Max cooper

Max Cooper Live at Awakenings Festival 2013 (Spaarnwoude, Houtrak)

SoundCloud: @soundcloud.com/awakenings
Facebook: www.facebook.com/awakenings
Website: www.awakenings.com/

Max Cooper Live at Awakenings Festival 2013

Le Carousel is Phil Kieran's latest LP, which is great, it was a pleasure to work with this track, and all the better because I decided I was going to do something weird with it! The lovely pads and vocals provided the backbone for my remix, and I just tried to accentuate these with a long ambient build.

The track would probably work better just with this ambient part and no more, but I decided to add on some sort of odd drop at the end, where it goes all hectic with lots of double timed randomised beats. To continue with the unexpected theme I went for another extended build to total distortion, climaxing in nothingness!

It's probably not the easiest track to fit into a set unless you just use the ambient part, but it's always nice to just let go and mess around with a track without worrying about how it might function outside of what you feel you want to do musically at the time.

Release date is 23rd September on PKR

Le Carousel - Lost Years - Max Cooper Remix

In celebration of both artists performing in London this month, Max Cooper is offering this wonderful remix of his dear friend Nils Frahm, who'll perform an electronic set on October 18 as part of The Hydra: Erased Tapes label night at the Village Underground.

Tickets available via Resident Advisor: 
http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?517392

A second remix of Juno track 'For' can be downloaded via XLR8R:
http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2013/10/download-max-coopers-new-remix-n

In Max's own words:

'Nils Frahm is one of the best artists out there in my opinion, with pretty much the best live show I've ever seen. But aside from all that, this was just a really enjoyable remix to work on because the original is such a great piece of music, and seemingly so well suited to what I wanted to do with it - which was to try and turn Nils' instrumental jam on his Juno, into something house/techno/club/44 compatible, but still carrying the class and feeling of the original. It was one of those remixes that just seemed to fit and flow easily, with minimum strain and maximum enjoyment on my part - usually a good sign for a remix (the one's that have to be forced never seem to quite get there).

Not only is this one of the best remix projects I've been lucky enough to be involved with, it's also available totally free for you to download and share as you like, courtesy of Erased Tapes and Decibel festival where myself and Nils played last weekend, as well as XLR8R, who were good enough to first feature the 'For' remix.

And of course, it's also a thank you to YOU for listening an supporting my work over the years....thank you and I hope you like the track!....

ps if you're in London on the 18th, Nils is playing an Erased Tapes showcase at Village Underground.'

'Frahm's beautiful, clever piano melodies are a perfect match for Cooper's emotional, distinctive breed of production, blurring lines between the recital hall and the dance floor.' – Earmilk

Juno Reworked

Peter (Max Cooper Remix)

Nils Frahm – Peter (Max Cooper Remix)

Nils Frahm is one of the best artists out there in my opinion, with pretty much the best live show I've ever seen. But aside from all that, this was just a really enjoyable remix to work on because the original is such a great piece of music, and seemingly so well suited to what I wanted to do with it - which was to try and turn Nils' instrumental jam on his Juno, into something house/techno/club/44 compatible, but still carrying the class and feeling of the original. It was one of those remixes that just seemed to fit and flow easily, with minimum strain and maximum enjoyment on my part - usually a good sign for a remix (the one's that have to be forced never seem to quite get there).

Big thanks to Billboard for featuring this remix, which is now available as part of my Balance 030 compilation:
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/8454339/max-cooper-nils-frahm-remix
http://smarturl.it/Balance030MaxCooper

Stream / buy

Nils Frahm - For - Max Cooper remix

get your mp3 here: www.beatport.com/release/guilty-pleasures/1175419

get your vinyl here: www.deejay.de/Off_Spin_Various_A…_Pleasures__133759

Artist: Various Artists
Title: Guilty Pleasures
Label: OFF Recordings
Release number: OFFSPIN014
Format: Digital / Vinyl
Distribution: Baseware Distribution (Digital) / Deejay.de (Vinyl)
Releasedate: 08.10.2013 (Digital) / 2013 Deejay.de (Vinyl)
File Under: DeepHouse / IndieDance
Web: www.off-recordings.com

Tracks:

1.	Andre Crom – New Day
2.	Nhan Solo – Perfect Plan
3.	Murat Kilic – Shooting Star
4.	Pavel Petrov, Marten – Party Up

Sometimes you have to let go and surrender to those forbidden temptations, and this new release is meant to be an irresistible one.

