She's a Dancing Machine

by Rob Theakston With the minimal techno movement reaching a fever pitch in 2006, Magda took her turn and stepped up to the plate for the M-nus camp following their successful DE9 and min2Max releases. It's no real surprise that out of all the DJs in the M-nus camp, Magda was the next selection for a DJ mix. After all, her mixtapes were hot items in Detroit in the late '90s, right before Hawtin handpicked her out of a slew of talented DJs to be his protégée on the road. So, armed with a slew of exclusive tracks from her friends and labelmates, Final Scratch DJ software, and a whole lot of moxie, Magda sets off on a 70-track excursion through the state of minimal techno circa 2006. With Magda influenced by her mentor Hawtin, the 70 tracks come at a frenetic pace, as tracks rush in and fade out just as fast as they appear. But unlike Hawtin, her selections have an undeniably funky edge (Metro Area, Larry Heard, and the Persuader being the chief perpetrators), not relying so much on the linear clinical nature of tunes to layer one on top of another to prove a point about technology and music. And it's this funk that makes this mix not only more accessible at points than most mixes of the genre, but also much more enjoyable. This is a disciplined, focused mix (one of the best of 2006 to be sure) from a DJ whose time in the shadows making tea is now a mere memory.