Focus on Poland: Magda

Focus on Poland: Magda

10 November, 2010 | 3.21AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: focus on, magda, minus

These days, Magda is closely associated with Berlin, which she calls home along with the rest of Minus’ core crew; before that, she was a fixture on the New York underground, and before that, an up-and-coming Detroit talent. In fact, she was born in Zywiec, Poland, a small town in the country’s south, tucked between the borders of what today are Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

When Magda and her family left Poland for the U.S., in 1984, she was only nine years old—too young to pick up on the post-punk and cold-wave sounds of the bands on the Polish underground, like Kapitan Nemo and Aya RL. It’s somewhat ironic, then, that her new album, From the Fallen Page bears ample influence of the gothic, industrial inclinations of the early ‘80s—reconfigured, of course, into throbbing, atmospheric techno. Despite Minus’ reputation for minimalism, Magda’s album is brimming with personality, dark and weird.

In honor of her roots, we asked Magda to contribute to our portrait of the Polish electronic-music scene; read on for the full interview.

What’s your own history with electronic music—how did you discover it, and how did you come to start making it?

I first started going out in Detroit in the early ‘90s and discovered this strange mysterious world in the middle of the ghetto, these crazy places: abandoned, scary buildings and desolate areas with fog steaming up from the streets, in the middle of the night with not a soul around. That was the atmosphere that we were surrounded by, going to these first parties. I started buying vinyl because I wanted to have the tracks that I liked at the parties, because I couldn’t find them anywhere except on vinyl. So with the vinyl I had to buy some kind of turntable, so I bought the crappiest one you could find—a belt-driven Gemini combination with mixer, I think it was 200 bucks—and just played around with that and my four records. It was just really for fun. I was very disturbed for a long time after my first experience playing out, at a friend’s party—it was horrible. But then also I kind of liked it in a way and wanted to get better, so I started slowly. I was definitely a DJ first, and production came much later. Marc Houle started teaching me about old synths and making music when we lived together in Canada, when I started working at the Minus office in the late ‘90s. That was the beginning of my first interest in producing.

You discovered techno when you were already living in the U.S.; what can you tell us about its development in Poland?

It’s funny, because I heard years ago from friends like Daniel Bell that they’d always go to certain cities and play really small clubs, so when I was in Poland I tried to play places like that but I was never successful—I just found quite commercial music. So I never really knew that much about the scene there until a few years ago, maybe two years ago, some of the Minus artists were going over there and having a really great time. I was very curious, so when I finally went I thought it was great. Maybe it took a little bit longer than most places but I think it’s really up to par right now.

How do you think Poland’s location between Western and Eastern Europe has affected its music scenes?

I think definitely Germany has had an effect—it’s right next door and it’s a huge, huge hub for that. It’s probably the best for techno, especially. Also, I think since Poland joined the European Union, people are traveling a lot more and bringing those influences back home. 

What does Polish electronic-music culture lack, do you think? What would you like to see more of?

I think it lacks venues—I’d like to see more clubs specific for electronic music and techno, with proper soundsystems. 

Enough about music: what food should visitors to Poland seek out?

Bigos—it’s cabbage stew, I love it!

Magda’s Beatport Top 10

Magda, From the Fallen Page [Minus]

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