Review Summary: Weird music from a weird band.
With a name like Retard-O-Bot, can you really be expected to take this band seriously? Well, the answer is yes and no. Musically, they do what they know, and they do it well. Lyrics and performance-wise, is absolute insanity. Their stage shows are just pure energy and so fun to watch. Their lyrics, are the wrong kind of insanity. Their EP
I Don’t Think You Really Mean It: RABID is some of the weirdest sh*t I’ve recently come across. An example of which being in the industrial-punk (I don’t even know) romp entitled
Rabid. The lyrics flow together decently, but if you really listen, they’re pretty stupid, unless there’s some sort of really obscure hidden meaning, but I doubt you could find anything meaningful in the lines
’ Procrastination f*cks yourself, you're f*cking me, my f*cking luck. My f*cking god, you f*cking tw*t. Sh*t’s so deep, sh*t's all you see. F*ck everybody.’ Beautiful.
Three of these 8 songs are remixes. I haven’t heard the original versions, but it sounds like I’m not missing out on much. Especially the 6 minute long bore-fest
Devoid of Science. You’d think a band as wacky and strange like this would have their music reflect that, but most of the time it doesn’t. The band itself is fronted by ‘mastermind’ Peter Pepper, and quite frankly that’s all I know. They’re not that popular (I found the cd in a bargain bin at my local music store), and no wonder why. I don’t know who would actually like this music, save for some songs. Lead single
Role Models is the high point of the album. An electronic fuzz begins the song until a repeated synth loop that sounds straight from an arcade game brings the song to life with the help of drums and crunchy electropunk scene-y guitars. Pepper sings about the typicality of role models today. Maybe we should admire the more quirky people, and not the obvious choice. However, if he’s referring to himself as being such, forget it.
The genre of this music isn’t really definable but it’s a mix of electro-industrial-punk. The band can pull it off well, despite the downsides to the album. The production is clear, you can hear everything, even the bass. The guitars are simple, but they work when their used. The drums are superb, with some nice double-bass action every once in a while and the synths are just the right amount of high-pitched so that it doesn’t give you a headache… on the first listen. Bottom line, I respect these guys for trying something different, and they pull it off well, but the remixes are pointless and dragged on, and the lyrics are absolutely horrid, save for
Role Models. If you come across
Role Models on the web, maybe give it a look, but it’s not worth directly looking up.
