- On Machine Woman's most accomplished record to date, bass and bleeping synths build to crescendos of emotional catharsis.
- Machine Woman's approach to dance music is somewhere between a teenager hiding a whoopie cushion and the sincerity of e.e. cummings. Her track titles are both irreverent and radically honest—from "I Want To Fuck Tech House" to "I Wanted To Go Out Tonight But I Decided To Stay Home"—her press shots feature monster fingers, and she's claimed she can churn out tunes in just five minutes. But beneath the goofy facade, there's an undeniably skilled musician whose work carries a real emotional depth. Whether it's the swelling chords on "Camille from OHM Makes Me Feel Loved" or the intricate techno of "I Wish I Was Aphix Twin," there's (almost) always a moment of catharsis edging aside the humor.
I start with this preamble because her latest EP, When Elegance Becomes Violence, is a different beast. Released on fabled techno powerhouse Delsin, it's Machine Woman's first solo release since 2019 and her first release outside of her own Take Away Jazz Records since her 2018 Technicolour 12-inch. The music is still cheeky, but it's also the most polished and high definition look into her world—a strange murky cosmos where microhouse, dubstep and techno crash into one another like bumper cars at a carnival on Mars.
Highlight "I Received Your Email" is the perfect encapsulation of the record's push-and-pull. The track starts with a reverb-laden drum loop, short-circuiting synths, and vinyl scratching—think DJ Fett Burger or SW. at their funkiest. But it moves from weirdo house into psychedelic techno with pulsing bass and a lovestruck vocal. "Untitled Glitchy House Beat" is built around fraying melodic tentacles while a sluggish beat bubbles to the top. But towards the end, a melody emerges that has the mechanical curiosity and pathos as Wall-E.
Elsewhere on the record she looks to the hardcore continuum. "Heavy Cream" is like a jazz band warming up FWD>> as a live drum break and squiggly synths solo over pulsing sub pressure. "Yes Mate," on the other hand, is built around the cavernous emptiness of dub, oozing along at halftime. On paper, it might sound like these tracks don't work together, but Machine Woman's careful blending of the organic and synthetic, the funny and the serious, makes for an EP as earnest as it is eccentric.
Tracklist01. Heavy Cream
02. Untitled Glitch House Beat
03. Voices
04. I Received Your Email Today
05. Yes Mate