Poo kid on the block
A member of the DFA family and close friend of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot has had a remarkable 12 months, with a rapturously received debut album and a star spot in LCD’s end-of-an-era madison square garden show. He tries to put it all into words.
Paul Nolan, 06 Jul 2011

It took 40 year-old Dubliner Marcus Lambkin, AKA Shit Robot, a while to get around to recording his debut album. But when he finally did, with last year’s From The Cradle To The Rave, he made it count. A star-studded affair produced by DFA, it featured several tracks co-written with James Murphy as well as vocal contributions from LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. For good measure, it received excellent reviews and Lambkin’s music has received the thumbs-up from the likes of Simian Mobile Disco and Thom Yorke.
Marcus himself is based in a rural area outside Stuttgart, and says that the locale is heavily populated by Swabian farmers. I wonder if he ever sees the farming community brandishing DFA 12 inches?
“No, definitely not,” chuckles Marcus. “They have no idea who I am!”
Of late, Marcus has been busy working on new material, DJing and doing live performances, which are billed as ‘The Shit Robot Show’. These gigs are elaborate affairs, which involve Marcus playing beneath a robot headset and in front of a screen. Earlier this year, he took the set-up to Madison Square Garden, where he and fellow DFA artist The Juan MacLean contributed robotic voices to the epic ’45:33’ during LCD Soundsystem’s final gig.
How did the show go?
“It was amazing,” enthuses Marcus. “I got to play all of the Terminal 5 gigs, as well, in the build-up, and to cap it off by playing Madison Square Garden was something else. But I was so nervous before that show; obviously it was going out live on the web and I didn’t want to screw up. The evening itself was quite hectic – there were a lot of celebrities present, and Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs were running around filming stuff, which is going to be included on the DVD release. They’d filmed a little insert that was played on the big screens before myself and Juan arrived, so we had to get our timing right!
“Luckily, the after-party was in the hotel I was staying in, so that was handy. Susan Sarandon was actually at the gig, and it’s not the first LCD show she’s been at either. It’s one of those things where you go, ‘Really?’ – because you wouldn’t imagine she’d be into it, but she is. Also, Courtney Love was there and even joined a group of us onstage for the finale.”