Episode: Automatic — “Black Box” LA post-punk trio Automatic (Izzy Glaudini, Lola Dompé, Halle Saxon) return in 2025 on Stones Throw with their third album Is It Now? The opener “Black Box” establishes the record’s dark urgency: motorik bass, razor-sharp drums, and icy synths power a confession that reads like a coded transmission. The title conjures mystery, memory, and wreckage-buried truths. Automatic alchemize tension into groove, pulling you onto a fog-lit highway at night. File between Kraftwerk’s mechanical pulse and Stereolab’s hypnotic layers—minimalist, modern, and magnetic. In a film, this would score the dystopian cold open that hints a secret is about to surface.