Marvin the Robot

Artist Information

Biography

Marvin The Robot is a shoegazer/indie rock band from Columbus, Ohio.

Biography
In 2000, songwriter, Miles Curtiss set out on the road to seek obscurity and poverty. From Columbus to Cornell, he gained the respect of critics and the love of crowds with his quirky, sometimes dark lyrics, joyful attitude, and electric performances. As a three piece, MTR has won the affections of NPR hipsters, music addicts, and art school drop outs throughout the central United States.

Band interests
waffles, open source, Caprica, Pavement

Artists we also like
Guided By Voices, Wilco, The Yips,

Instrumentation

Miles Curtiss - Vocals, Guitar, keyboard
Danielle Kelly - Vocals, Drums
Matt Forney - Bass, keytar, weird things

Discography

Records

* Dogwhistle Symphonies 2000
* Information Storage & Transfer 2001
* Vultures Roasting Broomsticks 2001
* Oh, Exighan (chain letter ep)2001
* The Green Line EP 2002
* Intimate Distances 2002
* Away Station EP 2004
* Psalms For The Sexually Disenfranchised 2005
* Dodecaheathens EP 2005
* Midwesterns 2007
* Our Hands To Ourselves 2008
* Our Hands To Ourselves MP3 Jumpbox Edition 2009
* The Loveiathan 2010 (cd and usb editions)
* The New Bottom Line 2011

Compilations
* Grand Rapids Children's Museum (2002)
* OSU Student Radio: Sounds Of The Underground (2002)
* Columbus Needs A Mountain (2003)
* Warning; Place Arm Here For Amputation (2003)
* Without Annette; More Songs About Tightropes (2004)
* Rock On The Range (2012)

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• Twitter
• MySpace

Audio

• Fake Jazz
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• Sign Of The Times
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• No Good Boy
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• Liberals Can We Riot Now live
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• Every Forrest Needs A Florist
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Lyrics

• Sign Of The Times

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Marvin The Robot vs. NPR [+ Show ]
  

  Unlike the ultra cool hipster secret circle music, this music doesn’t make you feel like an outsider...Unlike the ultra cool hipster secret circle music, this music doesn’t make you feel like an outsider when you listen to it. “Two Purple Hearts” will make you feel better giving you something more to relate too, “House won’t burn / Wife won’t Leave “ are lyrics most people can relate to.

• A Valentine For Your Ears [+ Show ]
  

  Marvin the Robot Information Storage and Transfer ( MarvinMade ) 2001 Information Storage and T...Marvin the Robot
  Information Storage and Transfer
  ( MarvinMade ) 2001
  Information Storage and Transfer is a compilation of songs from the Something About Marathons era of Marvin the Robot. I don't know exactly what that means - but it says that in the description to this album and sounds good to me. This is a double disc anthology of twenty-three songs picked from previous ep's and live tracks and stuff.
  
  Marvin the Robot reminds me of this Family Circus Valentines Day Special I saw once. I haven't seen it in like fifteen years and can't remember much except for the part where the kids were making this really big Valentine thing for their parents. Marvin the Robot songs are just innocent and sweet like that and are special in that kind of way. Some Marvin the Robot cds are packaged in a nice way too. They are specially made collages and stuff glued together and feel like they are home-made Valentines to you too or something.
  
  The songs on this album are interestingly recorded with most likely sub-par recording gear but it's put together nicely. Lots of noises, not like noisy, noisy Sonic Youth noises - but just stuff layered using keyboards, guitars, drum machines. Kind of low sounding instrumentations with singing on top on many of the songs.
  
  The subject matter of the songs mostly deal with being in or wanting to be in love. There is a nice openness about his feelings and stuff. The guitar thing on "Song To Cheer Me Up" is really good. Just a nice, almost sleepy solo-ish thing. And some songs are slow and have a murky feeling to them while others are upbeat with the drum beats and keyboard stuff.
  
  If I ever get a girlfriend and it's around Valentines Day, her presents will consist of Marvin the Robot cd's. And my future ideal girlfriend will like quasi-noisy, innocent post-punk/indie/rock or whatever music, so she will love this.

• NPR Spotlight [+ Show ]
  

  Marvin The Robot is the pseudonym for Miles Curtiss, a Columbus, Ohio-based musician in search of "o...Marvin The Robot is the pseudonym for Miles Curtiss, a Columbus, Ohio-based musician in search of "obscurity and poverty." In this quest, Curtiss has met up with several musical collaborators to create quirky, eclectic pop songs.
  
  Curtiss' approach to songwriting is especially low-key. The recording quality is dense and fuzzy, giving the impression that Curtiss is singing his off-beat ditties in someone's attic.
  
