Title: My Mind Machine
Artist: Maga
Format: CD-R / Download (paid)
Catalog#: esc.rec.6
Price: SOLD OUT! (but still available through Bandcamp)

01 My Mind Machine (2.40)
02 Acid Drops (2.55)
03 Shadow Fu (3.41)
04 Invisible (2.07)
05 Love Walk (3.25)
06 Heartbreaking (4.47)
07 Sleeping Trouble (6.42)
08 Off The Rock (2.31)

All music by Marc Fien. Artwork by Beke Olyrhook. Design by Harco Rutgers.

Marc Fien started drumming when he was 6 and has played in a variety of bands and projects since. To name but a few: Osiris, Hookah, Ominous Tribe, Rosenbaum Trio, Sand/Elephantum and Tegenpolen (live band). With his love for stoner rock, funk, techno, drum & bass and oh so many other styles he became a resident dj in ‘t Ukien (the place to be in Kampen city) for 7 years. In this period his craze for digital expression took flight and the MAGA project was born. But being a true perfectionist Marc never felt his MAGA tracks were good enough to actually leave his home studio. However, this didn’t interfere with his productivity at all, resulting in a large pile of unreleased tracks…

The MAGA project didn’t go completely unnoticed by some. Marc was invited to join in the ‘J’ee-haw! Remixed’ project. Instead of delivering just 1 remix, he produced 8 of them, 4 of which made it onto the ‘J’ee-haw! Remixed’ double cd-r release (cat.# esc.rec.2).

And now here it is: the first full MAGA release! Or should we say releases… because Marc decided it was time to release not one, but two debut albums at the same time: ‘My Mind Machine’ and ‘The Wired One’.

‘My Mind Machine’ contains some of the earlier MAGA tracks and somehow manages to sound raw and subtle at the same time. The tracks sway from solid dancefloor material to defying listening experience. The hand of a passionate drummer is obvious and never far away. MAGA’s beat driven music seems to find this perfect balance between electronics and live drum sounds.

‘The Wired One’ comes across as slightly less raw in comparison with ‘My Mind Machine’. The sounds are clearer, but keep their jagged edge. Rhythms are once again complex, loose and grooving at the same time, seamlessly integrating live percussion sounds in it’s electronics and vice versa. This album has become a balanced mixture of challenging dancefloor tracks, wandering beats and percussion experiments.

If you feel compelled to share your opinion after listening to this release, please feel free to leave your review in the comments below.