ROBOT PRINCESS
“Teen Vogue LP + Action Moves EP”
(Fleeting Youth Records)



I’ve gotten past the point of having anything remotely relevant to say about indie rock. I just don’t, and it may be a disservice to budding rock bands, but I’m not in college anymore, my Built to Spill and Modest Mouse and Promise Ring and Unrest and Helium and Superchunk and Versus days are far behind me. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy this music, it’s that I’ve just said it all before, in a less exhausted voice in a thousand conversations with likeminded fans.

Maybe there’s a narrative here, where the past comes to repeat itself over and over and we can’t escape the cycle. I mean, in 1996 everybody was probably sick of talking about The Replacements and Hüsker Dü and Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies and My Bloody Valentine, and I was a wide-eyed and fresh-faced youngster ready for action. We’ve all been there, and we’ll all be there again. Someday Robot Princess will shake their heads at the kids discovering Speedy Ortiz and LVL UP and Radiator Hospital and Bleeding Rainbow and a million other rock bands who are all good and who all deserve the same amount of respect and admiration.

Does it get diluted down through the years*? I dunno. People don’t, I can’t comment on bands. If you want to live in the absolute now, then there’s Robot Princess from Brooklyn. They’re a five-piece, they make energetic and fun music, and you should pay attention to them. They’re just super likable, and I’m not gonna get down on this whole deal anymore. I’m actually cracking a smile right now, and for that I thank Robot Princess. I hope they sell a lot of these tapes, because they should. They’re for everyone, even bastardy old curmudgeons like me!



--Ryan Masteller


 *editor's note: yes it get's diluted. try harder folks.