Magda - She's a Dancing Machine

Despite the popularisation of minimal, M_nus show no signs of suffering from either problems of quantity or quality. On the back of an increasingly long line of impressive releases, with the most recent being the excellent ‘min2MAX’ compilation and Loco Dice’s killer ‘Seeing through Shadows’, M_nus have now given us a mix CD from Magda, one of the prime culprits responsible for the current minimal explosion. This is an impressive mix which fits perfectly with the label’s aesthetic, while confirming Magda’s reputation as one of the most exciting and innovative DJs about.

‘She’s a Dancing Machine’ is jam-packed, with over seventy tracks managing to make an appearance. There is a good mixture of cuts from big names– Plastikman, Marc Houle, Troy Pierce, Ricardo Villalobos, Robert Babicz and so on – alongside some impressive up and comers, with six tracks from new name Tractile being particularly noticeable. The result is exactly what you’d expect from Magda. This is a fresh, polished mix that retains your interest throughout. It perfectly represents her distinctive style, the whole CD being stamped with the minimal funk she purveys so well. With so many tracks included in the mix, things move at a furious pace. This certainly gives it a sense of dynamism, with proceedings constantly pushing forward as the listener runs along, trying to keep pace or catch up. At times, however, this also proves to be a weakness of the mix, with stages where there is just too much going on. This is most obvious when Magda shoves three excellent tracks – her own ‘Doctor Secret Tooth’, Larry Heard’s ‘Amnesia’ and the Zigzag remix of ‘25 Bitches’ – all into about three minutes. The result is you are left a bit frustrated from not really getting proper value from any of the three cuts. On the whole, though, this is a minor complaint, and for the majority of the mix she stays in control (just). But in many ways this perfectly exemplifies the Magda sound – it always has this offbeat, slightly uneven funk to it. So much of her music has a childlike, playful quality: the beats run away, get ahead of themselves, fall over, get back up and start running again at full speed. And considering minimal’s ever-present penchant for taking things too seriously, Magda’s playful attitude is the perfect antidote. So for those who like a bit of fun in their minimal, this mix is a must.