A - Hey, my name is Max, I’m a 21-year-old Producer/DJ from a small town just outside of Nottingham
Q - Name 5 Artists who are key Inspirations
A - In order of discovery
Taiki Nulight
Imanu
Notion
Alix Perez
Main Phase
Q - What are your fundamental musical influences?
A - As far back as I can remember, I used to find music I liked and made almost weekly playlists of new sounds, which kept me on a constant path of discovery through genres. From deep house on channels like selected & futurism, to grime cyphers with no end of sick MC’s and the occasional few tracks from heavy metal, indie & the list goes on.
Q - Can you identify your sound & what got you there?
A - I’d say my sound comes from a focus on space, texture, atmosphere, and a love for bass most of all. The genres that developed my production the most were Neurofunk & Minimal DnB, with the extreme emphasis on the sound design, using space to create tension & release and the discovery of unorthodox production techniques. There's even a whole album I made with a Spanish producer, which took my skills to another level, that will never be released unfortunately. I find myself taking inspiration from that project for it to not go to waste.
Q - Why did you make the ‘Matriarch EP’?
A - That's the real question. After finding my production journey going in and out of cycles with inspiration & therefore motivation, I knew a change in workflow would get the ball rolling, so as a graduation present to myself, I bought a semi-modular ‘Moog Matriarch’ Synth.
Without having the experience to make exactly what I wanted on the first day it arrived, I made the track ‘Digging’ with the newly-found excitement & synth-focused mindset, heavily inspired from Main Phase and how he lets motifs & delays take the spotlight.
When working with the synth for the first time, I had an Idea of how I wanted it to sound, but couldn't figure out the specifics on the synth in the middle of creating, so I took the inspiration to serum and made the beautiful, washed chord in ‘Motor Oil’ that opens the whole track up halfway through.
Determined to actually use the Matriarch, I focused on a technique I used endlessly in my never-released DnB album, adjusting the filter & the incredibly smooth built-in analogue delay to express my emotion at the time, which turned out to be my first use of the synth applied into an actual production titled ‘Thoughtless’.
Q - What is your favourite track from the project & why?
A - It’s usually always tough answering that, but on this occasion, the track I keep listening back to is ‘Thoughtless’. The synth created a feeling and texture I’d never be able to exactly replicate on serum, and the physical workflow and live decision-making gave the track that feeling of life. Even after listening to it a few times, I find it never gets boring.
It’s safe to say the Matriarch has now, and will be a key part in finding inspiration, and so I appropriately named the project after it.
Q - What can we expect from you in the future?
A - Well, I’m balancing this with running Transistor UK as a label, and the balance between the day-to-day operations, mastering, graphic design & what not can be hard to keep creative energy for my personal project EMMEX, but I am determined to release the insanely well-produced collaborations I have in the vault & to dish out some more projects in the near future.
For a start, the Matriarch EP is there as something I’m proud to have as a first impression
Q - What Artists can you see blowing up in 2025?
A - I’m in a fortunate position running the label at Transistor, so there are many names I could say for this. Firstly, it’s already started to happen with him, but my very close mate N4TEE who was with me years ago making all sorts of genres we were into. His productions now are so refined, and he hits the spot every time. Thirtzy’s workrate is really good and his production skill is incredible. Nickolai, who I had the pleasure of directing promo, marketing, mastering, and making the artwork for, is the soundest guy in the biz, alongside producing some right bangers. A few more are Vhuri, Nuffsedd, Merker, Keeler, Al Daly & many more
