I met Magda in one of the most expensive, but minimally furnished hotels in Frankfurt. She was wearing a swanky old-skull blouse and minimal jeans. She ordered… OK, let’s be serious. We were sitting in a hotel lounge and even before we started talking she asked the waiter for a cup of tea. I obviously started to laugh, and her “oh no, I knew you would respond like that!” followed by another peals of laughter have broken the ice completely. Poor waiter didn’t really know what was going on but he finally gave up bringing the tea. Instead we enjoyed peanuts and water. And I personally enjoyed speaking with Magda.

Sound Revolt: Why did you move to Berlin?
Magda: I needed a change and some inspiration. I was living in New York before but even before that I had left Detroit because everything was going to shit. There were so many problems with the scene, like parties shut down, police and politics... So I moved to New York and lived there for a year. I was doing a small night there and brought some guys that I really liked out from Berlin.

Sound Revolt: So then you already had German friends?
Magda: I just knew people through friends. There was a pretty small community of people doing that kind of things at that time. And I played a lot of German stuff. So I invited them, they invited me back and after first two parties in Berlin I knew I had to move there.

Sound Revolt: I know a guy who used to live in The States and he’s so desperate to go back. He actually says that Europe is so much regulated.
Magda: Is he crazy? Where was he living? I played a gig in San Francisco a few weeks ago and they made me stop playing at 1:45! The law is so strict that you can get in real troubles if you won’t everybody get out of the club at 2:00 exactly. So 1:45 comes and the bouncer starts yelling. Totally shit atmosphere, people need a few minutes to put their things together and he shouts, “get the fuck out the club!” Even me, I was still packing my stuff when he said, “you gotta go!” Oh my God! It’s not that good things couldn’t happen there – they can and people want them.
Basically when Bush got elected I knew there was trouble ahead and that’s what has become. It’s all paranoid fear and you can really sense that. I feel much more free here.

Sound Revolt: Last time I heard a set from you it was electro, now it’s more minimal stuff you’ve been playing. Where does that radical change come from?
Magda: You must have heard the set from Munich. In the beginning I was playing all kinds of stuff. Detroit was very diverse and you could go either to electro, good house or a techno party, so we all got exposed to a lot of cool different music. I liked to play all of that. I was an electro DJ for a while at first, and then I was a house DJ for a long time. But in 1999 I was already asking myself what I was doing. At the same time I got impressed by some minimal stuff happening again and I really knew that this is direction I wanted to go in. I decided to do this music and I didn’t care if I got another gig or not.

Sound Revolt: But now, when I observe what’s going on, I see that one Friday people go to see Desyn Masiello and the other day they want Richie Hawtin. Don’t you have this feeling that the borders between genres get really blurred these days?
Magda: That’s the thing, it’s amazing! It’s getting more and more blurred, because so many more people have access to technology and they’re making really crazy shit, that is not defined! Especially “minimal” has this huge hype now. Minimal this, minimal that, minimal this - but to me, the stuff I’ve been playing is not minimal. I think people really need a label, they need to attach a name to something, but the best thing about it is that you can’t! People have been always asking me what kind of music I play – I don’t know.

Sound Revolt: But I always thought this “minimal and nothing else” way of thinking has come from Berlin.
Magda: Maybe...

Sound Revolt: Let’s talk about Richie and the company. You seem to be inseparable at the moment, appearing in so many different places. The same story is with Richie and Ricardo Villalobos – they’ve done a lot of gigs together. Looks like you’ve been circling around yourself only.
Magda: It’s because we really believe in this music. We’re not doing this for money, that’s for sure. We’re not kind of DJs who arrive at a club only to play their gig and then pack the bags and go out. We can wait to play for 24 hours if we can. When I see people freaking out, it’s worth it, it’s amazing! To me Rich was like a hero. Now we’re good friends, we all believe in each other and respect each other.

Sound Revolt: Behrouz recently said that “Richie Hawtin and the people he plays with [...] are like mafia: [...] they all go together from one place to another and then they play there together. [...] They’ve never been really interested in what people want to hear, they’ve simply played what they themselves liked”. What’s your comment on that?
Magda: What’s my comment? Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. If that’s how someone feels or perceives me, or Rich, it’s totally fine with me. But I know it’s pretty an egoistical statement. The thing to be a good DJ is working with the crowd well, playing for the crowd, not for myself. I’ve been really learning this through years, so what he says doesn’t really apply.

Comments[0]
Post a comment