Italian space disco album Automat by Automat. A year after the release of Oxygène by Jean Michel Jarre, a milestone for electronic music, Automat was released in Italy, a timeless record that has influenced the years to come. Released in 1978 by EMI Italia, the album has been produced by two veteran italian songwriters and composers, Romano Musumarra and Claudio Gizzi, after meeting Mario Maggi, one of the major innovators in the manufacturing of electronic instruments in Italy. Maggi invented the first programmable monophonic synthesizer ever made: the MCS70. Its sounds have been the basis for the production of the whole Automat album. The MCS70 synth was used only for this record and remained a prototype, leaving a halo of mystery behind this project. The album moves in the furrows of an atypical space disco, with abstract classical arias alternating with more sustained rhythms, which combine electronic experiments and progressive psychedelic journeys with cinematic themes.