Sound Advice: MXGPU

Join MXGPU on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ journeys and their creative process. In this episode, we discuss the Lisbon electronic duo’s new album ‘Sudden Light,’ live show and more.

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Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.

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On this week’s Sound Advice, we sat down with Portugal’s Moullinex (Luís Clara Gomes) and GPU Panic (Guilherme Tomé Ribeiro), also known as MXGPU. Their unique collaboration began with a simple DM on SoundCloud, evolving into a powerful musical partnership that’s taken them all around the world. They recently released their debut album as MXGPU, ‘Sudden Light,’ which melds their influences from house, disco, indie rock and electronic into 11 tracks of shimmering synths, melancholic vocals and uplifting moments. 

In this lovely chat, both Moullinex and GPU Panic shed some light on their creative process and their influences. They explain how they achieve their rich textures in their music, as well as give advice on collaborating and how to take your show from the studio to the live stage. We also discuss how they use SoundCloud to discover new artists, workshop unreleased demos and share music back and forth using private tracks. If you want to learn even more about ‘Sudden Light,’ check out MXGPU’s episode of Voice Notes, where they discuss the new album, track by track.

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LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING MXGPU

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LISTEN TO ‘SUDDEN LIGHT’ BY MXGPU ON SOUNDCLOUD

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LISTEN TO EXCLUSIVE VOICE NOTES FROM MXGPU

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Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice

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How Moullinex and GPU Panic Connected Through Music and Language to Create MXGPU

• We begin the conversation with the story of how Moullinex and GPU Panic became MXPGU: “Like many love stories,” says GPU Panic, aka Guilherme, “it started with a DM.” Moullinex, aka Luís, was looking for a guitarist to join his band, but since he “hated” holding auditions for musicians, out of not wanting to disappoint them, he spent a long time researching to find the right person to approach directly. Luís talks about the process of connecting with Guilherme, through his band Salto, and how they started working together on the music of MXGPU.
• For Guilherme and Luís, there were challenges of going from playing live instruments in bands to producing and performing electronic music. Here, they discuss those transitions, and how they adapted their studio sessions and live set-up to create a bridge between those disciplines. One of the biggest changes that they made in becoming MXGPU was switching between Portuguese and English lyricism. 
• Here, they dive into the differences between the languages, in tone, meaning and expression, and how they opened up through this bilingual way of working. “Singing in a different language feels like unlocking a new musical personality,” Luís says sagely, as Guilherme’s English singing “spoke to his heart.”

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The Creation of MXGPU’s Debut Album, ‘Sudden Light,’ and The Art of Collaboration

• This month, MXGPU released their debut album, ‘Sudden Light.’ The album creation process deepened their collaboration, giving them an opportunity to make an artistic statement beyond their solo work. Here, they talk about what elements of their solo work they brought into the project, reflect on where each others’ greatest musical strengths lie and how they’ve worked to evolve their sound on ‘Sudden Light.’ 
• For Luís, Guilherme’s voice has “a contrast between fragility and power that’s beautiful to hear in a man’s voice;” akin to that of artists like Thom Yorke and Arthur Russell. Guilherme, meanwhile, shares that he’s impressed by Luís’s ability to hone in on a tiny element — a melody, a pattern, a slight riff — and turn it into “the most beautiful thing in the track.” It’s not necessarily a teachable thing, he says, and that’s why it’s so special.
• After making ‘Sudden Light,’ the duo have developed a deeper understanding of what makes a great collaboration. Here, they offer advice to their fellow artists on the process. For Luís, he admits that he came into his earliest studio sessions with others “too hot, and with too many expectations,” he says. 
• In order to not set yourself up for failure or disappointment, Luís shares that the best way to approach a session is to focus on getting to know your collaborators and how they think and feel about music first. “The best sessions are five hour-long chats,” he says. By finding common ground about what motivates you musically, the creative process will flow more naturally from there.
• For Guilherme, it’s all about having an open heart to what someone else is sharing with you. You don’t have to know the artist personally before a session, either — as they’ve proved with MXGPU, it can all start with hearing something you like on SoundCloud, and sending a DM. 

