The obvious similarity between the title of Machine Girl’s newest release, MG Ultra, and MK-Ultra, the CIA mind control program that used torture to find a way to control the human mind, is not a coincidence.
Released on Friday, the breakcore duo’s latest foray into electronic music chaos presents a diverse array of erratic, uncompromising tracks that eerily reflect the havoc descending upon our time.
The album comes 10 years after Machine Girl’s full-length debut, WLFGRL, a swirling piece of gritty breakcore as fierce as the bloodthirsty wolf on the cover. After experiments with 90s drum and bass on 2015’s Gemini and ear obliterating hardcore on 2020’s U-Void Synthesizer, MG Ultra sees Machine Girl settle on a newer, glossier sound.
It integrates the unbridled, all-out attack of Machine Girl’s previous work with a newfound smoothness and clarity that highlights the live percussion of drummer Sean Kelly and the raw, punky vocals of singer-producer Matt Stephenson.
[‘Las Muertes Más Bellas Del Mundo’ explores loss, identity]
In fact, the vocals are so clear in the mix that Stephenson sounds as if he’s shouting directly at the listener from five feet away, acting as an apocalyptic prophet guiding them through the slime and rancor of the not-so-distant future.
“Until I Die” is the hypnotic, sparkling opener that sets the tone for the rest of the album with its throbbing rhythm and anthemic howls — a perseverant theme song for the disaffected, new-age youth fighting to stay alive in a mystical hell.
Machine Girl’s novice listeners will quickly become familiar with the duo’s dizzying, disorienting waves of noise with churning breakbeats and bell-like synthesizers throughout the track.
The battering continues with “Sick!!!,” a high-energy, crunchy techno track that glitches at the speed of sound alongside a volley of percussive blasts. Stephenson’s repeated groans about a population growing increasingly sick creates a particularly frightening lyric in the wake of a global pandemic and a surge of listeria-infected foods.
While other artists dodge discussions of contemporary ills by releasing dance-the-night-away songs each year, Machine Girl urges listeners to confront them head on.
“Just Because You Can” tackles mindless consumerism and fleeting hedonism through its ghastly tones and discordant beats, crying out “You know you’ll never change / Give in and numb the pain / It’s time to make that paycheck disappear / Just because you can.”
“Ass2Mars,” the album’s danceable peak, courts the idea of escaping climate hell on Earth for Mars. “Watching the world decay / Can’t look away,” screams Stephenson on this standout track.
[We Live in the Sky’ Stamp Gallery exhibit finds meaning in movement]
“Innerface” provides temporary relief from the daze of the rapid breakbeats, slowly unveiling pools of calming electronics that sound like they were intercepted from an alien homeland. The track then transitions to make way for “Motherfather,” which is by far the biggest departure from Machine Girl’s usual sound. Flirting dangerously close to bedroom pop before fusing with video game melodics, this song critiques the monotony of the corporate rat race, making it the duo’s poppiest song yet.
The most surprising part is the dissonant, ultra-loud guitars that grind alongside the chorus, tossing the listener back and forth between breakcore and shoegaze in another standout track.
Closing with “Psychic Attack,” an electronic paean to psychic warfare and a studio version of a fan favorite live track, MG Ultra delivers a satisfying listen from start to finish. The hit album echoes the sort of reality portrayed in films such as They Live and novels such as Ubik, making it one of the most thought-provoking albums of the year.
