From the album, Human, out now

iTunes: www.smarturl.it/MCHuman
Beatport: http://smarturl.it/HumanBeatport
Vinyl + CD Pre-order: bit.ly/FIELDSshop

So, it's my next album single, and this time it's a bit crunching. There is a reason for this abomination lacking softness or melody though - the album is called "Human", and it's my attempt to translate some common themes about the human condition, into musical form. And of course not everything about being human is beautiful or pleasant - we experience all sorts of things, and this one is about the impacts of life, in the form of pounding mechanical collisions. It's a club track really, and if you've seen me in recent months you've probably had your face smashed by it a little - sorry about that!

Big thanks to Pitchfork for featuring this along with the amazing acid-style excursion from Gabe Gurnsey of Factor Floor.....AND....watch out for the Perc mix coming very soon, which takes the track to whole new labels of abrasion.


Here is the press spiel in case more info and fafferage is needed -

An album that sets out to examine sonic extremes, Max Cooper's debut Human juxtaposes a whole range of electronic styles:  lush orchestration fighting savage distortion, and clinical digital sound anchored by warm analogue grooves.  And nowhere is that restless curiosity to experiment as apparent as the contrast of the first and second singles - first, the delicate and downtempo Adrift, versus this second release, Impacts, the roughest, toughest sampler workout Cooper has produced.
On the album, they're sequenced in a focused line to be the centre of the album's first act and then its midpoint, before the album's more experimental final act.  But as a single on its own?  Impacts is a stop-start stomper that has had festival crowds asking WTF!?!? for months now, and the album's only purely dancefloor moment - as far from voguish k-house sounds as it is.  

But despite the harsh uncompromising sonic contrast - and this is a track that grunts into focus like a sledgehammer picking a fight with a gang of hi-hats - Impacts is, to Cooper's mind, actually something very optimistic.  It's the sound of a person beaten again and again by life, but each time bouncing back and wanting more.

For the remixes, Cooper has gone for two artists with their own take on high-contrast sonics.  Gabe Gurnsey of Factory Floor has folded his band's hypnotic acid tweaking into the original's rasping beats, and Perc has gone balls out with an take-it-or-leave it experimental sub-lead mix for the serious heads and big systems.


Impacts (clip)

Life and Death returns to its indie roots with this fresh sounding release from new artist, Dead Heat. The trio, formerly known as Esperanza, counts deep psychedlic influences (among others) as a significant factor in their well developed sound. Here they present two original tracks which frame two sides of an idea, a yin and yang of a raw and emotional journey across a modern alternative landscape with nods to the indie and alternative music of decades past.

Bosco is the darker of the two with a powerfully raw and driving bass that sounds like a modern day Morphine set on a Blade Runner-esque backdrop. Paired with a haunting and plaintive vocal it's an impressive force they make -- which makes the beautiful guitar and piano that come in towards the end all the more impressive in their counterpoint.

Remixing Bosco is techno producer extraordinaire, Lucy. Here he takes the track to even darker and deeper territories as he creates a fine piece of well crafted techno that keeps elements of the original but twists them well to make them his own. Just what you might imagine hearing deep in the bowels of that Berlin insitution.

The Dam is the yang to Bosco's yin with a lighter more hopeful sound but with no less emotion wrapped inside. Here the piano and guitar takes the foreground earlier, to be later framed by a chugging bass and atmospheric synths that work together to create a blissful musical trip.

Taking remixing duties for The Dam is The Field, the project of talented Swedish musician Axel Willner. Mixing sonic soundscapes and classic songwriting, his take on Dead Heat's original is an impressive slice of both. A truly elegant interpretation of the original that stays with the listener long after the last note has sounded. 

Dead Heat 'Bosco' (Lucy Remix) [LAD015]

Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 Berlin - having a morning coffee playing with the Yamaha CS-30 and it's reminding me of plastikman. I will record this.

Krybaby

http://1-speedfukinbike.bandcamp.com

Mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market 


1-Speed Bike - This Country Is Torture

Le Ciclone - Vanuatu women - Funkmoltobello rework

Bambous - Vanuatu tribe - Funkmoltobello rework

WhoMAdeWho - Never had the time [Darkbox remix]

The Man Who Lost Control

She Is A Part Of Me Now

Born in 1980, in Bari, Italy, Alessandro Montano is Darkbox. Pasionate about b-horror movies, especially zombi movies, cafè racer motorcycles and boxing. After studying electronic music in Rome and have partecipated in several musical projects in 2012 decided to work alone, dealing with production and live performance.



Nato nel 1980, a Bari, Alessandro Montano è Darkbox. E' appassionato di film di serie "b", in particolare film sugli zombi, motociclette Café Racer e pugilato. Dopo aver studiato musica elettronica a Roma e aver partecipato a diversi progetti musicali, nel 2012 ha deciso di lavorare da solo, occupandosi di produzione... Non ama le live performance perchè terrorizzato dai vivi (in special modo da chi organizza).




e-mail: darkbox999@gmail.com