AUTOMATIC Is It Now? (Stones Throw) — The Los Angeles–based trio Automatic — with Izzy Glaudini on synths, Halle Saxon on bass, and Lola Dompé on drums — squeezes everything out of their post-punk sound on their third full-length, Is It Now?, like they want to extract each drop out of the last grapefruit of the season. Working with producer Loren Humphrey (who also pitched in behind the boards on the new Tame Impala album), Automatic deliver eleven tracks that are slick and slithery, constantly offering up sly little surprises. “Country Song” moves with a buzzy churn and little starburst synth sounds that sound like a Thompson Twins song is trying to break free, and “The Prize” exists in a space of disaffected dreaminess. The latter quality also crops up on the album’s title cut, which pays proper respect to the band’s clearest forebears by evoking Joy Division when those icons allowed themselves to get a little swoony. The words tend towards jabby lines that scrape together metaphors on the small and large disappointments of modern life. The music endeavors to keep pace with the lyrics’ misanthropy — listen to the way “mq9” chugs along — like it’s kicking up dirt on the racetrack that appears on the album’s cover. Automatic are running a race they are equipped to win. Embrace the present with the following cuts: “Mercury,” “Don’t Wanna Dance,” and “Terminal.”

CATE LE BON Michelangelo Dying (Mexican Summer) — In the three years since Cate Le Bon’s last full-length, Pompeii, the iconoclastic Welshwoman has left her fingerprints in lots of places. She guested on St. Vincent’s seismic All Born Screaming and notched producing credits on a dandy album by Wilco and an even better full-length by Horsegirl, among others. Her new album, Michelangelo Dying, was inspired by heartbreak and homecoming. A longterm relationship ended, and Le Bon responded by moving back to her native land. Le Bon’s music is probably too wildly odd to ever truly come across as grounded, but she does present herself as fiercely assured in crafting ornate soundscapes. If she carries wounds, the album feels like it’s more about the healing than the pain. In every respect, the album is a journey. The exploratory “About Time” is about as close as Le Bon is likely to get to a singalong chorus. Otherwise, listening to the album is all about grabbing ahold of a floatation device and going along with Le Bon’s drift, whether the currents lead to the radiant “Mother of Riches” or the quasi-funk of “Heaven Is No Feeling.” Then there’s “Love Unrehearsed,” which sounds like if “Orinoco Flow” was a bop. Le Bon knows her place in the long arc of art rock, which makes it especially moving when John Cale, a clear influence, shows up to rasp a few lines of “Ride.” Michelangelo Dying is notably alive. Bask in these painterly works: “Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)?” “Body as a River,” and “I Know What’s Nice.”