MC Lars: This Gigantic Robot Kills

If you’ve heard one MC Lars song – neigh, one MC Lars verse – you probably know his entire shtick. Consisting of witty, pop-culture-referencing lyrics rapped awkwardly over gimmicky beats, the Northern California nerdcore MC’s albums are fun the first time through but grating afterward. This Gigantic Robot Kills is no different. The title characters of “Hipster Girl” and “White Kids Aren’t Hyphy” make for fairly obvious targets, and while Lars’ jokes are often clever (“We went down to the Bedford bar/And bought a six dollar PBR”), they don’t improve with age. He wins points on track “Twenty-Three” for seriously tackling the subject of suicide. But the accumulated goodwill is immediately extinguished by “Guitar Hero Hero,” which ends up sounding like a Weezer rip-off in its attempt to be zeitgeist-y. One is left with the impression that Lars is too intelligent and talented to be making such silly, disposable music. 2 stars.