Time for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, where we blow the dust off of a forgotten favorite and give its lack of chart success a once-over.

Artist: Ima Robot
Song: “Dynomite,” 2003
What happened: L.A. outfit Ima Robot, which featured the stick-thin Alex Ebert on frontman duties and noted session man Joey Waronker on drums, put out its first full-length in 2003, with “Dynomite” as its lead single. Alas, the song didn’t really break through outside of a few MTV2-interstitial uses, and its Roman Coppola-directed video, which turns a cramped club into a Sid and Marty Krofft-worthy landscape, was relegated to video channels’ darkest hours.
Why it should have been a hit: Listening to the hyperactive “Dynomite” is sort of like going into a two-minute sugar coma: It has a ping-ponging bassline and a guitar sound that can only be described as “sproinging.” It also remains pretty much the only song in Ima Robot’s catalog that successfully uses Ebert’s gasping vocal style to an end that is thrilling, instead of ultimately grating.

Ima Robot – Dynomite [MP3, link expired]
Ima Robot [Dynomite]