AutoKratz

Formed in London in 2007, autoKratz were quickly signed to acclaimed Parisian label Kitsune, at a time when the French label was at the forefront of electronic music. Joining an impressive artist roster including Hot Chip, Crystal Castles, Simian Mobile Disco and Digitalism.

Their debut single 'Reaktor' was premiered as 'Record of the Week' of the week on the legendary Pete Tong radio show on BBC Radio 1.

After having released a string of well received singles plus remixes for the likes of La Roux, Alex Gopher, Fischerspooner and Underworld,[1] in 2008 they released their debut mini album, Down & Out In Paris & London.

Named after the George Orwell book of the same name as a nod to their adopted home town and that of their record label, the album received critical acclaim across a wide variety of publications including the NME. Their latest single Stay The Same, reached number 1 in DJ magazine Hype Chart.[2]

In July 2008, it was reported in the British tabloid Daily Star newspaper and NME.COM that they had become involved in an altercation with Sex Pistols John Lydon when both were playing at the Live At Loch Lomond event. Lydon is alleged to have demanded autoKratz get out of the car they were in as he preferred it to the one he was given.[3][4]

2008 saw them play over 50 dates across Europe including Glastonbury Festival, Summerset Festival Belgium, culminating in a performance at Rencontres trans musicales.

Their first full length Album 'Animal' was released in June 2009 which also received favourable reviews from various publications including IDJ which gave it 10/10, Mixmag (Album of the month), Artrocker, Clash Magazine and the Financial Times.[5][6]

Techno legends Underworld asked them to be main support them over two nights at Brixton Academy in November 2008.[7]

Since then AutoKratz have supported The Prodigy at Makuhari Messe Tokyo[8] and completed their first Australian tour as part of the Parklife festival alongside Empire of the Sun, La Roux, Busy P, A-Trak, Tiga, Erol Alkan and Crystal Castles.[9].

In October 2009 they embark upon a six-week headline tour around Europe in support of their album.[10][11][12][13][14]

In the inaugural triple j vs Parklife indoor soccer match on 29 September 2009, Russell Crank (who was playing as goalie for Parklife at the time) caused the loss of his team by letting the ball roll slowly in to the net during extra time. The final score was triple j4, Parklife 3.[15] Players of the Parklife team included Tiga, Busy P, autoKratz and Art vs. Science. Players on the triple j team included Scott Dooley, Jude Bolton, Dave Williams, Danielle Brogan and triple j listeners.

Throughout 2009/2010 they continued to tour across the world, with highlights including La Route du Rock in France, Wireless Festival in London, Open Air Festival Zurich, Optimus Alive Portugal, Solidays France and Melt Festival in Germany.[16]

autoKratz second album Self Help for Beginners was released on 20 June 2011. It received a range of great reviews including 4/5 in Q Magazine, who said of the album "Superclub dancefloors are safe in London Duo's hands....dealing in peak time pop nuggets welded to Terminator style-backbones".[17] The first single taken from the album was 'Opposite of Love' which premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Jaymo & Andy George.

The album saw the band collaborate with some of their heroes including New Order bassist Peter Hook, Primal Scream guitarist Andrew Innes and Primal Scream & Kasabian producer Jagz Kooner.[18].

Peter Hook featured on the second single to come off the album "Becoming the Wraith", and he joined the band on stage to perform the track at Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo, where they headlined the second stage.[19] Of the collaboration Hook said "I was delighted to be asked by autoKratz and knowing their music I understand why. The song was great before I even touched it. I just put the icing on the cake so it was a real pleasure."[20]

In late 2011, the autoKratz track Stay The Same featured in the motion picture '50/50' with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.[21]

With the growing success of their label Bad Life,[22] the latter part of 2011 saw autoKratz return to releasing more club-centric tracks and adopting a sound which combined elements of electro and techno. The 'autoKratz present Bad Life #1' EP featured tracks 'Heart Attack Man' and 'Sucker Sirens', and became Mixmag's 'Electro Tune of the Month' for January 2012.[23] This was followed by 'Faith', a collaboration with Lee Mortimer, which also received the Mixmag accolade again for February 2012, as well as becoming DJ Mag's 'Tune of the Month'. Both releases received extremely favourable DJ support worldwide finding their way into the playlists of Style of Eye and Benny Benassi.[24]

They became part of a burgeoning new scene known as Future Techno[25] and early 2012 also saw the release of 'autoKratz present Bad Life #2' which cemented the bands intention to continue making progressive electronic music. They also developed a more techno inspired live show for their first Bad Life label tour in Spring 2012.[26]

In March 2019 after a hiatus, autoKratz released a new single 'Shake Your Love', with the announcement that a new album was coming later in the year.[27]

A Second single from their forthcoming album 'Heirloom of Light' was released in June 2019.[28]

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