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After having heard Max Coopers new release, “Expressions”, I was very curious to know more about the person behind this impressively, enchanting and well-composed music. I was astonished with the very intense, captivating and truly beautiful feeling that all the tracks captured in their own way. Cooper puts serious time into perfecting his own unique take on electronica. Before breaking through with the underground smash “Harmonish Serie” in early 2009, he had been DJing for more than 10 years. His remixes now stretch across the indie and electronica worlds – Hot Chip, Au Revoir Simone and straight into the depths of European dancefloors. The clubs also love Coopers productions and his unquestioned ability to create a unique mood as a live act or as a DJ. So we are most happy, to have the honour of giving you Rumsterons’ exclusive interview with Max Cooper.

The first thing that struck me about your music, and especially your track Ripple from Expressions, is that it is so emotionally charged. I was personally very moved! It’s got classical tendencies? Can you tell us how you are able to master this so skilfully?
When I’m not working on music, I spend most of my time listening to modern classical / electronica crossover. So things like Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter, Helios, Jon Hopkins and Ben Frost. As for how to “master” this in my own music, I’m not sure if I’ve really done that yet, I’m never satisfied with my output, it’s a constant learning process. As for the technique, I have no classical training and don’t apply music theory; the melodic elements are all just done by feel.

How did you begin your interest in music, and what made you go in this particular direction?
I think we all carry an innate interest in music as a result of our biology – at a basic level, our tendency to want to find patterns in things, music being patterns in sound. But I guess you want to know why I went fully down the slippery slope of music. This was because I really enjoyed playing it, and later, making it, and I was engrossed enough to spend the obscene amount of hours required to make some headway.

Could you tell us about the videos that Whiskas Fx has made for you and how much influence you’ve had?
The videos have mainly been made for tracks which already had well defined concepts. By this I mean, that I presented with the tracks, ideas I found interesting and inspiring when making the music, as something to re-inforce the message of the music, in order to present a more complete listening experience, as well as to make each package more interesting as a whole. Andrew Brewer (WhiskasFx) took these concepts and developed them further in his own way, before we would discuss and pin down the ideas into exactly what we wanted. The result is a fusion staying true to the original music and concepts, but each video primarily Andrew’s own creation.

I read somewhere that when you began producing your own tracks back in 2006, you moved towards a “less-is-more” kind of approach to music. Can you tell us a bit more about this change from one thing to another?
I started off making breaks and electro, and I guess moving into more of a techno theme automatically pushed things a bit more minimal, which was then reinforced further when I started working with Traum. It all happened very naturally though, there was never a conscious decision to change styles or to start making things in any particular way. It’s the same now, my music is always moving into something new, the difficulty arises when you go too far to bring your audience with you. For example, I’m doing a lot more ambient/modern classical and electronica tracks now, which I’m guessing my album, when it eventually materialises, will be primarily made up of. Hopefully the reduction in techno tracks won’t ruin me!

Have you experienced other significant changes in your approach to music in general?
Too many deadlines sometimes means I don’t have enough time to experiment properly, which often means tracks can come out a bit stale. It’s a difficult one these days, with the amount of music you need to release to make music a viable occupation. Some people resort to track templates whereby they can release lots of slight variations of the same thing. I start everything from scratch every time, but still sometimes rely on tried and tested techniques and synths to achieve my aims. Ideally I would have enough time to experiment for a couple of weeks on every piece, which is what I would have done when I first started out, but these days that can sometimes be difficult.

Beyond your music career you are also studying science. Can you tell us about how these two sides of your life coexist?
I was doing science research up until about a year and half ago, at which point my funding ran out. I was already doing music a lot by then, and decided to give it a go properly. Not I haven’t got any time for science unfortunately, but I’m pleased to still have the freedom to be doing my own projects. So in short, those two sides of my life don’t coexist properly, it seems that in order to make a self-driven business work, you need to put in pretty much 100%.

What do you believe to be the best circumstances for you to make a great track?
Artistic freedom. When I’m told by a label to make something without constraints, or when I set myself that task, it generally results in the pieces of music that I’m most pleased with.

Today you have many software options when creating music. What is your choice of weapon, Ableton. Logic, Cubase, or?
I use Ableton Live.

What was the first software tool that helped you get the sound you have now?
Predatohm has featured pretty consistently over the years. And Operator.

If you were to collaborate with any artist, who would be the most exciting?
Björk would be nice, would love to get my filthy hands on those vocals!

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