Electric Zoo ’13 Artist Spotlight: The M Machine gear up for triumphant recalibrated return
Much has changed for the techie trio known as The M Machine since they made their first appearance at Electric Zoo in 2011. Back then the San Fransisco boys hadn’t released anything on Beatport, hadn’t toured with Markus Schulz, Infected Mushroom or Porter Robinson, and most certainly hadn’t yet added such varied remixes as a Bruno Mars hit, a Dog Blood smash or a Passion Pit classic to their repertoire. No, in 2011, The M Machine was only poised to take over the world: Two years later, the wheels of domination are undeniably in motion.
From a decidedly humble two-track beginning, the OWSLA-signed group that is Ben, Eric and Andy has continued to blow the dance community away. Though that first release of Promise Me A Rose Garden/Glow introduced the world to the genre-bending technical superiority of the M, it is the story of Metropolis that paints the clearest picture of the group as they are – not merely producers, but big picture artists. Based on a movie, written like a chaptered novel, and produced with digital liner notes and visual imagery to match, Metropolis parts 1 & 2 showcase a trio taking what can only be called a holistic approach to the entity known as The M Machine.
Though the meaning of the group’s name is only revealed to those dedicated enough to read the novella that is the liner notes, its very literal M dominates the visuals at all shows, telling Metropolis’ story through flashing colors and patterns sequenced by Andy and built around the trio’s sounds. If sequencers, midi patterns, equalizers and all the other technological aspects of creating not only The M Machine’s sound but its live experience bore you, their music will wake you back up with a jolt.
Impossible to classify but harder to resist, the trio flies from indie dance to dubstep, electronica to electro house, never settling in one spot long enough to convince you they were really there in the first place. The forthcoming Metropolis Remixed EP with endeavors from Digitalism, Kill The Noise, Matt Lange and more only further complicates the classification thing, but in the best possible way. Yet from all the presumable discord of not fitting in a genre box comes the most compelling of sets, the sort where you don’t know what comes next but you know you’ll like it – on their official OWSLA Presents mix, Swedish House Mafia played nicely with Gesaffelstein while remixes of Moby and ZZT acted as benevolent overseers.
Returning to Randall’s Island with an entire album worth of original material, two years of stops at some of the country’s best venues and a better than ever live rig, if the trio can make their namesake’s dystopia sound good time and time again, just imagine what they can do for the Zoo.
Categories: Music