Singer/bassist Eugene Goreshter had first met former Ednaswap drummer Carla Azar while collaborating on the score for Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and following the addition of former Failure guitarist Greg Edwards, the trio made its live debut that summer at the Silverlake Lounge. Upon releasing a self-produced EP, Demonstration, in the spring of 2001, Autolux signed with producer T-Bone Burnett's fledgling DMX label and began writing material for their upcoming debut LP. The group's momentum took a brief pause when Azar fell from a stage and shattered her elbow in May 2002, but she later made a complete recovery, thanks to an experimental surgery that required the implementation of eight titanium screws.

The group finally entered the studio in November. Although recording sessions wrapped in early 2003, Autolux spent more than a year refining the final mixes, and Future Perfect didn't hit retail outlets until October 2004. It was met with positive reviews, and Autolux hit the road as the opening act for bands like the Secret Machines and Nine Inch Nails. The group also made a handful of festival appearances, including Coachella and the Vincent Gallo-curated All Tomorrow's Parties event. When T-Bone Burnett's label folded, Autolux moved over to TBD Records, all the while continuing to play shows and record new material. Some of that new material made its way onto the group's second album, Transit Transit, which was released in the summer of 2010.

Following their first European tour, Autolux traveled to Tokyo in 2011 for their second All Tomorrow's Parties festival appearance. A digital EP called The Bouncing Wall/Census arrived that same year. In 2015, it was revealed that the band had signed to Danger Mouse's Columbia Records imprint 30th Century Records, and their song "Change My Head" was featured on the label's first compilation later that year. A few months later, Autolux delivered their third full-length album, Pussy's Dead, released in April 2016. ~ Jason Ankeny