Photo: Martin Walz
The music produced by the artists Arbeit-Färber-Zeitblom under the alias Automat and now collected on three different albums always resonates with extensive knowledge of psychedelic krautrock and deep dub. So far, singers have played little to no role in this cosmos—songs/thematic fields such as »Berliner Flughäfen« (»Berlin Airports«), »Dub«, and »die europäische Flüchtlingskrise« (»The European Refugee Crisis«) have all been approached using instruments alone. For Pop-Kultur, the group has developed the commissioned work »Modul«, whose tracks follow the principle of modularity. Through this structure, key, tempo, rhythm, electronics, and texture will be combined to form complex systems. The result is not linear composition but rather open, polyrhythmic structures. The lyrical and vocal contributions of the three guest vocalists, Gemma Ray, Lydia Lunch, and Paul St. Hilaire, will be congenially incorporated into this modularity.
Automat: concept and music Jochen Arbeit: guitar, electronics Achim Färber: drums, electronics Georg Zeitblom: bass, electronics Thomas Stern: sound Lydia Lunch, Gemma Ray, Paul St. Hilaire: vocals and lyrics Automat on Facebook