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Máquina Magnética are an experimental all-star combo featuring Pedro Tudela, Miguel Carvalhais, Gustavo Costa and Rodrigo Carvalho. Tudela and Carvalhais are known for their project @c and as founders of Crónica, the record label behind this release. Costa is a remarkable drumming and percussion talent, active on the Portuguese underground scene since the early nineties with seven albums, solo and collaborative, to his credit. Rodrigo Carvalho brings his generative visuals and interactive lighting expertise to the group – expertise developed through his work with the Porto-based creative lab Openfield, and also Boris Chimp 504, his sci-fi inspired collaboration with Miguel Neto. Máquina Magnética makes the most of the diverse skills and backgrounds of its members. The group incorporate a wide range of organic and synthetic tones, studio and live performances, and electronic and acoustic sounds – all brought together through a mixture of structured composition and free improvisation. These dichotomies are also a reference to two live performances at O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon and gnration in Braga respectively and to two studios Sonoscopia and Crónica, both of which are located in Porto. These places are where the album was recorded and mixed in a continuous process of creative exchange and open performance. This process has led to an expressive project of material beats and elegant projections. The cliché that an electronic live set might not be able to compete with the physicality of a ‘traditional’ live performance is completely dismantled by the group. These artists renew and reshape audiovisual performance, creating an experience that is intense, fresh and utterly engaging – conventional pop stars could learn a lot from them. (Aurelio Cianciotta)
via Neural