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IN STOCK
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ARTIST
TITLE
Automat
FORMAT
CD
LABEL
CATALOG #
BB 161CD
BB 161CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
4/29/2014
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Three pilots. A recipe. A construction manual. Machine. Apparatus. Jochen Arbeit, Achim Färber, zeitblom = Automat. Arbeit, Färber, zeitblom have been collaborating under the name Automat since the end of 2011. Their debut album features Lydia Lunch, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge & Blixa Bargeld. A Berlin Affair. Just to untangle the threads: Jochen Arbeit, the guitarist who came to world prominence with Die Haut and Einstürzende Neubauten; Achim Färber, a sought-after drummer with the likes of Project Pitchfork, Prag and Phillip Boa; and finally, the bassist zeitblom, known from Sovetskoe Foto and through his award-winning radio-play works, especially in collaboration with author/publisher Michael Farin, with whom the piece "Kyffhäuser/Unternehmen Barbarossa/Träume vom Tod!" was musically adapted by Automat for the Berlin Volksbühne in 2012. Automat, a constant groooove. An album, as you would imagine flying to if you have never flown: a steady glide from leaving the apartment to reaching the destination. No waiting, no queuing, no turbulence; a smooth check-in, easy border controls, unhindered boarding. Take a seat and take off. Automat tells of Berlin, once a city with four airports. "Tempelhof" makes the start: reverberating cowbells, an urgent bass sequence, chopped meanderings, an evil recollection that reminds of THF in its heyday. "Schönefeld," where the guitars flange and the delays bounce. "Gatow" swings to the Ebow. And "Tegel." No question. "Tegel" grooves most elegantly. Three narratives -- of a lake with a menacing name, of an enchanted mountain, of strange roads -- feature within Automat's otherwise instrumental epic. Three guests, three additional voices and storytellers to speak to us: Lydia Lunch, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Blixa Bargeld. Guests, yes, but actually they are much more: old acquaintances, good friends, trusted colleagues. You can hear how they work their way into the pieces without taking them over, but lending that certain something and thus contributing to the idea of a band. Lighthouses. Automat is naturally the sum of its parts, and all of them have learned and taught during the post-punk era. One may recall the time during the mid-1980s, when the UK industrial-oriented artists discovered dance music. Automat docks onto that -- sawing, ringing guitars and dub-reggae bass lines meet in empty hangars with harsh, slow breakbeat rhythms garnished by ticking percussion instruments from the most exciting and remote places on earth -- and takes the dance into the present day.
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