Continuing with the acclaimed OFFSPIN series, we bring you 4 guilty pleasures, all of them great tools to bring mayhem to your dancefloor.

Label head Andre Crom brings us "New Day", a house organ jacker with a driving vibe and great vocal arrangements.

Mother Recordings' own Nhan Solo gets funky and soulful with "Perfect Plan", clap grooves, smart sampling and a disco vibe...All that we need really!

"Shooting Star" comes next on the hands of Sydney-based Murat Kilic, phat beats and some more of that disco flavor we love here at OFF while Pavel Petrov & Marten's "Party Up" closes the package with a catchy rap-ghetto groover, all housed-up by tight drums and a heavy bassline. Truly one not to miss!

Buy on Beatport

Andre Crom - New Day - OFFSPIN014

Halls- 'Roses For The Dead' (Max Cooper remix)

A1 track on my new 12" along with Enveloped, Sea of Sound, and a remix from Maetrik!

Max Cooper - Ripple

Iketa came to my attention last year, and the more I delved into his work, the more amazing music I discovered. So when the chance came along to remix something, I chose his track Burn, which I love, and tried to put my own interpretation on it. The original was already so close to perfection melodically, that I found I couldn't do a lot to improve it. So instead I focused on trying to enhance what was already there, using contrasting sections of soundscapes and detailed sparse beats, and adding builds of saturation to exaggerate each melodic element. I found it was a really nice remix to work on, I hope you like it!

Iketa - Burn - Max Cooper Remix

I had a lot of fun working on this remix, mainly because Marc and Ken provided some great parts to work with. I messed around with chopping up the main riff so that it plays different versions out of each channel to give an interesting left/right effect, every so often hitting the same pattern on both channels and suddenly jumping to the middle as a result. Then it disintegrates and recombines in new form during the break before finally reaching the original riff on the main drop....I've been playing it out a lot, seems to do the job nicely in the clubs....all about the bassline as often is the way with my stuff!

Marc Romboy And Ken Ishii - Seiun - Max Cooper Remix (out now)

I went pretty minimal on this one, no hi-hats, and pretty much no drums actually, just a kick and much later into the track a snare comes in.....There was something about the simple repetitive 2 note melody hits and chords I landed on that just seemed to work without needing anything much else, well hopefully it works for other people too and not just me. It's been going down really well in the clubs at least, it seems to make people clap for some reason, maybe because it's so simple and kick focused rhythmically, it's got a bit of a marching stomp feel.

I stripped out most of the parts from the original, and focused on the great pads and vocal sweeps, which seemed to lead to the melodic idea somehow. It was one of those remixes which flowed nice and easily, not too much conscious thought required, I just let it flow out.

I made an edit of an old video to fit the track too, full details about that on the youtube link:

http://youtu.be/pXdoDtQlvDE

Nick Warren - Devil's Elbow - Max Cooper Remix (out now)

For my new EP on Traum I've done a couple of collaborative tracks with Nicolas Bougaieff (one of the founders of Liine). Nick had some great melodic ideas and a nice operator patch which we used to build two tracks around. This first one, Ellipse, has lots of shuffle and a simple groove to focus attention on the meandering riff at forefront. It's a little different from my usual, a bit of an experiment, hopefully some people will like it!

Release date 1st April on Traum, digital + 12"

Max Cooper and Nicolas Bougaieff - Ellipse

This track is contained on the Movements EP, where each track is themed by movement through a different medium. The concept I had in mind this time was a summer meadow, with lots of warmth and activity and detail of all natural processes going on, and a feeling of movement though the space. I have no idea how well that idea of mine translates into the piece of music for you, but hopefully it works in some way (your interpretation is more important than my concept really).

Andrew Brewer (Whiskas FX) has made a video for this one with some abstracted meadows combined with moire patterns, it's a beauty!....can't wait to get that out in the next few days.

(This is just a clip of the track btw, if you want the full length version it will be out 1st April!)

Max Cooper - Meadows

The EP is about movements through different mediums, this one being about movements through walls of sound. So I've put a really simple beat structure on there with a maddeningly repetitive two note acid style riff to try and lull people into some sort of brain dead state before they hit the wall, and exit out the other side wondering what just happened. That's the idea anyway, a track of maximised contrasts, it works great in a club, maybe not so much of home listener, see what you think anyway!

