Over the last few years Max Justus has been cooking up his own brand of dance and electronic grooves for Kansas City’s The Record Machine label. His latest album Mercy is his third proper full length since 2008. While Mercy still finds Max expanding his signature grooves and brooding electronic tones it focuses more on vocal approach and songwriting. Max’s last few albums have been primarily instrumental affairs while Mercy finds him lending his voice to bolster his compositions. Mercy still retains a few pop gems and dance hall grooves but the overall tone of the album is more dark and foreboding then his previous works.
Growing up, Max heard stories of his father playing in the eighties and nineties new wave band Servant. Servant filled their animated live performances with lasers and smoke. In particular, Max’s family has had a profound impact on him as an artist. Every member of the family seems to have a different talent, which has compelled the him to create music and entertain audiences of his own. It has even inspired Max to complete every angle of production on his own albums.
Since age fifteen Max has been working on various projects in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin when he released his first album and opening for illustrious artists Tortoise, Daniel Lanios (solo artist and producer of bands ranging from U2 to Bob Dylan), and Bob Mould of Husker Du. At nineteen he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he now resides completing two albums, Ophelia and Talk to Strangers , which are only available digitally on Myspace. At twenty-one Max released his first record with Kansas City based label The Record Machine entitled Five Leaping Leopards to much critical sucuess. He has also completed remixes of Kanye West, C & C Music Factory, and Rainbow Arabia.
