Tag Archives: Lisbon

MAQUINA : Body Transmission.

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One of the coolest things about music, and bands and just EVERYTHING about music is release day for a record you are SO excited to hear.

I’ve loved MAQUINA for a couple of years, and today their second full length record, Body Transmission is out there. It’s fully out there for everyone to enjoy, play to death and dance to. Now, as it’s been released via Fuzz Club- you just know it’s going to be sensational, right? Right on.

The record starts exactly how you would expect; with one of their most recent releases (dança – featuring Dame Area) and from then on, it’s all go. Every song gets louder and louder. That urgency to move more gets you, and you can’t help but feel you are being sucked into a new world. This world that MAQUINA have already created with their sound is unlike anything else, we already know this. But with Body Transmission, every song feels like you are being ripped out of your body and into something else. That’s one of the many reasons as to why you know you are dealing with something really magical.

Any free time I’ve had today, I have played this record. I played it twice at the gym, and I can confirm that this is a record to lift weights to. There are some strong gym jams on this record, and I reckon it is going to become my most listened record of the year right next to the new Crocodiles record. Those are my solid top 2 records of the year. My mind will not be changed, or swayed. It’s already set. For me, my favourite song on the record is Bizzaro closely followed by Step On Me. I cannot wait to hear these two songs live in September. If you’ve seen MAQUINA live, you will know that their live shows are not to be fucked with. You feel like you’ve had the most intense work out of your life after you’ve been to their shows, and you find yourself unsure if life will ever make sense again. On stage and on record, that feeling remains. After you’ve played Body Transmission once, you go back to it over and over. There’s something in this record that leaves you wanting more, and you notice EVERY detail on it. When I tell you that this is one of the best produced records of the past few years- believe me. I don’t lie, and I know everything is down to taste- but this record is next level. But that’s MAQUINA all over.

Speaking about the record, the band have said: “We wanted it to feel heavy, focused, and relentless.” They have captured this effortlessly. It is a heavy record, and also really liberating. This is a record to play as loud as you can, wherever you can. If I went to a coffee shop at 8am and this record was blasting out, I would know I was about to have the best day ever. It’s a record that looks at music genre and says “NAH, NOT FOR ME!” It’s beyond any description. Sure, there are electro moments, there are heavy moments and there are more often than not- moments where you just have to move. All of this means that MAQUINA make music that appeals to everyone. They’re for everyone, and you really get that when you go to their shows. Sure, it’s a sweat fest, but it’s also the most liberating place you can imagine.

Body Transmission feels like a million frequencies going right through your body, and all you can do is give in to it. It’s a record that is made with care and must be heard with urgency. I challenge anyone to not fall in love with this band and this record. Everything they did with PRATA, they have done all over again with Body Transmission times a billion, and more. It’s a truly exceptional record.

The way that Halison can scream his lungs out and play the drums in this ferocious manner is just enthralling. João just RUINS the guitar on this record, and he does the same on stage. He’s incredible. The guitar is his weapon, and you can’t help but dig every note, every sound. Mendy again annihilates the bass on this record, and you feel it echo in your ears and starts to thump at your throat and before you know it- all these sounds crash around you, and you have a phenomenal record in your presence. It’s a masterpiece, and it’ll make you fall in love with music all over again.

If you’ve made it this far, and you want more- you can catch the band on tour over the summer and September. You’ve GOT to see them!

Body Transmission is out now via Fuzz Club Records.

MAQUINA.

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Okay, so by now you’ve probably got hip to MAQUINA and are aware of how great they are. I’ve loved them for about a year, but I am very unreliable with my writing so I’m choosing right now to write about why they are probably one of the most exciting bands around.

If you love your music dark but also gives you space to dance or just move your body around in the most freeing manner- then you are going to feel right at home with Lisbon’s finest, MAQUINA. There’s 3 of them in the band, and their sound makes it feel like there’s an orchestra of them. Symphony of a genre of music that goes beyond a name. How they make you feel transcends any description. They make you feel like you do anything- even something like running right through a wall or trying to save the world. They make you feel like you can do the impossible. Is it like a religious experience? Sure. Is it like an out of body experience? Hell yes. HELL YES. I’ve listened to a lot of music in my time, and I’ve written about bands I love a lot. My aim is to always find something that makes me feel like I am listening to Psychocandy or Seventeen Seconds for the very first time. If I get that feeling, I’m home. I am fully there. MAQUINA go beyond that- they’ve conveyed everything I love about music. There’s this brutal feel to it. It’s like The Vacant Lots meets Depeche Mode with Psychic TV coming in for the kill. It is pure heaven, and I wish I had some musical talent because this is the kind of noise I’d want to make.

Most of their songs last just under the 10 minute mark, and I’ve been listening to them a lot whilst at the gym. Turns out this kind of music will make you lift HEAVY. I feel like, their sound would work in a 70s New York police film, where the streets are dirty and the cops are corrupt. Like you’ve properly stepped into a world you have zero business being part of. There’s an eeriness to their sound and an addictive energy that just consumes you with every listen.

Of course I am besotted with the anthem that is Body Control, but I have to tell you one of the best things they’ve released HAS to be Dirty Tracks For Clubbing. 4 songs, just under an hour. 4 songs built on this exceptional passion, rage, fury, and lyrics that are screamed in the most euphoric way. You feel like you’re on the run, but no one can keep up with you. You won’t let them. It’s like running free down a highway far from home in the dark. The car lights blind you, but you avoid being thrown about. How so? Because MAQUINA’s sound makes you feel like nothing can touch you. In decades to come, we’ll be writing about the impact this band have had; I can already feel the impact they will have on young bands starting and trying to find their way.

Normally, I’d review a record and tell you why it needs your attention but with MAQUINA, all I can do is tell you how sensational they are. Is every song a masterpiece? A billion percent and more. Every song has purpose, and every song needs to be played loud. Sure, they deserve to play stadiums, but they are made for those sweaty small venues where you can feel every hit of the drum rip through your eardrums, and your skull starts to shake. That’s how big and how powerful their sound is.

MAQUINA don’t make music for people who value their hearing or want music played softly. Oh no! They make it for those of us who want the loud, we want the distortion, we want that fury. We want it to make it way through our eardrums, deep into our skull and swirl around our bodies, and for nothing to ever feel the same again. Bands like this do not come around often. Bands like this will, however, last a lifetime. Their influence will be felt for a long time. The three of them make the perfect soundtrack to life in general. There’s no bad time to listen to this band- so if you’ve never heard them before, do it right now.

MAQUINA (meaning machine in Portuguese) make music that deserves to be heard, to be treasured and to be seen live. Their sound is like worlds clashing and creating something truly beautiful. There’s a delicious lo-fi sound that is so chaotic, you can just tell they love making music together and do what they want. There’s nothing more musically inspiring than that.