The Ugly Art - Machine Girl

Provocative and stolidly anti-commercial, "The Ugly Art" adds yet another industrial project to Machine Girl's discography.

I won't claim to be an expert on digital hardcore culture, but experimental duo Machine Girl seem to bring a slighty confused tracklist to "The Ugly Art". On one hand, you have the aggressive, punk-influenced tracks, often featuring unintelligible screamo vocals and strong percussion (look no further than the opener "This Is Your Face on Dogs", the title of which is also a slightly unsettling reference to the cover art)—and the other hand holds bright, upbeat synthwork and melodies, injected at points like "Loop Version" or "Where Were You?". Confusion is chaos, and Machine Girl greets chaos like an old friend. They lay the punk aesthetic down strongly, bolstered by the constantly shouting vocal and heavy guitars, compounding into unrelentingly dense sonic boldness. And to mutate that with melodic synth runs and expressive leads is, make no mistake, to quite explicitly sow the seeds of chaos. But you could still describe "The Ugly Art" as quite 'industrial', consistent in its aggressiveness as it is. Or the—arguably better, although perhaps oxymoronic—adjective 'anarchic', complying only with the general ideas of punk and outright rejecting any musical, lyrical, or vocal norms that have been established within the past century. It's this musical anarchy that makes "The Ugly Art" stand out—a piece of music that, as the title suggests, exists to reveal the ugly truth, exists to shun the modern concepts of beauty, exists to be raw and gritty and unashamedly ugly. And honestly, Machine Girl have done a very good job at making "The Ugly Art" as hideous as possible. You'll find no emotional respite here, right from the uncanny cover art to the everpresent shouting-singing hybrid, only stark catharsis and sheer anger. Like I said: provocative. When it comes to an aesthetic like this, provocativeness is an invaluable asset, and Machine Girl strive for it on every level.

I won't pretend to like the tracks themselves, though. It's simply not my style of listening, especially in a casual setting, and yet I appreciate the aesthetic of the holistic project. However, even as a holistic project, "The Ugly Art" is a little repetitive, and whilst it contributes to the relentlessness and consistency of the record, it can also simply just make it a little monotonous at points. Somehow, despite rejecting all technical standards, "The Ugly Art" still manages to fall into technical pitfalls that bring it down.