Magda

Before the stars of techno’s new guard were the model-gorgeous women pummeling dance floors with testosterone-raising sets, there was tastemaking young Magda, a Polish-born Richie Hawtin protégée. After cutting her teeth on Detroit-area parties, she made her penchant for dark tracks and unusual sound design known, unspooling basslines at a (comparatively) languid stroll’s pace, always embracing electro and funk in her DJ sets. Chafed at being pegged to a sound called “minimal,” she defined the early Aughts instead through Items & Things, a label run alongside Troy Pierce and Marc Houle. As producer Blotter Trax, with T.B. Arthur, she continues.– Christina Garcia