Tongue planted firmly in his cheek, this release by Irish producer Automatic Tasty spectacularly fails to live up to its title's unit-shifting aspirations. Instead, he maintains the kind of high standards set by the previous Lunar Disko record from Submersible Machines. Like his label colleague, Automatic Tasty's sound is hard to pin down, and his ability to flit between a range of influences, usually in the same track, makes his productions seem familiar yet also idiosyncratic.
This is audible on "I've Missed the Last Bus Home," where a fluid Heard-like bassline provides the backdrop for bleeding analogue chords, but listen closer and there's also some hardcore dreaminess and what could be a niggling acid lick replicating a wailing siren. "I Can See Your House from Here" is also based on a jacking rhythm, but its bass plumbs close to the depths that Drexciya used to inhabit, while the melodies are of wafer-thin fragility.
AT shows his love of Detroit electro on "To the Moon and Back," with its squelchy bass and intense drums sounding very Aux 88, but in what could be a wry jab at his own old school approximations, AT adds in the whirr and hiss sounds of a dial-up modem. This suggests that the producer is able to laugh at himself—a rarity—but that doesn't mean his magpie approach is anything short of inspirational. If you're in any doubt, check the slow-paced jam "An Cnoc Rua," where the spirit of Black Dog's '90s work is brought into contact with more Stinson/Donald otherworldliness via an acid heavy backing. He might claim to be in it for the money, but this record is so on the money, it's just not funny.
Buy Automatic Tasty - In It for the Money EP at
  
Tracklist: Automatic Tasty - In It for the Money EP
 A1 I've Missed the Last Bus Home
A2 I Can See Your House from Here
B1 An Cnoc Rua
B2 To the Moon and Back
B3 Autonomous System
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