Semiautomatic, a duo from Brooklyn, NY, delivered its first CD, eponymous, in early 2000. Both Akiko Carver and DJ Rop Style supply beats, play bass, guitars, and turntables, and sing on these 12 songs (guitarist Joshua Dake guests on one track). Lying somewhere between breakbeat dance music and
Stereolab,
Semiautomatic crafts naïve tunes that can dive into brief experimentations with textures, but the beat always prevails. Punkish accents can be heard on "Voodoo That Bitch" and some meta-pop flavors might recall
Pizzicato Five at times. A few tracks are badly produced, like the closer "7A.M. House @ H.A.R.D.," a track that should have been left out. The album as a whole is entertaining, although certainly not genre-defining. ~ François Couture