In a fortnight of great album titles, the debut album by Dubliner Marcus Lambkin, aka Shit Robot, has possibly the best of the lot. Meanwhile, the music inside – a sublime collection of pop-tinged electro – further confirms that Lambkin is quite possibly the most underrated Irish artist around.
Having moved to New York, Lambkin’s DJ-ing and production skills bought him to the attention of LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy, and the Dublin groove mechanic eventually ended up on Murphy’s DFA imprint. Indeed, Lambkin actually bequeathed the godlike DFA artist John Maclean with his recording name, The Juan Maclean, and also counts among his admirers Thom Yorke, Simian Mobile Disco, Andy Butler of Hercules and Love Affair, and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, who contributes vocals to a track on the album, ‘Losing My Patience’.
One of the stand-out tracks on From The Cradle To The Rave, ‘Take Em Up’, features vocals from LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang, and her characteristically attitudinal singing style merges brilliantly with the hypnotic dance tune underneath. Lambkin has explained that he sought to bring a pop sensibility to his grooves on the album, and you can certainly imagine the pulsating likes of ‘Simple Things’ and ‘I Got A Feeling’ going down a storm on dancefloors worldwide.
For good measure, the appropriately named ‘Triumph’ – a collaboration with Murphy – brings the album to a magnificent close. Conclusion: this is some seriously good Shit.