Machines With Magnets

I came here with my wife for an art opening. We were pleasantly surprised by how great the bar is! I got a local beer and my wife got a Sazerac with Rittenhouse rye. Her drink was perfect, served in an (antique?) jar.
The bartenders were very friendly. And overall, the place had a cool, casual vibe.

Cool concert venue right in downtown Pawtucket. As others have said the parking lot behind it is tough to find though there is street parking. You can also easily just drive right the place at night and never know it was there. You will definitely need a gps to find it.
They have pretty good cocktails and canned beer at good prices. The space has its pluses and minuses. They have quite a few tables, couches, and lounge like areas to sit and watch the bands. But the space itself is not great for music. Kind of echo-​y, but its not due to their sound guy but the layout of the space itself.
They do not do a ton of live music, but they do a pretty nice variety when they do. Plus the shows tend to start and end early if you like that sort of thing (the older I get the more I like a show ending by midnight).

When it comes to an intimate setting to see a full band this is the place, by intimate i do not mean small, the rooms are large but it is the presentation that is intimate. they have an art gallery and small bar that serves drinks in interesting glasses. two bathrooms and… oh yeah, it house one of the nicest recording studios in New England.
A+ all the way.

I mixed and mastered my album here. The finished record was highly regarded and my friends and peers congratulated me thoroughly. And the best part? I sat there completely sh*tfaced on Seven and Sevens while the hyper-​talented staff did all the heavy lifting for me. Incredible studio. Highest recommendation

I seem to fall into a trap of dating guys in bands. I spent a disproportionate amount of 2013 and 2014 here. I had been venturing here though prior to said boyfriends to art shows and other things since 2011. I’ve seen things improve, and decline.
It can get really loud in here. Like, give me a panic attack overwhelming loud. If you can’t tell by my check ins, I’m in the presence of Live music and full blown sound systems at least once a month (Dusk, The Met, The Parlour, Firehouse 13, Vets, PPAC) and I had to break down and get ear plugs to bring myself back down to a level of sound sensation that I could enjoy. Thankfully they are free here. Just ask the bartender for them, when she’s asking you what a Seven and Seven entails and frantically scans the cocktail menu for it…
The bar. So once, it was a dreaded oh noooo they only have beer and wine. Then they got a full bar, and knocked out one of the walls that had the bar only have a small opening, and now the lone bartender seems a little overwhelmed at times. While cute, she clearly had no bartending experience. Friend ordered a seven and seven, she scanned the cocktail list and then said, please explain. We ordered Manhattans off of the specialty list, and they were shaken. I love bits of ice in my drinks, and a weird frothy layer. Later a Makers and ginger was delivered to me first as a makers on the rocks, then a makers neat… then i finally said what I wanted and se got it.
Seems as though a lot of the art shows and such have fallen to the way side, I did notice a few items strewn along the walls, but not as much as there might have historically been.

Machines with Magnets has a great sound system, some of the best whiskey cocktails in the state, and they always have really great bands and entertainment inside. Along with music and drinks, the gallery space is gorgeous. Currently there’s a great string installation. Go. Go right now! Have a good time.

Welcoming art/​performance space, good bar/​strong drinks, inexpensive shows, lots of parking. It’s an easy calculation, find a show and go.

We had our senior show here. Parking isn’t great, the bathrooms had no soap, and there is no circulation of air. Of course, I might be sort of biased since the show the year before was at The Narrows in Fall River which was much more suitable for the size of show we had (30+ people showing senior projects, with all their families, etc. aka it was extremely crowded), but overall I wasn’t too impressed with the gallery itself.

Together with Kafe Lila, Machines With Magnets is forcing me to reconsider the city of Pawtucket, which I had previously thought of as «the place where Slater Mill and the DMV are.» Currently I think of Pawtucket as «the place where Slater Mill and the DMV and Kafe Lila and Machines With Magnets are,» but if I spend enough time at KL and MWM, my view will undoubtedly become more nuanced.
Machines With Magnets is a recording studio, art gallery, and performance space that has fast become my favorite music venue and possibly one of my favorite places in Rhode Island. The inside is beautiful, with two large rooms decked out in cool white paint and beautiful hardwood flooring (one floor is stenciled with an absolutely stunning pattern). Art of varied quality adorns the walls.
I have now had the pleasure of attending two shows here – an electronic music performance and Quintron + Miss Pussycat – and I enjoyed them both. Watching bands perform with art as a backdrop is a pleasure. The sound is good and the venue is run fairly efficiently. At the latter show, they quickly cycled through four bands by alternating the rooms in which each band performed. Very smart. The crowds are fun and interesting. Drinks, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, and even pizza are sold for reasonable prices.
During my first visit, a friend turned to me and said, «I wish I lived here.» «I wish I could DJ here,» I replied. Until either of these things happens, I’ll be stopping in periodically for more music and art. You should, too.