MACHINE GIRL Vinyl & CDs

Review: Machine Girl's debut album celebrates its tenth anniversary with a long-awaited reissue, which marks the first time it arrives on CD as well as vinyl. Originally released in 2014, WLFGRL fused footwork, jungle, digital hardcore and rave into a chaotic, euphoric sound that helped launch a global underground movement. The album's packed with raw intensity and plenty of breakcore influence so it introduced a new generation to extreme electronic music and to celebrate its return, a one-off livestreamed show at Brooklyn's Trans-Pecos accompanied the release. As we are reminded listening back now, WLFGRL is a real high-water mark in outsider music culture.

Review: In 2022, a perky voice chimed "Cloud nine!" as I loaded up a level of Neon White, soundtracked by Machine Girl's electrifying breakcore and d&b beats. Their music hooked me all summer, and now in 2024, they return with MG Ultra, released via Wasserman Music. As expected, they deliver breakcore with hardcore and punk influences, all wrapped in a vibrant, electronic package. Tracks like 'Until I Die' highlight their intense energy with layered synths, lo-fi vocals and punchy drums. While some chaotic moments feel less focused, standout tracks like 'Hot Lizard' keep their sound fresh and thrilling.

Review: Neon White was released to rave reviews in 2022, receiving multiple nominations and awards and featuring on many 'Best of' lists. This is, by no means a stretch, partly due to the sensational soundtrack that scores the combination of fast-paced speedrun-based platforming and visual novel worldbuilding parts of the game. That OST is the brainchild of Matt Stephenson, the founder of the New York alt duo Machine Girl, inspired mainly by the early works of 'RePorpoised Phantasies' and 'Wlfgrl', which centre mainly around bubbly electro-funk and breakcore cuts.
'The Burn that Cures' contains all of the non-level tracks, that soundtrack the conversations you have with your fellow neons or the ambience of certain realms of heaven that Neon White traverses. Printed on two marbled discs, referencing the adversary's Blue and Neon Green, the cover art is made by none other than artists and lead producer Esposito himself, featuring Neon White and Red in one of many sensual moments throughout the story. A big stand-out track is 'Holy Ground', a late-game track that is as unsettling as it is calming, the ambient synths washing over the ear is heavenly.

Review: New-York-based double-act Matt Stephenson and live drummer Sean Kelly have carved out a distinctive hole in the wall of alternative music, melding hard rock, breakcore and experimental industrial-electro into a whole unique aesthetic. In the studio, just like the inception of Machine Girl, Matt goes it alone, resulting in some of the most beloved alt albums of the decade (Namely 2014's 'Wlfgrl', a favourite of the underground snob).

Their first soundtrack comes courtesy of Game-Award-nominated speed-focused platformer 'Neon White', a collaboration between Anapurna Studios and Ben Esposito, the mastermind behind 'Donut County'. The game is breakneck, following Neon White as he blasts his way through the realms of heaven in search of the mechanical halo, which allows the wearer to stay in heaven for a year. Set against a vibrant colour palette, the mixture of breakcore, techno and bubbly jungle is a perfect fit for the fast-paced levels that 'The Wicked Heart' scores.

Review: Matt Stephensons' genre-shaping electronic project Machine Girl celebrated its tenth-anniversary last year with the release of their 5th album 'U-Void Synthesizer', the 3rd since Stephenson recruited live drummer Sean Kelly on the payroll eight years ago. Since then, Machine Girl has blown up on social media with '????' (Uzumaki) and created an OST for Neon White (my game of the year in 2022). Embarking this year on a solo tour after supporting their hardcore peers 100 gecs on their shows, 2023 is shaping up to be Stephensons year.
'U-Void Synthesizer' has been dubbed by many longtime fans as their best album, with cuts like 'Blood Magic' showing clear influence from their direction for 'Neon White'. Reconnecting with the punk rock angle they took on their 2017 project '...Because I'm Young Arrogant and Hate Everything You Stand For', a name that puts The 1975's album conventions to shame, embracing the waves of industrial noise, as well the lighter tones from 'Neon White' like in the bouncy techno-aligned 'Scroll of Sorrow'. Stephenson and Kelly have garnered a reputation amongst concert-goers for gathering some of the most insane crowds conceivable, to rival even the gecs patronage; think playing card game Magic: The Gathering in the mosh pit or grating parmesan cheese on people's heads. Machine Girl is music for the hyper-creative, hyper-frustrated generation and 'U-Void Synthesizer' is a much-adored idol to worship.

Review: Matt Stephenson and Sean Kelly's wildly imaginative Machine Girl project should need no introductions, but we'll assume ignorance and cut to the chase anyway. "Fucked-up electronic punk" was the term used by Stephenson in an interview with Revolver magazine, a rather admirable attempt to explain what was happening under the guise he created as a soloist in 2012, before drafting a partner for live percussion three years later.
WLFGRL landed just a year before that embryonic expansion, and in many ways feels much more like a 'dance music' record than what would follow. Tracks hit the nose on the head in terms of where club sounds were heading in just a few years after this arrived, essentially post-genre fusions of sound that owe as much to rave's formative years as they predict the beautifully chaotic and impossible to pigeonhole noises of today.