Lovetron
All Across the Grand Charade (Intergalactic Frontline)Robots, Please!
The Acropolis Lovetron sounds like the logical culmination of predilections for wistful techno, ethereal British pop, and staying up all night to play video games. That said, the multifaceted Austin quartet covers an impressive degree of stylistic ground in the nine songs on their groove-laden debut. An undercurrent of Afro-pop and wah-wah courtesy of guitarists Greg Reynaud and Adam Amparan adds intrigue to “River,” while “On the Freakdown” conjures up the funk with a Prince-style falsetto vocal about macaroni and cheese. “Alethea Park” and “Hanging at the Heels” use a dreamy electronic backdrop to soup up what would otherwise be straightforward guitar pop. The closer, “Over Our Heads,” adds yet another dimension by tapping the electro-prog musings of Can. Though their sonic overlays ring a little thin in places, Lovetron is definitely onto a slick new horizon of retro-futurism. Robots, Please! mines similar territory on their concise, six-song EP, but their m.o. is geared more towards the quirky-jerk hiccups endemic to minimalist New Wave. “Time for Breakfast” recalls a more urgent, stripped down version of Algebra Suicide doing the Square Pegs theme. It’s dance music for people who only move at 90-degree angles. “High School Shop Kids” bathes you in a warm, luxurious wash of melodic organ and synthesizer alongside an ambiguous singsong lyric. By contrast, the sparse, guitar-driven “She Waits for Me” sounds like something a young Lou Reed would’ve come up with had he been 16 in 1986. Despite the local group’s obsession with supa-kleen sterility, Robots, Please! can’t keep these slight, bite-sized morsels of modern-day synth-pop from being highly infectious.(Lovetron)
(Robots, Please!) 
This article appears in May 9 • 2003.
