In his Pitchfork Media article, Tom Ewing chronicles the history and development of "robotic" sound in popular music. Referring more generally to the use of sound and voice altering technology to give music a mechanical quality that distances the sound from the humans who make it. Ewing's contemporary motivation for the piece is the most recent Kanye West album, "808s and Heartbreak." Maintaining a light but confident sense of humor throughout, the columnist is able to applaud and criticize various attempts at the robotization of music from the last 30 or so years.
Ewing has done his research and supports all of this evidence with analysis of the each artists original intent for their specific breed of robot sound. He as well notes his own reactions to each example and the reactions of the listeners in general. The article is well rounded in that Ewing includes examples from different genres of music and makes connections between them, showing the evolving (or in the case of Britney Spears, devolving) style of robotic sounds as they become incorporated into more than just beats but into the message and emotional drive of the songs as well.
From Gary Numan in the 80s to an artist of today unknown to me, Janelle Monae, Ewing provides complete yet concise evidence for the conclusions he draws about Kanye. The article follows a typical but very well employed format of introducing the focus, providing supporting evidence, and then returning to the focus to conclude. Ewing poses his question not to the reader but himself and then thoroughly and wittily answers it. The style is informal and flows well. For the most part the vocabulary is easy to follow and Ewing does well to explain musical concepts that might be lost on some readers (like this one).
From a personal standpoint, I found myself engaged by Ewing as he takes a similar stance with the album as I do. He is pulled in by the robotic sounds, as they connect with a core understanding out rhythm and voice. He is intrigued by the music, even if like me, he does not want to fall into its mechanical trap.
The picture you used here was a great choice. It wasn't from the article you reviewed, so you obviously put some effort into finding it, and it's just weird and funny enough to capture my attention without being distracting. I ought to start using good pictures like these to kick off my blog entires.
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