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'While Automusik’s performances — part performance art, part rock-and-roll — are comedic to be sure, they aren’t merely a novelty act. Their songs are packed with social commentary concerning American celebrity worship and self-perfection. One moment Automusik (the man, not the entity) dons a hard hat, takes up a mallet, and declares, “If you have a hammer and you work very hard you will get very far like me. You will help to make a productive state and a strong economy.” The next instant he has moved into the audience, crooning robotically about his loneliness and begging all the beautiful women to dance with him. All the while the female rock units dance, lick lollipops, and provide brilliantly deadpan backing vocals.
An Automusik show incorporates a little bit of Kraftwerk’s weirdness, a little bit of Roxy Music’s sexiness, and a lot of ingenious pop culture manipulation. And while they may not create a revolution all their own, it’s not for a lack of trying. “Automusik has grown weary of little boys flailing their arms with guitars,” says Automusik, speaking through the medium of one of his female rock units. “Automusik has grown weary of the tiresome soul-searching of little boys in dirty T-shirts and ratty hair . . . complaining about their unrequited love. The function of Automusik is to . . . spawn upon the world a new generation who understands real music.” '- Memphis Magazine
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