IOMix016 // Max Graef
Take a trip through the exotic haze of the German dreamweaver’s contemporary sound, where luxurious lounge, starry-eyed kosmische and celestial breaks all melt into a blissful whole.
Having a mammoth success with your music early on is a loaded situation for an artist to navigate. On one hand you’re suddenly exposed to an abundance of opportunities, and maybe even the tantalising possibility to devote your life to nothing but the craft. On the other, you’re now established as a very particular thing which your new-found audience will expect of you, weighing in on your next moves whether you like it or not.
Many people will have an idea in their head about Max Graef’s music based on the widespread reach of his 2014 album Rivers of the Red Planet. It’s no surprise his crafty, bumping strain of sample-a-delic house caught a wave and thrust him into the limelight — it’s distinctive, catchy and weighted with the nous of a real head schooled in digging culture. In the 10 years since, though, Graef has steered away from the upper echelons of the industry that seemed to beckon him with open arms and gnashing teeth.
There have been albums to sink into – a collab with kindred spirit Glenn Astro on Ninja Tune and 2018’s Lo Siento Mucho Pero No Hablo Tu Idioma – but at the same time Graef has been quietly building a fascinating universe for himself and his mates called TAX FREE RECORDS. It’s a culture all unto itself, tangled up in a lattice of collaborations and aliases, slipping stylistically between the cracks to celebrate the richness of cult music forms from around the world, generally united by groove but not beholden to it.
Now Graef has returned with Natural Element, his third album on regular haunt Tartelet. It’s an expansive album which seems to channel his loosely psychedelic adventures in TAX FREE towards head-nodding beat constructions, finding a sweet spot that celebrates his story so far while sounding entirely fresh and overflowing with inspiration. It’s a richly satisfying listen which first found form as a vague mixtape concept, and Graef has kindly reflected on this original idea for the album by crafting us an extended mixtape which folds tracks from the album into a broader tapestry of adjacent tracks and additional productions.
Everything is bound together by the same soul-charged, brain-massaging, pleasure-centred sonics that have defined Graef’s output to date, and we’re beyond thrilled to share it with you now. This is absolute hammock-riding, daydream reverie business, so get your go-to comforts in hand, whatever they may be, and get this mix licking round your lobes. As ever, read on for a cute Q&A with the chap, and if you dig it, spread the good word so more fine folk can savour the flavour.
 | IOMix016 // Max Graef |
Hey Max! Thanks so much for recording this mix for us! What can you tell us about it? Who are we hearing on here?
Thank you for asking! Since the idea for the new album was initially to make sort of a mixtape and it ended up being separate tracks more or less, I thought it’d be fun to turn them into an actual mixtape. So I used some tracks off the album, some tracks that influenced making it and some recent favourites. Greetings to Ahmed!
What went into recording Natural Element – was it a focused period of work or something which fell into place over a longer timeframe?
It was very conceptual in a way, and a focussed working period of three to four months. We thought it’d be cool to do something for the Rivers of the Red Planet anniversary, but I was really into making different kinds of music at that time. I was doing a lot of guitar music as Iris or working with my friend and TAX FREE label partner Funkycan on a project called Running Out Of Time. So I thought it’d be fun to try to make an album with soundsystem and subwoofer energy and more straight forward beats and drums, but at the same time stay in the sonic cosmos I feel comfortable and natural in. After recording many sketches on the MPC I went really into editing and programming, trying out many things with the material I had, a lot of time stretching, back and forth with analog and digital gear, working with limitation like I also used to on the first album. Then the process was quite natural and it shaped progressively while I tried to use all elements of my original sketches. I worked a lot together with my girlfriend who is a very harsh critic (she’s a great bass and jungle dj btw) and we revisited a lot of previous sketches and developed ideas out of them. I used some bits of things I did in the past for other projects too, since I felt like this album is a nice representative project of the musical world that surrounds me, and I’m very happy with the outcome.
How have things been going for you in general recently?