Max Cooper - Walls

Continuing with the theme of the Movements EP, this one is about movement through fractured space. We used Nick's great operator patch again (the same one as for Ellipse), and Nick came up with this nice riff. I mainly just made lots of strange noises and worked on the drums, automation, arrangement, details and overall feel, trying to keep it pretty simple and too the point - that is a nice flowing club style with plenty of broken reality moments.

This one has a really straight groove, with all the drums quite quantised to a linear grid, while Ellipse uses some of the same elements with a heavy shuffled groove - you can hear the really different club feel that results in the two tracks.


Max Cooper and Nicolas Bougaieff - Fracture (out now)

From the feature in Magnetic Magazine
http://www.magneticmag.com/2013/04/sounds-spaces-001-max-cooper-the-british-museum/

Sounds & Spaces 001
Max Cooper - Synesthetes Museum
A mix based on the British Museum
 
Featuring a mix of 12th century Tibetan monks song, one of the first ever recordings of music, made by Thomas Edison on a wax cylinder in 1888, poetic spoken word, 9th century Gregorian Chant, A call to the lama from afar, some unreleased exclusives, 9/8 techno, traditional Chinese music mixed with rude glitch, and a binaural museum.
______________________________________



The brief for this mix was to make something inspired by an architectural space. When I was doing my Post-Doc at UCL I used to go the British Museum to relax, and work in the beautiful library there, so I chose the space for the mix. I wanted to capture the ambient atmosphere in the central courtyard, so I did some binaural recording to include in the mix. I also wanted to make the mix something of an exploration through history and ideas in line with the contents of the museum, so I brought in lots of disparate music spanning the centuries and continents. I also mixed it in a way to be like a journey though the museum, turning corners and regularly coming across something totally different and unexpected, with each track being like a different exhibit. Hence the name of the mix, in that, each piece of music almost has a visual content.

For the full track list + more information see the feature:
http://www.magneticmag.com/2013/04/sounds-spaces-001-max-cooper-the-british-museum/

For more Max Cooper mixes/free downloads:
https://soundcloud.com/max-cooper/sets/max-cooper-free-downloads

And music videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/maxbcooper

And for up to date info on all the goings on, you can join the mailing list on my site if you like:
http://maxcooper.net/

DOWNLOAD

Max Cooper - Synesthetes Museum (free download)

I've been experimenting recently with some more traditional song type arrangements - more of a quick changing shortened format instead of my usual drawn out style. This is the first of the experiments - although there's also an extended version of this on the same EP, with my usual mixable/home listening balance (soundcloud clip coming tomorrow).

It was a really fun project to work on right the way through. It started with some glitchy beats and a couple of big basslines I was messing around with, with a general idea of a deep but almost overpowering feeling. Kathrin came to my little studio in London and we talked a little about the idea, before she just let go and free-style sang over the loops, using my crappy little test mic I bought for 12 pounds in 2002.

The plan was to lay down some melodic ideas for the vocals, which I could then select, and send back to Kathrin to write lyrics with and re-record properly. But when I ran through everything after I released she'd just nailed it right then and there! All I had to do was layer up some of the multiple instances of her voice, and add my reverbs and widening with some subtle EQing and compression, and it was there - she captured the pure feeling of the music and enhanced it a million times, and I love the free-flowing feeling of it, with its imperfections and half words, and of course, he subconscious vocal of not feeling any more lead to the title and concise concept for the music.

We knew that we had to get a video made to match Kathrin's work, and I was really excited to find out that Henning M. Lederer, who I had been a big fan of for some time, could do the project. We discussed options together and decided to try a "numbed by the capitalist machine" theme, which he has developed into an amazing, detailed story with a twist. I love the result, I hope it works for you too! - The video will be released in a few days, I'll put the link HERE when it's ready!

For Max Cooper mixes/free downloads:
soundcloud.com/max-cooper/sets/max-cooper-free-downloads

And music videos here:
www.youtube.com/user/maxbcooper

And for up to date info on all the goings on, you can join the mailing list on my site if you like:
maxcooper.net/
 

Max Cooper Feat. Kathrin deBoer - Numb (clip)

This was a really fun project to work on right the way through. It started with some glitchy beats and a couple of big basslines I was messing around with, with a general idea of a deep but almost overpowering feeling. Kathrin came to my little studio in London and we talked a little about the idea, before she just let go and free-style sang over the loops, using my crappy little test mic I bought for 12 pounds in 2002.

