On 2017’s Murder of the Universe there’s a story called “Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe.” It tells of an “altered future,” where humanity has uploaded themselves to computer bodies to become cyborgs. In this state, the story’s protagonist, Han-Tyumi, feels empty, left with the unfulfillable urge to vomit and die. While Han-Tyumi obtains this in the end, he also brings the universe down with him. Life as an AI was never happy; it was a hollow world of no ambition, no passion, no love. Yet how did humanity decide that this was the trade-off worth pursuing? How was this transition from flesh to metal rationalized? Perhaps the answer lies in the first major song of K.G., “Automation.” The song details the “last migration” into the newest form of primate, to avoid extinction at the end of the world. However, is transferring our beings to AI the next step for humanity, or is it our extinction? Will we be human when it is all said and done? This is what “Automation” questions, yet for Stu it’s also something a lot simpler. “I’m talking about AI probably being more intelligent than us eventually and probably taking over, like I know I sound like a psycho but like, it’s probably going to happen, right? And I guess this is my pledge allegiance song. It’s like ‘if you take over and I’m still alive I’m with you, I’m not against you. It’s cool. Don't kill me.” The song holds a lot on its shoulders as the first true introduction to what the K.G.L.W. pairing will be.
“Automation” has its roots in the Infest the Rats’ Nest sessions. While most demos for the band’s songs share similarities to the final version, the demo for “Automation” could be classified as its own song with its own strengths. Starting with growling guitars and vocals like the feedback before the outro of “Hell,” it then pivots to a frantic metal section with unique lyrics about signing a contract for automation. The demo then slows to a chugging pace where the studio version’s lyrics appear, with staggered chords filling the chorus sections. An extra bridge section towards the middle of the song has unique lyrics than the studio version before going back into the verses. The song ends like it begins, with the fast paced metal section. The song was originally intended for the album but was cut late in development. When asked if there was any unused material from the album during the band’s Chunky Shrapnel Reddit AMA, Stu confirmed there was one song but that it was “kinda shit.” He also said that he had little intention of releasing the track, though signaled that he might rework it in the future. Later that year, Stu described what happened. “We got it to the stage you hear it on the demos album and then decided to cut it. I guess the album was around 70% done then?? I liked the riffs and the lyrics but it just didn't gel for me. I wanted the album to be lean anyways and I don't mind, we cut songs all the time.”
While Infest the Rats’ Nest made it to shelves, “Automation” sat unused until the sessions for K.G. during the COVID-19 pandemic. In that same Reddit comment, Stu said “‘Automation’ (from K.G.) was a 2 piece jam Cavs and I recorded originally as a demo. I started ad libbing the ‘Automation’ (from Rats’ Nest) lyrics over the top and I realised it was perfect. It happened just like that…”
In an episode of the Tape Notes Podcast Stu expanded upon the recording itself. “This was one that came together early in a real room with real people playing real instruments at the same time. It was a three piece kind of jam and it was never really anything. It was kind of… I don’t know we may have just come back from tour or something and we’re sort of like packing up or putting away gear or something and there happened to be a couple of mics laying around and Cavs and Joe and I were just jamming on, like, that groove. And I just, like, plugged a laptop there and clicked record because it was all kind of there. And I didn’t really think too much of it until we were making music in lockdown and I was scouring through recordings trying to find things that had a live feel because I missed it at this stage and we hadn’t worked out how to be a band again. And I found this recording, I could never find the actual multitrack session, it might have been recorded on somebody else's computer or something cause all I have is, like, a bounce down, like a mixdown that’s just two tracks. But anyway that became the basis of the song. So all I did was I cut it up a little bit. It’s a shit recording… but ‘Automation’ is just overdubs on top of that track.” Cavs backed up this story in a Consequence of Sound K.G. rundown. “This track stemmed from a two-piece jam with myself and Stu probably almost a year ago now. I was listening to a lot of desert blues and African rhythms at the time and I always try to slot them in wherever I can… I like to play… drums. You will hear the exact same lyrics in the track of the same name on our recent demos album, which was a Rats’ Nest off-cut. Stu is really keen on robots and I’m pretty sure he’s an AI.”
According to the liner notes, only Ambrose (harmonica/synthesizer), Cavs (drums) and Stu (guitar/percussion/vocals/keyboards/bass/flute) ended up on the studio version.
The demo for “Automation” was the first to be released on October 1st, 2020. While the studio version of “Automation” would become a single for K.G., it was not promoted in the usual way with an official video. The first glimmer of what was to come would be in the fourth Gizzymail, where Stu shares a gif of Cook being wrapped in tin foil with this caption; “Our next video clip is the most DIY thing ever? I’m not sure how we could have made it more DIY tbh. We’re getting waaaayyy more paranoid by the day…” On the 19th the Twitter account tweeted “I pledge allegiance to our A.I. overlord.” The next day the lyrics to the track were revealed. Later they would drop torrent links containing both a number of clips from the band, as well as the complete stems for the track. This was done with the purpose of fans being able to remix the song as well as create their own music videos. The provided clips show the band wearing tinfoil cyborg outfits with occasional silver face paint dancing around their headquarters with lights, playing with a football outside, and messing around with tinfoil covered instruments in a room that is also covered with foil. The creation of the various clips is featured throughout the documentary Sleeping Monster. When Ambrose was asked who was directing the video, he said “who knows? Apparently me. See what happens. Stu wanted to foil the room so we foiled it all and that’s about as the concept will go.” While there was initially a copyright issue blocking the videos from being uploaded to YouTube, the band would lift it and feature a number of fan made videos in their Gizzymail newsletter, though a Reddit AMA with the band floated the idea of holding a fan vote where the winner would be uploaded to the band’s YouTube channel with the creator’s permission. In a Reddit AMA from 2022, Stu would say that the “Automation” video shoot was one of his favorites. After a quick tease showing “Automation” on vinyl, K.G. was released on November 20th, 2020.
The phrase “bald primate” from the lyrics was later used in the Ice, Death… track “Mycelium.”
“Automation” was first played live during the band’s first post-lockdown show on 2021-02-23 at the Croxton Park Hotel in Naarm (Melbourne). This was the first of a number of fully microtonal shows that year, and “Automation” would become a fixture of them as a standalone track. A few shows in, the band began to mix things up with “Automation” becoming the first song in a three song suite of “Automation” > “D-Day” > “Some of Us.” The song would continue to be played going into 2022 with its first appearance of the year being on 2022-04-11 at Humphrey’s Concerts By the Bay in San Diego, where it would transition into “Minimum Brain Size.” For the next few shows it took this form before changing on 2022-05-22 for a one off “O.N.E.” > “D-Day” > “Automation.” Going to 2022-10-10 the song would see a new use as part of “Automation” > “Honey” > “Sleep Drifter.” Its final appearance of 2022 on 2022-10-23 was an “Automation” > “Rattlesnake.” Going into 2023 the song was either a standalone track or an oddball piece of different medleys.