What happens when disco-house’s synth alchemist collides with a vocalist unafraid to strip every layer of protection away? For Lisbon-based producers Moullinex and GPU Panic, the answer is MXGPU—a collaborative project where analog synths, sci-fi visuals, and liquid beats converge in the service of raw human emotion.
Born from a serendipitous live band invitation, the duo discovered a chemistry that went beyond arrangement or production. For years, Moullinex had struggled to coax true vulnerability from vocalists, but with GPU Panic—singer, producer, and Red Bull Music Academy alum—something unlocked. Together, they created MXGPU: a universe that treats electronic music not as escapism, but as catharsis.
Their live shows are where this bond is tested and shared. Staged “in the round,” with the audience completely surrounding them, MXGPU’s performances dissolve the boundary between stage and crowd. GPU Panic often locks eyes with individuals mid-breakdown, singing directly into their vulnerability, while Moullinex drives the moment with a custom rack of Moog, Arturia, Roland, Elektron, and more. The environment—bathed in James Turrell-inspired light design and backed by sci-fi visuals—is immersive, but it never distracts from the core: the pursuit of connection.
That ethos carries into their debut album Sudden Light, arriving September 26 via Discotexas. Its next preview comes in the form of “find u” (out July 18), a liquid drum & bass cut that balances staccato synths with emotional pop gravitas. Think Caribou filtered through Porter Robinson’s lens of sincerity. “I’m saving time for me and you / I’m there to guide you through it all,” sings GPU Panic, offering a reminder that MXGPU’s futuristic sound is ultimately built on patience and presence.
Both artists bring heavyweight resumes to the table. Moullinex has shifted from disco-house to a fully hardware-based sound, scoring nods from Clash, Future Music, and Dezeen (for his early adoption of AI-generated visuals), and crafting remixes like his #1 Beatport rework of Cut Copy’s “Lights & Music.” GPU Panic (aka Guilherme Tomé Ribeiro) has carved his own lane as a singer-producer, releasing on Crosstown Rebels, Watergate, and TAU, with support from RÜFÜS DU SOL and Keinemusik’s &ME.
Together, MXGPU have already proven their reach, performing at Primavera Porto, NOS Alive, Wonderfruit in Thailand, and sold-out Lisbon pop-ups at MAAT and Casa da Música. With Sudden Light, they’re not just staging a collaboration—they’re building a world where vulnerability is the currency and electronic music becomes a mirror for what it means to be human.
MXGPU was born out of a live-band experiment that turned into a rare creative bond. When did you both realize this wasn’t just collaboration, but something bigger?
MXGPU: We just naturally arrived at this moment in our lives where everything was so connected that it just felt right. It felt bigger than us. The music is just flowing in the studio on a non-stop basis and we have such a great time doing that, being on the road and playing live.
Your live shows are staged “in the round.” How does breaking that performer–audience barrier shift the emotional stakes of the performance?
MXGPU: everything changes, really. Many unwritten rules of the concert experience are challenged in this format: there’s no backstage / VIP area, the visuals are above us, not behind us, and the show’s backdrop is the audience itself, in every direction, which makes the concert experience more focused, much more centered, literally. It really feels like campfire storytelling, except it’s with techno and lasers.
Moullinex, you’ve spoken about struggling to find vocalists who could bring raw emotion until GPU Panic came along. What did Guilherme unlock for you that nobody else could?
Moullinex: A direct pathway into my heart, aka “truth” in whatever he sings. There aren’t many people that can sound this true to me, and having the opportunity to work with one such singer is a treasure. Besides, I think we really work well together as Gui understands the vocal ideas I have in my head like no one else, and is also very open to suggestions, criticism, exploration.
The blend of analog synths, sci-fi visuals, and intimate vulnerability feels future-facing but very human. How intentional is that tension in your creative process?
MXGPU: It’s just part of our lives. We are surrounded by this tension and by questioning this state of humanity/technology, we wouldn’t say “vs”, but we are coming to times where everything it’s just blended and part of each other. So this blend it’s just part of our day by day and we love to play with it and have it front to front.
You’ve built your own world with custom hardware racks, visuals, and stage design. Do you think audiences today crave more than just sound—they want a full-body experience?
MXGPU: Definitely. The feedback we get from our live shows is really special, and I suspect it has a lot to do with the audience being able to connect physically with what we are doing. We are one with them, and sometimes it all feels like a hivemind dancing to a common metronome. It’s beautiful.
Improvisation plays a big role in your live sets. What’s the most disarming or unforgettable moment you’ve had on stage?
Moullinex: This is just a little nugget but still very beautiful: once we were playing in the afternoon in festival on a grass park, and I overheard a girl talking to her friend “oh i really feel like taking my shoes off and dancing”, so I said “just take your shoes off then” and she did. This would have been impossible if we were behind a stage.
GPU Panic: Yeah, we love these unexpected and sudden shifts in our live sets. I love this episode Moullinex just shared and adding one more to the list. We just came back from Singapore where we played a beautiful festival, and in the middle of the show there were a few people with some bubble blowers around us, and Moullinex just grabbed one and started doing bubbles all around us. It was so much fun, and again, only possible because we are so close to the audience. In the end, someone from the festival team even thought it was a proper machine part of our gear we had on stage!
Moullinex, you’ve evolved from your past work to a hardware-driven indie electronic universe. Do you see MXGPU as a continuation of that evolution, or a complete reset?
Moullinex: Good question. I always see what I’m currently working on as a direct response to what I’ve done before. In a way, conceptually, MXGPU is a collaborative response to my prior solo work. But sonically it’s a continuation, perhaps a distillation of what I have been exploring since Requiem for Empathy, where GPU Panic features on 4 tracks (!). My main instrument is the electric bass and Gui’s is guitar, and none of those are present in our album together. Perhaps the limitation is key to being more creative, to sounding different. But who knows, the next thing I do can be full of guitars. I’m starting to miss them a little bit.
GPU Panic, how does MXGPU differ from your solo work—and what part of yourself only comes alive in this duo?
GPU Panic: There’s a lot that only comes alive in MXGPU and when working with Moullinex. Before, I was always on a more experimental side of things and used my voice mostly as an effect and less song-driven. With Moullinex and in MXGPU, we dived into songs, into melodies and lyrics that have a deeper meaning and with which there’s a different connection. Also I think that, since we began to play this show together, we’ve been becoming better and better at tailoring the songs to connect with the dancefloor. We feel the audience energy and their excitement keeps pushing us to new places, making every show feel alive in a new way.
Sudden Light is framed around presence, patience, and vulnerability. At a time when electronic music can toward spectacle, why was it important for you to build something rooted in these aspects?
Moullinex: I mostly see music as therapy, and I would still make it if no one was listening but me. It’s a way to frame and process reality, my emotions, the way I see the world – and many times the music I make is a direct response to what I’m feeling – so in a way the music we make and the way we present ourselves live needs to have a purpose – we belong and consume the “spectacle” of this scene, and honestly I’m still a fan of live music, so deconstructing what is so special in this experience is what brought us to Sudden Light and its live show.
GPU Panic: Music just mirrors what’s inside our hearts, and we just let ourselves overflow from the inside to the outside. I love live shows and to still be surprised, but we felt that something was missing. Based on our experience, and in times where everything seems so perfect and somehow distant, we felt we needed to get closer, to be part and show what we are doing, to expose the fragile and to highlight the transforming power of playing live electronic music.
