Hyper-creative and sophisticated in craft, San Francisco-based electronic act The M Machine bring a rare mix of genre-bending ingenuity and refined musicianship to every element of their musical output. With their most recent EP—the five-song ‘Just Like’, released on Skrillex’s OWSLA label in November 2014—vocalist/composer/producers Ben Swardlick and Eric Luttrell deliver a deeply melodic and infectiously upbeat take on underground house.
Not only a dramatic departure from their darkly charged earlier work, ‘Just Like’ finds The M Machine abandoning all EDM convention and creating a vocal-propelled, indie-minded breed of dance music that hinges on pure emotion and unbridled energy. As with their many much-acclaimed remixes (such as their official reworkings of Bruno Mars’s “Locked Out Of Heaven,” Passion Pit’s “Take a Walk,” and Empire of the Sun’s “DNA”), the latest step in The M Machine’s artistic progression is both intensely club-oriented and boldly inventive. Revealing a supreme grasp of rhythm and groove honed in part from their lengthy live experience (including support slots on tours with artists like Porter Robinson and The Glitch Mob), ‘Just Like’ infuses The M Machine’s delicate balance of artistry and emotionalism into everything from the heady, bass-heavy throb of the title track to the heart-on-sleeve dream-pop of “Over/Love” to the sunny, spaced-out synth of “Don’t Speak.”