypocrisy of certain celebrities claiming to "go green" (It's Not Easy (Being Green)), and kid's obsession with Guitar Hero (Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Doesn't Make You Slash)).

Lars also puts his English degree to good use in Hey There Ophelia. A post-punk laptop rap interpretation of Hamlet.

With help from Parry Gripp (Nerf Herder), Gabe Saporta (Midtown/Cobra Starship), Brett Anderson (The Donnas), and "Weird" Al Yankovic, MC Lars continues to gain a fan base not associated with mainstream hip-hop.

This Gigantic Robot Kills aims to be the punk equivalent of the Beastie Boy's License to Ill and attract a group of people who normally shy away from anything in the rap community. And in this respect, the album is a success.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MC Lars at his best, March 9, 2009

By 

Ben Heeren (Iowa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Gigantic Robot Kills (Audio CD)

I am really impressed with this album, it usually takes me 5 or 6 plays of a cd to really connect with it but by the 2nd time hearing this I was hooked. Funny/clever lyrics, great guest rappers, catchy beats, what else could you ask for!? The only thing I didn't like was the anti MC Chris rants, which I am sure he has his reasons for, but it might alienate a lot of his fans which probably consist of many MC Chris fans. Tracks to check out: True Player For Real, It's Not Easy (Being Green), This Gigantic Robot Kills, Twenty-Three, We Have Arrived, and The Metric System. I realized I named a lot of tracks but it is way too hard to nitpick this album, I love every track more and more every time I listen to it, this is definitely a great accomplishment for MC Lars and he will surely gain some ground with this cd. Like most that have heard it I cant seem to stop listening to Twenty-Three, a song about a friend of his who committed suicide (from what I heard in the lyrics), you can really emotionally attach to it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Gigantic Robot Kills . . . and rocks!, March 10, 2009

By 

Bradley J. Schloss (East Northport, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Gigantic Robot Kills (Audio CD)

I have been a fan of MC Lars for a while now and feel confident in saying that he is at his finest with the recent release of "This Gigantic Robot Kills." I'm not sure how to go about reviewing this album, so I'll just talk about the songs that really stuck out.

The album starts off with "Where Ya Been Lars?" and this track lets us know where our boy has been while supplying us with anecdotes of his experiences in the biz.

Next we are greeted by "True Player for Real;" a song that puts to rest any fears that Lars may have deviated from his Nerdcore roots. Lars is still having fun and putting a lot of thought into his lyrics. Plus, it's also nice to hear Weird Al's contribution of his sick accordion skills.

Then there's "Hipster Girl;" a catchy tune with some fantastic lyrics that pokes fun at hipster culture without having to be too forward or mean about it. I always crack up when he gets to the line `Donnie Darko makes no sense.'

Following that is the environmentalist track "It's Not Easy (Being Green)" with guest vocals supplied by Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan. While I'm not a fan of Simple Plan, I still feel it necessary to acknowledge his effort on this track, as weak as it may be. Going green is important but the message happens to be trapped in one of the album's weaker tracks.

Ahh yes, then there is the song that bears this album's namesake, "This Gigantic Robot Kills." Easily one of my favorites on the album, this entertaining number is a toe-tapping ska infused song featuring the talents of Suburban Legends and MC Bat Commander of The Aquabats. What's not to like? Ska fans old and new will find themselves singing along and skanking the night away to this one.

"35 Laurel Drive" reminds us of Lars' great sense of humor as he discusses how much of a slob his drummer is. Lars details the numerous messy aspects of this guy's house and is pretty clever about it. With the funny there must also be the serious as we are then met by "Twenty-Three." This somber track recounts the MC's tale of his friend's depression and subsequent suicide and is a very sweet way of paying tribute a lost friend.

Then we get the song "Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Does Not Make You Slash)." Once again, Lars references popular culture and pokes fun the obsessive video games tendencies we harbor and how skilled we think we are. The guitar on this track is fantastic and really drives home the message of the song; being good at a video game doesn't necessarily translate to real like skills.

"We Have Arrived" has a lot going for it with its got a fast danceable beat with a great hip-hop core. "White Kids Aren't Hyphy" follows the theme of characterizing the club going genre while getting its own message across and upholds Lars' vast musical knowledge.

"Hey There Ophelia" gives us the sort of track we haven't heard since "Mr. Raven" or "Ahab." MC Lars was an English major in college and, clearly, he doesn't want us to forget it. As far as I'm concerned, a rap version of Hamlet is always welcome.

All in all, it's a great album and I look forward to seeing MC Lars coming out with some more top notch songs in the future.