Hexstatic are one of my favourite Ninja Tune artists. Not only are their previous albums crazy mashups of all sound, their live show combining video and audio is simply the most amazing live show I’ve had the privilege of seeing. However, I must admit I’m severely disappointed by When Robots Go Bad, their third studio effort. It’s not that it’s terrible, it’s just that it lacks the elements that made me love Rewind and Masterview.

The album starts off strong with Red Laser Beams, a rocky electro track that brings to the mind toy robots going bad and shooting people with their red beamed eyes. But this is probably the only track that I could recommend someone listen to. The rest of the release is electro influenced pop, which would be fine for the fluro wearing teen set with big sunglasses, but for those of us who like a bit of complexity and intelligence to our music, this is not the release for it.

On a positive note, I can imagine most of these tracks making dance floors move, and I guess that’s what dance music is all about. And yes, I am very conscious of the fact that Hexstatic were producing electro before it was cool, but they were also funky, quirky, and interesting. They used to use tons of samples and cut up the music and mash it all up. This feels over-produced and lacks the signature style I’ve come to recognise when listening to Hexstatic, and I felt let down.

TLC is a nice electro inspired breaks beat tune, but the rest of the tracks sound like all the other electro that’s being produced lately – 80s inspired synth lines with quirky raps and 808 drum patterns. Tracks like the plodding Roll Over FT. Sabirajade, and the uninspired Prom Party Night would be cool 5 years ago, but now they sound boring and common. Tracks like Deadly Media or Chase Me don’t exist on this release, and it’s a little hard to believe that it’s the same people making this record.