Country : Canada Label : Stomp Records Genres and styles : power-pop / Synth-Pop Year : 2023

Autogramm – Music That Humans Can Play

· by Ann Pill

Autogramm’s new album Music That Humans Can Play is what happens when four talented and well-established musicians just decide to have fun. Gone are the days for Jiffy Marx, CC Voltage, The Silo, and Lars Von Seattle of being too punk for positivity. Their high-octane power pop energy boost is sure to make even the most hardened pessimists among us want to dance. 

The album starts with “Born Losers” which answers the age-old question, “What would it sound like if Bruce Springsteen went through a synth phase?”  “WannaBe” however shares little in common with the Brit-pop song of the same name. It is instead an epic tune with themes of self-empowerment. 

“Hey Allie” is the gorgeous epitome of the “new” newwave. It makes sense that CC Voltage wrote this song for his newborn daughter. This whole album sounds like a letter to the next generation—saying that it’s going to be okay. 

What the lyrics lack in subtlety they make up for in relatability. It sometimes starts to feel like a self-empowerment seminar but these days we really do need someone to tell us, “It’s not the end of the world.”  

Yes, it’s cheesy but is that really such a crime? Autogramm has the motivational speaking qualities of Andrew W.K. with the musical qualities of The Cars. 

The album comes in so hot that they almost box themselves in. When you start at 100 it’s a bit hard to carry on from there. They do try to slow things down with “Westbound” and “Always Going to Be My Girl” which feel a little out of place in the context of the rest of the album. They are incredibly self-aware, which is most evident in the appropriately named synth-pop/punk track “Plastic Punx.” “Punks not dead but every show we play takes another year off our lives.” 

Hopefully they’re wrong about that one because if they can play this live with even a fraction of the energy on this recording it would be incredible. This album is full of nostalgia without being afraid of progress. It does at times start to sound like “Baby’s First New Wave Album” but if there’s any hope for the next generation, we have to start them young. Maybe it’s not serious or remarkably nuanced. But maybe it doesn’t have to be. It will almost certainly put a smile on your face and really what more can we ask.

Latest 360 Content

Éli Doyon et la Tempête – Attraper le ciel avant qu’il tombe

Éli Doyon et la Tempête – Attraper le ciel avant qu’il tombe

Barbara Hannigan; Katia et Marielle Labèque – Electric Fields

Barbara Hannigan; Katia et Marielle Labèque – Electric Fields

Fire, Fungi, and Family Fun: The ShazamFest XX Experience

Fire, Fungi, and Family Fun: The ShazamFest XX Experience

Festival de Lanaudière | Kent Nagano: The eternal, and always welcome, return

Festival de Lanaudière | Kent Nagano: The eternal, and always welcome, return

Tyler, the Creator – DON’T TAP THE GLASS

Tyler, the Creator – DON’T TAP THE GLASS

Off Piknic with Gorgon City, Dennis Ferrer, Riordan, and Linska

Off Piknic with Gorgon City, Dennis Ferrer, Riordan, and Linska

Jeff Bridges – Slow Magic, 1977-1978

Jeff Bridges – Slow Magic, 1977-1978

Piknic Electronik | DJ Fuckoff Turns Up The Heat for Pep Rally

Piknic Electronik | DJ Fuckoff Turns Up The Heat for Pep Rally

Orford 2025 | Collectif9: folk that innovates and grooves

Orford 2025 | Collectif9: folk that innovates and grooves

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | The next global star of Tuareg blues is born, and it is in Montreal

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | The next global star of Tuareg blues is born, and it is in Montreal

Ruby Creek – Forget Me Not

Ruby Creek – Forget Me Not

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out

Ross Lee Finney : Landscapes Remembered

Ross Lee Finney : Landscapes Remembered

Lanaudière Festival | The Sparkle of Strauss, Schumann, and Brahms in Joliette

Lanaudière Festival | The Sparkle of Strauss, Schumann, and Brahms in Joliette

Wet Leg – moisturizer

Wet Leg – moisturizer

Sister Ray – Believer

Sister Ray – Believer

Festival de Lanaudière | Franco Fagioli and the voice of bel canto

Festival de Lanaudière | Franco Fagioli and the voice of bel canto

Nuits d’Afrique | Manamba Kanté, An Undeniable Diva

Nuits d’Afrique | Manamba Kanté, An Undeniable Diva

Nuits d’Afrique | El Gato Negro, A Feline Like No Other

Nuits d’Afrique | El Gato Negro, A Feline Like No Other

Nights of Africa 2025 | A gnawa fusion reactor named Saïd Mesnaoui

Nights of Africa 2025 | A gnawa fusion reactor named Saïd Mesnaoui

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Sousou and Maher Cissoko: benevolence and complicity

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Sousou and Maher Cissoko: benevolence and complicity

Nuits d’Afrique | Las Karamba And Their Militant Salsa

Nuits d’Afrique | Las Karamba And Their Militant Salsa

Women shine at the Quebec City Opera Festival

Women shine at the Quebec City Opera Festival

Festival de Lanaudière | A Successful Choral Evening for Akamus

Festival de Lanaudière | A Successful Choral Evening for Akamus

Subscribe to our newsletter