the spotlight on automata is now archived. please hit the sidebar to get a hold of that page.

automata are a new name out of chicago that i was recently put onto. upon first listen, i was instantly hooked on what i heard. the sultry, soaring vocals of lead singer rachel thomas are an instant standout for the band. that’s not to say that the music isn’t equally as impressive and captivating. the band create a musical landscape that can have you feeling like you’re in the gospel tent at a jazz festival in new orleans one moment, or sitting in on a scene from portishead’s roseland NYC live dvd the next. i really can’t imagine listening to their debut EP, microcosm, and NOT finding something that blows you away. the band cover soul, blues, indie, electronic, dub, and more in just 5 tracks. there’s a cinematic feel to their music, a visual aspect that also carries over to the band’s live show.

we’ve got a free download link to said EP for your listening pleasure, and along with that, the band were kind enough to answer some questions for us and provide us with an exclusive live video from a recent show. if you’re not quite sold on the music, i HIGHLY suggest you watch the video. just don’t forget to say thanks.

– panda

automata on myspace.
automata on facebook.

stream/download microcosm:


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video: automata – the plea (live)

[video shot by Karl Geweniger].

Jerome Mendoza, weworemasks: For the record, name and position(s) in Automata?

Rachel Sarah Thomas: Vocals and keys
Justin Samuel Martin: Guitar, samples and video
Justin Slade McClain: Bass
J.D. Plotnick: Drums and samples

WWM: This will be the first time most to all of the weworemasks fanbase will be hearing about Automata. Would you like to give us a brief rundown of the history of the band?

Justin Samuel: Rachel, J.D. and I started playing together about a year ago and were unsure if we wanted to approach the music as a live band or as some bizarre electronic trio as we were having difficulty finding other musicians to collaborate with. Things went slowly because I left the country to film and travel for seven months, J.D. was finishing up school and Rachel was working a lot. They worked on things while I was abroad, and when I came back to Chicago we decided to pursue the live band route and started playing regularly. We couldn’t settle on a lineup and had friends who played bass help us out by practicing with us so we could work on songs. Justin McClain is one of our oldest friends from high school and we continually pleaded with him to join the band. In May he got on board. Two weeks later, we played our first show and two months later we were in the recording studio.

WWM: There’s a lot of different genres and influences in the mix, both musically and vocally. what particular artists, if any, have directly influenced the way you guys write and perform music?

Rachel: There are so many artists that when I heard their music, it just resounded in my body and heart and changed me and the way I thought about music. The people who’ve really taught me how to sing are Julie Andrews, Aretha Franklin, Bessie Smith, Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Grace Slick, Robert Plant and Nat King Cole.

Justin Slade: Radiohead, Arcade Fire, The Mars Volta, Cursive, Prussia, Bright Eyes, Sufjan Stevens, The Blood Brothers, Gorillaz, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Faint and Murder by Death are the first ones that come to mind. We all listen to almost all genres of music from various time periods and styles and it all bleeds into everyone’s playing. That’s not to discount film scores either. In fact, those in some ways have shaped the way I think about music more than anything.

J.D.: Some that come to mind immediately are Amon Tobin, Fela Kuti, Tin Hat Trio, King Tubby, Radiohead, Aesop Rock, DJ Olive and lots of jazz like Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Eric Dolphy.

Justin Samuel: I tend to be more influenced by images or places when it comes to writing songs. For performing, I’m inspired by anyone who is at once entranced by what they’re doing while still connecting with the audience. Fareed Haque comes to mind as he’s so virtuosic that he’s mesmerizing to watch. I recently saw Every Time I Die. It was a religious experience.

WWM: With such diversity going on in the music, what’s the songwriting process like for the band?

Justin Samuel: Usually, somebody brings in something they’ve written and everyone adds their own parts to it. We improvise a lot over sketches of songs and come up with a lot of our material that way, too. Also, almost every time we get together, we start an improvisation from scratch or everyone gets into a part somebody is noodling around with during a break. We’ve set up our rehearsal space so that we can record anything we’re doing at the push of a button. It’s integral to the way we work because it’s often difficult to remember exactly how each member played the standout moment of a half-hour improvisation. Plus, it affords us the chance to step back and hear sections of songs from a listener’s perspective while still in the writing process.

WWM: How does it feel to have your debut EP, Microcosm out? How has the response been?

Justin Slade: It’s the most amazing thing when someone tells me they downloaded the EP. The response is generally very positive and people are excited to hear more from us. I really excited to get the pressed copies, which should be arriving in a few weeks. Then I think we’ll all breath a sigh of relief and have a drink or two.