It’s alright 🙂 I had to work a lot to pay the bills at the same time as trying to keep TAX FREE alive with the amazing help of Juri. After doing a lot of guitar experiments it was very interesting to go into this different way of making music again. Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time in the countryside, which makes me appreciate things a lot more.
It feels like there’s a connection between the broad sweep of sonic styles and dreamy mindstates on this mix, on your new album and across the TAX FREE output. Does it feel like a vibrant time for this jammed out, organic approach to making beats?
I think it all comes from always trying to reinvent and get out of your comfort zone, trying new things. Ironically, I do find a lot of fresh ideas and energies from old music, so it’s really about our own cosmos and what sounds new to us or keeps us interested. The approach of making music is shaped a lot by improvisation and exactly this spirit of trying to not repeat anything. People like TBZ and Montel Palmer or Funkycan influenced me a lot in this free approach, as well as working in band projects like 2Morph, since my background was always chopping things in the computer or programming MIDI all night long. For playing music, it’s really about mood and state. Usually when I’m a bit drunk and the subs sound good I feel more like playing reggae, but sometimes it’s nice to play more punk TAX FREE style. I have no idea how vibrant the momentum is for anything and I don’t think I care. It’s nice to see so many great record shops supporting us and other interesting projects like El Muelle 1931, Bolero, All Night Flight, Matéria Prima, A-musik…
What can you tell me about the community orbiting TAX FREE? Are you doing many events or studio collaborations together?
We do things for sure. We used to do more, that’s due to time and very little resources. I’m sure there will be a time where we can be more active again. Musically we have such great stuff planned and ready – I’m very excited to continue this project and very thankful for the support we have been getting. It’s definitely not just about recording music but also about playing live and sharing it with the world. We used to do fun tours with improv projects, usually with many live acts, a lot of merch and fun! Recently we have been a bit unlucky with broken tour buses or little stress fights cause we all struggle sometimes with money and life. but even more a reason to continue TAX and the anarchistic energy around it!
How important was it to have other projects and outlets before returning to releasing an album as Max Graef?
Every project shaped what im doing in a way. I don’t see it so much as a return haha since I have actually been super active all this time with putting out music and playing, but it is definitely funny to present it under my real name knowing all other projects lead to the musical outcome of this record.
It was interesting to see you named one track on the new album ‘Gaza International Airport’ – why was that?
The title stands for many different things for me. First of all, of course FREE PALESTINE – Stop the war! I remember thinking the track sounds like music you could hear at the airport while waiting for your luggage, and that this aesthetic is something very interesting to me, then I thought it’s crazy how privileged and comfortable I am, that I can even think about an aesthetic like this. I thought about the symbol of freedom and of independence at the same time – I find it interesting how an airport has manifested as a symbol for being able to move freely while it’s such an unsustainable and problematic thing at the same time, just as our comfortable life in the West is causing misery all over the planet.
You tell us ‘Sports (Is Good For You)’ but are you a keen sportsman yourself?
I do love sports. I’m not especially skilled, but I can recommend sports… although that track title is a bit ironic of course. I don’t like it when people tell you what’s healthy for you or what way of living is the right way.
Tracklisting:
- Max Graef – Sound Bytes (Relax) / Zitar
- Tori No Hoshi – Aria Planet
- Max Graef – Lake Serenade (X-Flute)
- ****** – Clonelab
- Max Graef – Gost
- Cheb Khaled – Chebba
- ****** – World Of Sports Track 03
- Max Graef – Sports (Is Good for you)
- ????? Youtube Raï Jam
- Kenichiro Fukui – Earthlight
- Max Graef – Gaza International Airport
- Muslimgauze – The Stolen Land of Palestine
- Sub Dub – Jihad (Sub Dub Meets The Opiated Hash Assassins)
- Salah Abdel Ghavour – Ouyoun Shamiyat
- Tertius – Infra
- Max Graef – Birds
- Neil Voss – Haluci Theme Music
- ***** – Ecco The Dolphin OST
- J Majik – Arabian Nights
- Max Graef – Natural Element
- Sounds of Life – Intellect Certificate
- Machine – Off The Cuff (Spiritual Mix)
- XI Coliseum Opening Theme
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