The plan was to lay down some melodic ideas for the vocals, which I could then select, and send back to Kathrin to write lyrics with and re-record properly. But when I ran through everything after I released she'd just nailed it right then and there! All I had to do was layer up some of the multiple instances of her voice, and add my reverbs and widening with some subtle EQing and compression, and it was there - she captured the pure feeling of the music and enhanced it a million times, and I love the free-flowing feeling of it, with its imperfections and half words, and of course, he subconscious vocal of not feeling any more lead to the title and concise concept for the music.

We knew that we had to get a video made to match Kathrin's work, and I was really excited to find out that Henning M. Lederer, who I had been a big fan of for some time, could do the project. We discussed options together and decided to try a "numbed by the capitalist machine" theme, which he has developed into an amazing, detailed story with a twist. I love the result, I hope it works for you too! - The video will be released in a few days, I'll put the link HERE when it's ready!

For Max Cooper mixes/free downloads:
soundcloud.com/max-cooper/sets/max-cooper-free-downloads

And music videos here:
www.youtube.com/user/maxbcooper

And for up to date info on all the goings on, you can join the mailing list on my site if you like:
www.maxcooper.net/


Max Cooper Feat. Kathrin deBoer - Numb - Extended Version (clip)

This is the second idea I worked on with Kathrin deBoer for the Conditions Two EP, and an attempt to make something surreal. I tried to use her voice as an instrument in the track, rather than presenting it as a normal vocal at the forefront of the mix. I used lots of Max for Live fiddling’s to mangle up her vocals into all sorts of weird noises, and then picked out some of my favourites to use in the track. Most of the noises that aren’t the drums and main synths, so pretty much all the weird noises in the track, are made from Kathrin’s voice.



The overall feeling was something soft and organic, where in addition to the unpredictability and non-loopy manner of the vocal effects, the drums also follow a loose and slightly randomised pattern, with lots of shuffle to add to the free feeling. I thought the approach made it end up sounding a bit maddening and messy, and there was also a strong feeling of space in there with the main pads, so this combined with the surrealist approach lead me to the name ‘Falling Into Recursive Space’.

For Max Cooper mixes/free downloads:
soundcloud.com/max-cooper/sets/max-cooper-free-downloads

And music videos here:
www.youtube.com/user/maxbcooper

And for up to date info on all the goings on, you can join the mailing list on my site if you like:
www.maxcooper.net/

Max Cooper Feat. Kathrin deBoer - Falling Into Recursive Space (clip)

The Slow Revolt is a great musician, with a great voice, so it was a pleasure to remix this track of his. I tried to enhance the vibe of the original rather than force it into any sort of club format. I just added some new chords by granularising the guitar and layering it up, and focused on making some interesting effects with the vocals and my usual weird noises before finally introducing new bass and strings later to try and bring everything to a peak. I hope you like it!

Available from:
Boomkat http://bit.ly/10OaO6X
iTunes http://bit.ly/17tGtND
Juno http://bit.ly/16etHmB
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/release/doldrums/1093992

The Slow Revolt - This Dark Matter - Max Cooper Remix (clip)

This is a shortened down version of a remix I did for MMOTHS recently. If you want the full length (mixable) version then you can get that from here as part of an excellent free remix package: http://mmothsmusic.com/diariesremixes

It was a nice remix to work on, with some great field recordings, a lovely simple piano riff, and some looped vocal samples which all slotted nicely into the new structure I wanted to go with - something a bit more club compatible than the original, but still hopefully carrying the feeling.

I messed around with the field recordings in the Monolake Granulator a bit, to get some subtle glitch/randomness in there, but other than that I went pretty straight on the arrangement, just gradually introducing the layers and adding a new synth to punctuate the peak, and a new bassline and chord variation.

The idea with the field recording/glitched intro section was to try and make something non-melodic and a bit harsh and cold, in attempted polar contrast to the warmth of the main melodic section and enveloping bass ie I wanted try and make the bleak part emphasise and accentuate the nice part.

So, anyway, here it is, as a free download for all.

Max cooper

Adele Babs