New York, NY · digital-hardcore · breakcore

Machine Girl

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Breakcore-punk duo whose live shows are closer to a hardcore gig than a DJ set — stage dives at 200 BPM.

Machine Girl is built around producer and vocalist Matt Stephenson, who started releasing music under the name in 2012 on Long Island, New York, also performing as DJ Chaotic Ugly. Drummer Sean Kelly joined in 2015, turning the project into a duo, and guitarist Lucy Caputi came aboard in 2024 as a full member. The 2014 album WLFGRL drew attention for its collision of breakcore, jungle and rave samples with screamed vocals and blown-out production.

The name comes from the 2008 Japanese film The Machine Girl, occasionally sampled on WLFGRL. Stephenson has described the sound as "fucked-up electronic punk," rejecting comparisons to industrial music, which he calls "very goth, and very black and white," insisting Machine Girl is "a lot more colorful."

Later releases, including ...Because I'm Young Arrogant and Hate Everything, U-Void Synthesizer and MG Ultra, pull harder toward hardcore punk and industrial textures while keeping the drum programming frantic. Pitchfork has described the project as smashing together punk, grindcore, rave and industrial elements into something unpredictable and full of animalistic energy.

Live, the pairing of live drums with Stephenson's vocals and electronics makes the shows function much like punk gigs, and the band's audiences behave accordingly. Kerrang! has counted Machine Girl among the acts expanding the definition of hardcore, calling their live sets ferocious enough to pass for the genre outright.

Stephenson also performs as part of the duo Prolaps, alongside Bonnie Baxter of Kill Alters, a collaboration that began with a shared track before becoming a standalone project releasing music from 2020 onward. In 2022, Machine Girl composed the original soundtrack for the video game Neon White, split into two parts, "The Wicked Heart" and "The Burn That Cures," matching the game's story.

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