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Max Cooper is a producer who says he is "inspired by almost everything".  With remixes of indie darlings Hot Chip and Au Revoir Simone under his belt, he's just released the next of his "Serie" releases - the third of a set of dancefloor tracks and videos inspired by his background as a genetics researcher at University College,  London.

I Voice got in touch to ask Max about why he's into chaos. Is there a crossover between genetics research and producing enigmatic, evocative dancefloor tracks? 

"Definitely", says Cooper, saying that his scientific training has led him to stop and appreciate the complexity of natural processes that others might simply rush past.

"There's no shortage of inspiration when you look closely enough," he says.  "It's easy to get distracted by the stresses and demands of day to day life, but when I'm writing music I can find almost anything inspiring. 

When you look at the detail of the processes of anything in the real world, they are almost always subtly complex, with a beautiful complimetarity that makes things interact as they do."

That, Cooper says, has been part of the drive behind his best-known set of tracks, the "Serie" releases.   Harmonisch Serie came out Jan '09, Stochastisch Serie Nov '09, and now Cooper has released Chaotisch Serie, the third of the set.  Each release was a collaboration with animator Whiskas fX, and the tracks have had a remarkable 60K views on YouTube.

ChaosI write all my music intuitively. I don't have any formal musical training...
But while cagey about saying the Serie tracks are "about" any narrow, specific issue, Cooper allows that each has been informed by a scientific concept. 

"I have to be careful saying that, though," he says. "When I said Harmonisch Serie looked at mathematical ideas of harmony, the press assumed that I used some kind of formula to write the music, which wasn't the case". 

"I write all my music intuitively.  I don't have any formal musical training.  So I don't have preconceptions about how music should be constructed, and rely entirely on the message conveyed by a piece to guide me.

This could be useful in staying true to an original concept, but also could cause an unnecessarily extended writing process in comparison to someone with a good knowledge of music theory"

Chaotisch Serie, Cooper's new track, is about chaos, with the track featuring a looping groove repeatedly broken down and reconstructed.  

 "I tried to play with order and chaos. A sequence of numbers containing no information could be said to be random, and without intent, yet any random sequence of enough length will contain short patterns. 

We all take in a sea of information every day. So seemingly meaningful occurences could frequently be nothing more than hand-picked chaos.  Astrology is an obvious example. But this also appears to play out in all sorts of more subtle ways that influence our decisions."

New Electronica
However, the Serie releases have not been Cooper's only work for the last year.  Alongside a stream of dancefloor remixes for acts like Abe Duque, Dominik Eulberg and Ricardo Tobar, he's also had a breakaway success with a stark electronica remix of an indie band. His downtempo remix of Au Revoir Simone went top #5 on Beatport electronica chart in Dec 2009, at the same time as XLR8R magazine in the US was giving it away as a free MP3 download. If I knew what my music would sound like in five years, I'd be making that music already...

Has the increase in free downloads, and the Internet itself, changed music for the worse?  Cooper isn't sure.  "Increased accessibility, the reduced - if any - cost, and the huge amount of music around may have devalued music on the whole.  Especially dance music, which can have a short shelf-life.

"But perhaps it's also pushing up standards and providing the listeners with a better deal - once listeners spend the time finding the music that suits them, that is."

Cooper certainly thinks interacting with listeners through his Facebook page is worthwhile. 

"It's time consuming, but it's good in general.  A lot of people were pushed to the Au Revoir remix after first hearing a clip on Facebook."

The Au Revoir Simone remix has also led to more remixing, with Cooper's  beautiful version of the new Hot Chip single I Feel Better out soon as a doublepack with Florian Meindl's remix.

Next?
"When I was four years old, I wanted to be a train driver," Cooper says.

"Then as I grew up, I realised I'd never know what would suit me until I had tried it.  I'm spending a lot more time now on music than on research, but that's definitely not a long term choice."

The music, though, takes up more and more time, as does the development of his live show.  "I've recently played in Budapest, Tilbeg, Paris, Lucerne, and a lot of gigs in the UK - I'm excited about playing Fabric for the first time in May."

But where is the music going next?  "If I knew what my music would sound like in five years, I'd be making that music already..."