Machine Girl: An Interview and a Review [UCLA Radio]
Plus, a 2025 preview
Hey, everyone.
It’s been a long time since I last posted on here - school in the Fall really got away from me. I did a lot of work, however, that I’m quite proud of: plays, essays, performance pieces.
One of the biggest time commitments, was my internship at UCLA Radio, where I’m now a full member in the Digital Press department (moniker: DJ Sister Ray). Back in November, myself and fellow DigiPress member Chloe Gonzales had the opportunity to interview technopunk duo Machine Girl and review their recent concert at The Novo. An excerpt from the article -
“Guttersnipe” isn’t the name of a Machine Girl song, but it also isn’t out of place in the universe they’ve built. It sounds like the name of a hardcore band, scrawled hastily on a sweat-covered bass drum, or maybe the title of some bullet hell video game, illegally ripped onto an emulator – it is, for the record, a Magic The Gathering card (more on that connection later). It’s an old word, a sneering epithet for poor “street kids,” Victorian predecessors to gutter punks, or, perhaps, members of the Machine Girl subculture.
The fanatical following of Matt Stephenson and Sean Kelly’s hardcore-digicore-postcore electronic project winds in lines outside of the Novo, where the duo played a sold-out show last Thursday. Misshapes, mistakes, freaks, geeks, and queers wait dutifully throughout the dizzying labyrinth of L.A. Live, passed by Lakers fans hustling to Staples Center (hard to call her Crypto). A group of guffawing men in their best business casual are already entering through the V.I.P. door, embodiments of Machine Girl’s recent shoulder-rubbing with mid-upper echelons of the industry. Earlier this year, they released their latest album, MG Ultra, on Future Classic, their first major label – in fact, their first label, period. Throughout the show, the two rising gutter kids express their ambivalence about this hyper speed pivot in a show that, like a teenage animal, pushes its room-cum-cage as far as it can go.
Links to both are here:
It bears repeating that the Fall was rough in terms of stress and workload; I struggled with not being able to do all I wanted to do, particularly regarding this blog. I’m going to try and be more consistent this year, though I’ve realized my previous “weekly article” promise is a bit too ambitious. I’m in the middle of an article that will serve as a sort-of summary of 2024, a reflection on how my life and art changed last year and what that means for this year. But until then, enjoy these little pieces of music journalism. They’re the first of many, hopefully.
Take care and talk soon,
E.L.M.