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How MXGPU Used SoundCloud to Make ‘Sudden Light’ and Get Creative Feedback 

• As a duo that met through SoundCloud, Luís and Guilherme have kept using the platform throughout their creative process. For Luís, private tracks have played a huge role in how ‘Sudden Light’ came together; sharing private track links through DMs to not just Guilherme, but to their creative circle, for constructive criticism and feedback, and to their wider industry network of publicists, label representatives and beyond. “Having access to someone’s private tracks on SoundCloud would be like knowing all their secrets,” Luís jokes.
• Elaborating further, Luís explains how SoundCloud’s private tracks feature has allowed them to revisit demos, drafts and demo mixes of album tracks; it works “like a journal” for ‘Sudden Light,’ he says; some tracks are two years old, some tracks are two months old, but they’re all part of the arc of the album.

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MXGPU’s Favorite Tracks and How They Crafted The Sound of ‘Sudden Light’

• Across 11 tracks, ‘Sudden Light’ showcases Luís and Guilherme’s developing sound, which is a sparkling blend of live instrumentation and electronic music production that draws from indie, dance, pop and jazz. Guilherme’s favorite track on the album is “Take Me Home,” because when they started to play it live, it got such an emotional reaction from their crowd. Here, he talks about how fans have shared what that track means to them, and how he’s connected with those fans more deeply because of it. 
• For Luís, despite being a perfectionist, the best tracks they’ve made have a “special roughness” to them. One of those is “Slow Down,” which very nearly didn’t make the final album cut — but after sharing it with friends and musical peers through SoundCloud private track links, the feedback they got made them realize they were onto a winner. Now, it’s the opener for their live show.
• The choice of 11 tracks was deliberate, and informed their editing process. Here, they discuss why and how they made those choices. In the beginning, they had a “creation phase with no editing, just make make make,” Luís says — and having made at least 100 track demos for ‘Sudden Light,’ they started to see signatures and patterns emerge that felt like MXGPU. 
• Here, they speak about how those signatures start to feel like “familiar gestures, like dance moves,” and get into the technical elements of how they used texture, keyboards, vocals, drum machines, synths and bass to create their sound. 
• When it came to sharing their work with friends and peers, though, they made sure they didn’t flood people with demos. Instead, they worked on getting a far shorter tracklist as close to ready as possible, so they could get the most targeted, useful feedback possible without altering their creative flows. As Luís says, “You only get a first opinion once,” so make sure you’re as happy as you possibly can be with a track before sharing it.  

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MXGPU’s Influences, Live Performances and Musical Signatures

• Having played in bands and worked as electronic producers for years, Luís and Guilherme have a wide variety of influences. Here, they talk about some of the acts who have made an impact on their presentation of live electronic music specifically; from Air and LCD Soundsystem, to Moloko, Underworld and The Chemical Brothers. 
• As they get ready to go on tour in support of ‘Sudden Light,’ the duo reflect on how their live show has taken shape and what they’ll be focusing on in presenting the album on stage. Here, they offer advice to fellow artists who are looking to make the transition from laptop to live show. 
• For Guilherme, it’s important to have fun with it all, first and foremost. If it feels like you’re still in the studio when you’re onstage, then it’s not quite ready to be called a live show yet, he shares. Luís agrees, and goes further: in order for you to have fun and be comfortable on stage, he shares how you should focus on a piece of kit that doesn’t fail you, and build your live show from there. If you’re having fun and are in control of your gear, that confidence will radiate and the crowd will be with you. 
• Finally, show the crowd respect. Going to gigs is expensive and often laborious, Luís says frankly, so before you ask your fans to spend their time and money on your tour, think carefully about what you’re going to creatively and socially offer them as an audience. Tap into what you love about gigs as a music fan first, and think about how you can bring that to your own performance. From there, he says, you can make magic.
• One way to figure this out is to be aware of your own sonic signatures, and bring them out on stage. Here, the duo reflect on what they feel the MXGPU signature is, how they use sound design, field recordings and textures from nature to create layers in their sound, and how they use their vocals to create samples. 

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Links and Extras

Follow MXGPU’s journey on SoundCloud.
Press play on MXGPU’s 2025 album, ‘Sudden Light.’
Find out more about Luís’ solo project, Moullinex, and Guilherme’s, GPU Panic.
Check out Guilherme’s previous band, Salto.
Hit play on “Slow Down” and “Take Me Home,” two of their favorite tracks together.
Go back to where it all began with MXGPU’s first-ever track, “Inner Child (Extended Mix).”
Explore some of MXGPU’s wide-ranging influences, including The Chemical Brothers, LCD Soundsystem, Moloko and Air, to name a few. 
Listen to the Chill House playlist on SoundCloud.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud

Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
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Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.

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_{CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin}