Magda

Magda is the stage name of Magdalena Chojnacka, a Polish techno DJ and producer from Żywiec, born in 1975. She works in electronic music and is associated with acid techno, club music, dance, deep tech and Detroit techno, with a sound that also draws on minimal techno and techno.

Style and background

She is known for DJ sets and productions that move between genres rather than staying in one style. Her music combines dramatic sounds, eccentric basslines and a wide range of influences, including funked-out space disco, the metallic side of Detroit techno, stripped-down techno and Italian horror film soundtracks. Her sets are described as balancing emotion with a clinical precision, and as making use of both analogue and digital technology.

She begins her career through Detroit's underground party scene as a teenager, which leads into a life spent between cities, record stores and parties.

Career

In 1998, Magda joins Minus and tours widely as Richie Hawtin's sole opener. Her work develops from there into a recognisable style built around contrast, density and bass-heavy detail. She is also closely associated with Items & Things, the label she later helps to revive and run. The label focuses on unusual sounds and new artists, with an emphasis on music that does not follow fixed rules.

Recordings

Magda's DJ work is documented on the mix CDs She's A Dancing Machine and Fabric 49. In 2010, she releases her debut album From The Fallen Page, which combines organic sounds with modern electronic elements and extends the same sense of movement and contrast found in her DJ sets.

Related projects

She is a member of Run Stop Restore and Blotter Trax. Her work is linked to Items & Things as both a label identity and a platform for the music she supports.