sold by the band on tourFormed in 2013, Machine Girl (sometimes stylized as machin3gir1) is a Digital Hardcore duo from Long Island, made up of frontman Matt Stephenson and Sean Kelly on the drums. The name is inspired by The Machine Girl; reviews and clips from the film are frequently sampled in their work, as well as... well, basically everything, from girl-power horror movies to reviews of said horror movies to bizarre memes to Xavier: Renegade Angel. They've had a significant cult following since the release of WLFGRL, and their live shows are well-known for their infectiously energetic and aggressive presence and Stephenson's KISS-inspired corpse paint.
Their sound is a unique breed of Hardcore Techno, with elements of DnB/jungle, breakcore, and rave. Later albums (beginning with ...BECAUSE IM YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR in 2017) introduced incredibly aggressive vocals from Stephenson with live drums provided by Kelly, introducing Hardcore Punk and Death/Thrash Metal influences and pioneering the Digital Hardcore genre. They reject the Industrial label, describing their music as "too colorful" for it to apply. Other inspirations and recurring motifs include Cyberpunk, dogs as a metaphor for unhinged aggression, anti-fascism, Ginger Snaps, self-deprecation, gender and sexuality, werewolves, and incredible, elaborate violence.
The band has a website, a Bandcamp, a Tumblr, and a Twitter (with the wry moniker "machinewhogivesaSHIT").
Discography
- Electronic Gimp Music (EP) (2013)
- 13th Hour (EP) (2013)
- GRLPWR (EP) (2013)
- Jet Set Radio Remixes 1 (EP, Remix Album) (2014)
- WLFGRL (2014, rereleased as WLFGRL+ in 2017)
- Phantom Tracks (2015)
- Gemini (double album) (2015)
- HEAVEN (disc 1)
- HELL (disc 2)
- Phantasy Trax™ (mixtape) (2016)
- MACHINE GIRL VS MACHINE GIRL (EP) (2016)
- ...BECAUSE IM YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR (2017)
- MRK90 MIX VOL 1 (mixtape) (2018)
- The Ugly Art (2018)
- MG DEMO DISC (2020)
- U-Void Synthesizer (2020)
- RePorpoised Phantasies (EP) (2020)
- Neon White - The Wicked Heart and The Burn That Cures (Soundtrack) (2022)
HERE'S YOUR FUCKING SAD CLAPS:
- Album Closure: "It Takes a Nation of Millennials to Destroy a Nation of Millions" is a bit slower than the rest of ...BIYAAHEYSF, reuses samples and motifs from earlier in the album, and its lyrics are a neat summary of the album's mission statement.Fuck everything they held sacred
All that shit was heinous
And to think they blamed us for their own failure
Yeah, sure they never learn
Even as they burn
Why this was their own damn fault - Album Intro Track: The first track of WLFGRL, "MG1", consists entirely of spoken dialogue from The Machine Girl with eerie ambient backing, setting the mood for the rest of the album.
- Anti-Police Song: Many of their songs include, at minimum, a lyric or two along the lines of "fuck pigs".
- Badass Boast: "Suck Shit" has the lyric "I'll end your fucking ass, that's not a threat, it's a fact".
- Distinct Double Album: Gemini is separated into HEAVEN and HELL halves, with HEAVEN containing the more upbeat, smooth, happy hardcore tracks, and HELL containing harder, darker synths.
- Hurricane of Puns: The description for RePorpoised Phantasies. Even the album name is a pun!A deep dive (hehe) into the depths of my hard drive. I fished (LOL) out some cool ravey little gems that have laid dormant for the last year or two. I reeled in (xD) the mixes and made them nice n bumpin' for ya.
- I Am the Band: Machine Girl was purely Stephenson's project up until Kelly joined up in 2017 to provide live drums for ...BIYAAHEYSF. It's still pretty much solely Stephenson's brainchild, though.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: The delivery is so aggressive that it can be difficult to discern exactly what is being screamed. Genius is especially stumped by the lyrics of "FUCK UP YOUR FACE":Formulated free in ????
It's a million trolls and a million guns
A trillion dead with their red eyes up
All we have shown is the cellphones
??? - "I Hate" Song: "Suck Shit" from U-Void Synthesizer is best described as an "I Hate You" song, with themes of violent, elaborate revenge on an unspecified enemy.
- Intercourse with You: "On Coming". It's a much more blatant example than most, with heavy themes of Interplay of Sex and Violence. The chorus is a droning, repetitive "We fuck like we're being held hostage".
- Longest Song Goes Last: "IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLENIALS TO DESTROY A NATION OF MILLIONS..." barely qualifies at 5:29. "A Decent Man" from The Ugly Art blows it out of the water, clocking in at 10:25, more than twice as long as any other song on the album.
- Protest Song:
- ...BIYAAHEYSF is a protest album, with pervasive themes of raging against the system and the destruction of the out-of-touch, fascist, racist, ineffectual powers that be.
- "Kill All Borders" is unabashedly aggressive about the destruction of imperialism, as is evident from the title.
- Revenge Ballad: "Suck Shit" begins with "Crushing your skull underneath my foot, I'm finally free / I take back my time, my soul and everything you stole from me", and only gets more resentful and violent from there.
- Sanity Slippage Song: "Devil Speak" off U-Void Synthesizer, which includes lyrics like "Scratching my skin until I bleed / A tormenting itch that never leaves", and ends with a Madness Mantra of "I can hear the devil speak".
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: Most of their full albums have at least one. "Frenesi - GabberTrap Remix" from WLFGRL and "XLEEPY" from ...BIYAAHEYSF are both gentle electronic pieces in albums full of screaming, aggressive beats, harsh ambience, and drum-slamming; "Scroll of Sorrow" from U-Void Synthesizer is a little higher-energy, but still a much more standard pop song than the rest of the album.
- Title Scream:
- "VOMIT"'s chorus is, well, a repetition of children screaming "Vomit!"
- The final line of ...BECAUSE IM YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR.
- Title Track: The first from ...BECAUSE IM YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR. The final line is an Album Title Drop for good measure.
...I should really feeds you all dog!
