`Power-pop' trend continues

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`Power-pop' trend continues

By Josh Werner
Entertainment Staff

ARTIST: Automatic

TITLE: Transmitter

LABEL: 550 Music/Murmur

Everyone owes something to their mother, if only gratitude for being born in the first place. Alex Jarvis, guitarist for Automatic, a band that originated in Ocean Grove, Australia, has much more than most to thank his mother for.

"Yeah, Mum lent us the money," recalls Alex, describing how his band found the resources to fund the release of their first EP. "I don't think we've paid her back yet I s'pose we should someday!" Despite the fact that he still owes his mom that money, Jarvis and the rest of Automatic have breathed some life into the all-too redundant "power-pop" genre with 13 infectious tracks on their latest release, Transmitter.

Automatic's members met in high school and formed the band in early 1994. They released Automatic that fall to rave reviews throughout Australian alternative radio. The band later toured up and down the east coast of Australia, and eventually landed a deal with the Sony-distributed Murmur label, home to another Australian-based band, Silverchair. Since then, the band has released another EP, Sister K, and has toured with such bands as Urge Overkill, Swervedriver, and, most recently, Silverchair.

Transmitter is filled with distorted pop that will keep fans wanting more. The first single off of the album, "It's Like Sound," is a synth-driven track that follows in the footsteps of today's most successful grunge artists. Although Transmitter is loaded with this grunge appeal, it manages to stay fresh and original.

"Five" is 100% pure pop, and will appeal to even the most mainstream listeners. Automatic's strength seems to lie in the ability they have to grind out melodic songs like "Five" while keeping an edge on their music. Some other great tracks from the album include "Fade Away," "Does She Kiss Like You," "What If ," and "Aeon Flux," a tune whose name comes from the title of the popular MTV-produced graphic animated drama.

Automatic's work on Transmitter proves that the `power-pop' wave is far from over. They manage to blend fuzzy guitars, fuzzier synthesizers, and catchy lyrics to appeal to music fans of all genres.