  Marvin the Robot has shared the stage with other lo-fi and avant-garde mainstays like The Microphones and Whirlwind Heat.
  
  The featured track from Marvin the Robot's album, Psalms for the Sexually Disenfranchised, is "No Use."

• Made From Scratch [+ Show ]
  

  Made from Scratch A Survey of Columbus’ Homemade Sounds by Kevin Elliott Artist: Marvin...Made from Scratch
  A Survey of Columbus’ Homemade Sounds
  
  by Kevin Elliott
  
  
  
  Artist: Marvin the Robot
  
  Title: Psalms for the Sexually Disenfranchised
  
  Format: CD-R
  
  Gear: Four-track recorder, drum machine, cheap keyboards
  
  Genre: Punk rock ballads
  
  Sounds like: If anyone from the new generation of Columbus singer/songwriters deserves a lifetime achievement award, it’s Miles Curtiss, known in various forms and line-ups as Marvin the Robot. Of course quantity does not beat quality, but his discography is neverending; piles of handmade tapes and discs must be clogging his closet.
  
  Recently he’s even resorted to auctioning personalized songs on eBay, he’s got so many swimming around in his head. That’s his niche, though. Each release sounds like he’s been writing your diary for you, including all the embarrassing bar-hopping, drug-experimenting and failed attempts at love you don’t want to remember.
  
  It has not been all wine and roses, though. I can remember a particular show about seven years ago in which the Robot was playing an unbearable set of off-tuned rubbish, forcing most of the crowd to abandon the cramped club. Through time, Curtiss has become comfortable with his voice, not particularly caring whether he hits the notes, instead packing each one-liner with an unmatched sincerity.
  
  Most of his latest release, Psalms for the Sexually Disenfranchised—which arrived at the Alive offices wrapped in crayon and construction paper—retains the humorous honesty and queasy arrangements. While older versions were simply tape-deck confessionals, he’s now become a master of his lo-fi restraints, using the hissing wheels of his four-track as backing orchestration, bad tunings as charming distractions and cheap drum machines as an excuse to never find a drummer.
  
  Even if you have trouble “getting” exactly what Marvin the Robot is trying to accomplish with his cracked acoustic love songs and punk rock ballads, it’s hard to ignore his dead-on lyrics. Perhaps his most prophetic comes in the song “I Can’t Believe She Called Me Emo,” where he asks, “What crawled up my ass and died?/ It must be my sex life.”
  
  For more info on Marvin the Robot, e-mail da8withikea@yahoo.com
  
  May 11, 2005
  
  Copyright © 2005 Columbus Alive, Inc. All rights
  

• Pop!Cafe [+ Show ]
  

  by Pete Bruinsma January 5th 2001 It's as hard to peg Marvin the Robot down to a style of music ...by Pete Bruinsma
  January 5th 2001
  
  It's as hard to peg Marvin the Robot down to a style of music as it is to peg Miles -- the brains, voice, and sole perpetrator of the project -- down to a schedule, but I've found you can't go wrong with a barrage of lossely defining descriptive words: disturbing yet humorous, impatient indie-rock with a twinge of dark mystery and a lot of lo-fi sound. It's hard to leave a Marvin the Robot show with a frown on your face, which makes it easy to become addicted to the experience.

• When Robots Attack [+ Show ]
  

  When Robots Attack On Monday, July 11, Little Brother’s will be the landing pad for a robotic mu...When Robots Attack
  
  On Monday, July 11, Little Brother’s will be the landing pad for a robotic musical invasion that, while certainly not threatening to mankind, should prove to be entertaining. Headlining is 8-Bit, a group of Los Angeles androids who recently gained some notoriety for a collaboration they did with Beck. On their own material, they mix sci-fi rhymes with Casio-tainted beats for a wacky combo that’s at once futuristic and a throwback to the early ’80s.
  
  Joining 8-Bit on tour are fellow Angelinos the Mormons. Befitting their namesake, the Mormons dress as bicycle-riding missionaries converting their audiences with a chaotic mix of Devo-esque rock. Opening this show is Columbus’ own Marvin the Robot, whose lovelorn lo-fi paeans are of a more humanistic sort.
  
  —Stephen Slaybaugh
  
  July 6, 2005
  
  

Setlist

1. You Shouldn't Have To Be So Brave
2. New Static For The Radio
3. Unremarkable
4. Rachel Hatred & Her History Of Facial Prejudice
5. Dear Library Insurrectionists
6. No Good Boy
7. Am I An Idiot?

Basic Requirements

Calendar