Max Makin : Maxmus
Nu Jazz / Instrumental Luzern, Switzerland, Europe
Artist Homepage: http://www.maxmus.ch Reverbnation
Artist Downloads:iTunes
Sounds Like: Elektrotwist, St. Germain,
Review by: Tara Isabella Burton - MyMusicSuccess.Com
Artist Homepage: http://www.maxmus.ch Reverbnation
Artist Downloads:iTunes
Sounds Like: Elektrotwist, St. Germain,
Review by: Tara Isabella Burton - MyMusicSuccess.Com
Guitars echo, the sound growing and vanishing much like ripples in a pond. Drums hint at their presence in the background. Shrieks, whispers, and scratching disks all appear and then disappear.
The soundscapes created by Maxmus, the Luzern-based collective music group headed by guitarist Max Makin are extraordinary in the way they manage to combine ambient sound - the sort of chill-out music you might hear in a particularly trendy Parisian lounge bar - with a slightly eerie, even otherwordly vibe and even a bit of straightforward, accomplished jazz.
Maxmus's instrumentals are multi-layered, complex, but at the same time utterly listenable; this is not the screeching and crackling of Aphex Twin or other similar electronic bands. Rather, Maxmus's music is more akin to the work of Elektrotwist and the classic St. Germain, two European bands that manage to combine instrumental electronica with a classic Paris-jazz sound.
Of the songs sampled in the review, "Hexagon" is by far the more accessible. Featuring the wailing of a tenor saxophone, played by David Angel, "Hexagon" wordlessly evokes 1920 synthesized into 2010 - as the dominant sax appears to have passed through many stages of reverb and flange and whistles and scratches threaten the simplicity of the sound in the background.
"Deadline" is also listenable, with a sleek and sexy sound combining keyboard, drums (Andy Mejuto, thanked in the liner notes as "music personified" is behind the programming and keys on ths one) and various sampling with a slightly exotic melody reminiscent of something further East. Neither is exactly danceable, but both seem to inspire at the least a gentle swaying in line for a cocktail at the bar.
Less straightforward is the more experimental soundscape series, entitled "Elements." Combining various sampling created by Verena Sollinger and featuring singers Estella Benedetti and Mary Wunderlin and the bass clarinet talents of Christoph Erb.
Slower and more fragmented than the other pieces, "Elements" is something of a Proustian mix: moments of sound that appear briefly, and vanish, and then are echoed again - memory "flashbacks" of sound. Whether it's entirely successful is debatable.
It's interesting on an intellectual level, and certainly haunting, but certainly less "listenable." That said, Max cites his arrangement as a nod to his "own momentary perception of it." If capturing such momentary fragments is indeed his goal, then Maxmus succeeds admirably.
The soundscapes created by Maxmus, the Luzern-based collective music group headed by guitarist Max Makin are extraordinary in the way they manage to combine ambient sound - the sort of chill-out music you might hear in a particularly trendy Parisian lounge bar - with a slightly eerie, even otherwordly vibe and even a bit of straightforward, accomplished jazz.
Maxmus's instrumentals are multi-layered, complex, but at the same time utterly listenable; this is not the screeching and crackling of Aphex Twin or other similar electronic bands. Rather, Maxmus's music is more akin to the work of Elektrotwist and the classic St. Germain, two European bands that manage to combine instrumental electronica with a classic Paris-jazz sound.
Of the songs sampled in the review, "Hexagon" is by far the more accessible. Featuring the wailing of a tenor saxophone, played by David Angel, "Hexagon" wordlessly evokes 1920 synthesized into 2010 - as the dominant sax appears to have passed through many stages of reverb and flange and whistles and scratches threaten the simplicity of the sound in the background.
"Deadline" is also listenable, with a sleek and sexy sound combining keyboard, drums (Andy Mejuto, thanked in the liner notes as "music personified" is behind the programming and keys on ths one) and various sampling with a slightly exotic melody reminiscent of something further East. Neither is exactly danceable, but both seem to inspire at the least a gentle swaying in line for a cocktail at the bar.
Less straightforward is the more experimental soundscape series, entitled "Elements." Combining various sampling created by Verena Sollinger and featuring singers Estella Benedetti and Mary Wunderlin and the bass clarinet talents of Christoph Erb.
Slower and more fragmented than the other pieces, "Elements" is something of a Proustian mix: moments of sound that appear briefly, and vanish, and then are echoed again - memory "flashbacks" of sound. Whether it's entirely successful is debatable.
It's interesting on an intellectual level, and certainly haunting, but certainly less "listenable." That said, Max cites his arrangement as a nod to his "own momentary perception of it." If capturing such momentary fragments is indeed his goal, then Maxmus succeeds admirably.
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