A reflection on Max Cooper / Wigflex @ Brickworks

When I, and the rest of the Nottingham clubbing community, heard that Wigflex booked Max Cooper to show us his new Emergence album /AV show/ concept, we got very excited. I can speak on behalf of everyone there when I say that we were not disappointed.

One week on, after the dust has finally settled from that mind expanding evening, it’s time to reflect upon what actually happened in that warehouse when it was put under the creative control of Mr Max.C

He played non-stop for 8 hours

Pretty incredible. I arrived at about 12:30, missing the warm up DJ set and propelling myself right into the biological evolution themed rabbit hole that was Emergence. Judging by the perfection of the set that followed on from the Emergence live show, I’m sure that the warm up mix would have been equally as fitting, setting the mood in true, professional style.

I’m still getting my head around the Emergence live show

In the best possible way. The huge LED screen wall behind the DJ booth in Brickworks was perfect for projecting  the carefully planned visuals onto, taking us all on a never-ending journey through science and sound. These sounds, performed live, were as diverse as  the visuals, yet the underlying theme that tied them together was obvious. With images of cell-like forms, space-scapes, the mechanics of a working human body, alien like fetuses and pulsating concrete-jungle cities, when he described it as a story of natural laws and processes, their inherent beauty, and their action to yield the universe – he wasn’t lying! The sonic mood switched from calm and serene to a glitch fuelled ruckus, with the background video reflecting the energy of the tracks played at every moment. Working together in perfect harmony, the ‘break downs’ that occurred were simply euphoric and, listening back to videos recorded of the show, the audience was amazed, watching in silence. After overhearing conversations in the smoking area, I’m sure many epiphanies were had on that night…

The set that followed the show was fantastic

And made it feel like I’d had two different nights in one.

When the Emergence show reached its climax it was clear the the stunned crowd needed a moment or two to gather their thoughts before they dusted off their disco shoes. As those famous piano chords of Orbital – Belfast kicked in, Max gave us the perfect setting to do so. I honestly can’t think of a tune that suited that mood so perfectly, making it a memory that will sit in my mind forever. Smiles and hugs all round.

Raw, rolling stompers and space age beats continued throughout the night, and after every break I took outside, the dance floor seemed to step up a gear every time I re-entered it. Tracks that stood out to me were the classic Dopplewhipper – Gabriel Anada, before it turned into a jungle/breakbeat explosion, kicked off with the equally as iconic Warp records banger,  LFO – LFO

The fabulous Identification of Music Facebook group has also provoked some memories by shedding light on some more tracks from the night, to give an idea of the variation played by Max. After that set, it makes me wish I was in Notts during the Firefly days when he was a resident even more.

With previous bookings such as Paranoid London, Marcel Dettmann, Helena Hauff and even Max Cooper playing for Wigflex previously, this show was a special treat like no other, even standing out against the consistently premium selection of events from Wigflex. Hats off to Lukas and Max.

Why you’d be mad to miss Max Cooper at Wigflex this March

For the good folk of Nottingham, Wigflex needs no introduction. Nor does Max Cooper, for many electronic music fans. But if you were undecided about heading to see Max Cooper all night long, including a look at his ‘Emergence’ live AV show, then please spare a few moments to have your mind blown… (just as I was when I started to dig deeper into what the actual show was all about)

More about Max

This night is particularly exciting for Nottingham due to Max’s special connection to the city. An ex Uni-of student, he received a PH.D in computational biology (or something equally as impressive) from the fine institution while also holding down a residency at legendary techno institution, Firefly. I didn’t move to Nottingham myself until 2011 – the year that it closed – and was incredibly disappointed that I’d missed out on the chance to go to this night, hearing nothing but great things. A quick flick on youtube gives you an idea of the sounds that went down. Beautiful.

However, if Firefly was considered an institution for techno heads back in 2011, you could argue that Wigflex has kindly picked up where it left off, making this combination of artist and club night particularly compelling.

Emergence

Max Cooper has long been responsible for some incredible tracks over the years, known for his appreciation of the connection between sound and visual experience.  It’s hard to find a track of his that doesn’t come with a hypnotic video to accompany it. Like this one created by the talented Nick Cobby, who also was one part of the excellent Nottingham club night, Zleep.

Released last November, Emergence is Max Cooper’s latest album and concept. This is how he describes it on his official website:

Emergence is the story of natural laws and processes, their inherent beauty, and their action to yield the universe, us and the world we live in.

I started working on the project around 3 years ago, when I was thinking about how I could link my interests in science, music and visual arts together. The theme was one already touched on in previous music video projects, and one that provided potential to incorporate many different ideas and audio-visual experiments into a single narrative, so I got stuck in to see where the project would take me. The result was initially a live AV show, which then turned into an album, and for the final piece to close the project next year, a surround sound movie format.

Is your mind blown yet? His background in science is clear to see, leveraged by collaborations with mathematicians and other sciencey folk to make this recent work an incredible amalgamation of facts, logic, curiosity and creativity – my favourite combination. From what I can tell, the entire album follows a timeline of human civilisation/evolution, starting with the ‘big bang’ and when life first started to form before hurtling far into the future.

To me, electronic music is an incredible art form – in one sense, it can make you dance uncontrollably but deep into the genre there are also artists, such as Max, who use complex sounds, rhythms, melodies and the emotions they provoke to bend your mind and explore the world we live in or at least, the way we think about it. Emergence is a fine example of this.

The series of visual delights that accompany each song from the new album already look stunning when seen on the tiny screen of my laptop. I can’t even begin to imagine how the entire AV show is going to be this March, but I can’t wait to find out.

 

Max Cooper will be showcasing his Emergence live AV show at Wigflex on 4th March, hosted at Brickworks. Find out more online.