Automato, the eponymous debut LP by the six piece instrumental hip hop band of the same name, is a mature, textured work nearly four years in the making. Gone are the simple repeating riffs of the early 6DF work - though "How to Read a Person Like a Book," is mostly unchanged - but other 6DF songs - the renamed and radically reworked "The Single" and "Gold of Desert Kings" benefit enormously from the complexity and vision of the recrafting they receive here. The songs are a combination of the best of the band's older incarnation (though one misses conversations in subway stations, we get the homeless acapella on the 1 and 9 train, so it's all good) and some startling new tracks - the bouncy guitar of "focus," acoustic driven "hollywood and vine," and "The Let Go," Jesse Levine's restrained, stolid meditation on death and loss. While i waver back and forth between skepticism over and appreciation for the clear dancepunk influence on "Hope," the album's final song, which concludes with a four minute rapturous jam session, this is a strong debut and merits attention.