Justin Samuel: People have been surprised by the quality of the recording as it’s our debut EP and we’re self-releasing it.

J.D.: I’ve been writing and recording music for over ten years and this is the first thing I’ve actually released, so for me its really exciting.

Rachel: Honestly, I just feel like I’ve learned so much from making this album; both from the process and from my band mates. Everyone I know has been saying “Finally! You’ve been singing your whole life! Finally you decided to do something with your voice!” I owe a lot of people recordings of me that I promised them that never happened, so everyone I know is pretty happy about this.

WWM: How long of a process was it from the bands inception to the EP’s release? What was the recording process like?

Justin Samuel: It took about eight or nine months. Justin McClain joined us in May 2009 and we played our first show at the end of the month. We went into the studio the last week of July and released the EP digitally on New Year’s Day 2010.

The recording process was one of the highlights of the year for us. We worked with Jay Marino at I.V. Lab Studio in Chicago. We can’t begin to tell you how much Jay’s helped us out. The four of us know how we want things to sound and Jay understood our style right away. We recorded live to analog tape and we played without a click track in order to maintain a natural feel. We overdubbed vocals, samples and miscellaneous things, but really tried to do as much as we could live. It was exciting because we were under time constraints but we also wanted to experiment a bit and make sure we got just what we wanted.

Rachel: We had a lot of stuff already written when Justin McClain joined and I took over keyboard duties. As the new dynamic produced new tunes, two songs that we never even planned to record were finished and are now on the album. The recording process for me was completely new. I was just watching and learning. There was so much interesting stuff going on, I had to constantly bite my tongue to not be posing wide-eyed queries to Jay.

WWM: Giving away music is almost commonplace these days, and is slowly becoming a traditional form for young bands getting their music out there. What really made that idea stand out to you guys as a band?

Justin Samuel: The thought of being on tour and only playing to five people on a Friday night somewhere far away was part of our motivation. By making our digital release free, people all over the world can check us out and easily share our music with their friends. We’re of the mind that more people will hear of us and check us out this way and that will translate to more people in the audience at our shows.

WWM: With so many bands out there these days, what sets Automata apart from the rest?

J.D.: I think we’re a pretty unique band in that we’re not easily definable. Not that we’re doing anything revolutionary, but I think our music reflects people today that listen to hip-hop and electronic music as much as indie rock and soul. Most people with good taste like all sorts of styles and genres and our music reflects that sensibility. One thing we’ve heard a lot so far is that we don’t sound exactly like anyone else, which to me is the whole point of being an artist in the first place. If you’re making music that sounds exactly like something that’s already out there, then what’s the point?

WWM: What were some of your favorite albums of ’09? Who are you currently into?

J.D.: I liked Wu-Tang’s Chamber Music a lot. I thought that was the best thing they’ve done in a long time. I also really like this record by the Steve Lehman Octet called Travail, Transformation and Flow. It’s got some really nice modern compositions inspired by spectral music. Also, The Mars Volta’s Octahedron has some really nice moments.

In general, right now I’m listening to a lot of old soul and dub 45’s, a lot of Dorothy Ashby, Bonobo, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Jamie Lidell and Blockhead. Stuff like that.

Rachel: I am so out of the loop. I’m currently into Raymond Scott, Edith Piaf, Michel Legrand, Erik Satie, The Guess Who and Led Zeppelin. I always fall back in love with them. Oh, and I’m really into Chicago’s bluegrass super group Sexfist.

Justin Slade: Prussia’s “Blessed Be, Yours Truly in Spirit & Soul” and Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest.”

Justin Samuel: Prussia’s “Blessed Be, Yours Truly in Spirit & Soul,” Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest,” El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez’s “Cryptomnesia,” and Laura Gibson’s “Beasts of Seasons” were my favorite of 2009. I’ve been listening to a lot of Joanna Newsom, Max Roach, Aesop Rock, Mars Volta, Son House and Southeast Asian psychedelic music from the 60s and 70s. I’ve also been digging this dub compilation that Jonny Greenwood put together and this plantation blues compilation called Saga 12.

WWM: With 2010 just getting under way, what can we expect this year from Automata?

J.D.: Lots and lots of shows. We are really a live band and are best experienced in that context. We’re going to be recording a full-length record sometime in the next year, too. We just hope to get exposed to as many new people in 2010 as possible.

Rachel: We’ve got all these gorgeous samples and crazy effects pedals and such and I really want to make more use of them during the songs – and in between them – to create interludes and make every show really feel like a production; like one long musical journey.

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that does it. thanks to the band for the feature, and be sure you check out their EP and show them some love [panda note: professionalism aside, let’s just get this out of the way…rachel, let’s get married. deal?].