Meet An Epoch Member (One of a Series): MAX COBURN
Rich Gin: Hi Max! What's up?
Max Coburn: Hey Richard (Epoch)! Not much, enjoying my last few weeks of the semester.
RG: What projects are you working on right now?
MC: Well, right now I'm working on a few different things. I've got a new album about food that I'm finishing up on and I hope to have it released sometime in the next month or so! I'm also working with my friend Christina Lu, who asked me to make music for a handful of animations she's been doing. I also have my junior recital here at Purchase on Wednesday, April 25th at 8pm.
RG: I didn't know you scored animations? Can they be found on the internet?
MC: They can! Christina's animations are here. This is one of the ones I worked on,
Breasts! from christina lu on Vimeo.
There is another one on her Vimeo site, called "Out in Nature," and we're working on another that should be out next week.
RG: Now we're talking. Had you done other scoring projects like this before? How does that process work?
MC: I had done a few on my own before anyone had asked me to work with them, but I also scored a few videos last year for my friend Charlie Judkins. Unfortunately, only one of them is online.
I only recently started working with Christina, and we know each other through high school and a handful of mutual friends. Christina usually sends me drafts of her videos so I can start playing around with ideas before I have the full version. She's specific where she needs to be, "Put a cash register sound here," or "Make a popping noise here." Aside from that she gives me a lot of creative space, and will only specify a certain style or feeling. This is a tough thing for a lot of partnerships, because it's so much about trust. We're lucky that we haven't hit any humps in the creative process! I can say the same for Charlie too.
RG: Is there a link to your upcoming recital? What can we expect?
MC: This is the Facebook event for it. There are two acts, one is a trio I'm in with my roommate, Josh Weidmann, and Kai Lovelace. We're gonna be doing mostly their original works and covers of old swing tunes. The other act is my main recital band, which I'm calling "Maxo Originals".
Maxo Originals is a 5-piece instrumental band made up of Chris Krasnow, Joe Endozo, Mike Rasimas and Kai Lovelace. The material is a little more restrained than my electronic music, but I feel it captures the same musical aesthetics. It won't be a long show either, both acts together probably won't exceed an hour and a half. We're also lucky to be playing main stage at The Stood, so if you're around Purchase next Wednesday, come by! It's free and there should be snacks too.
RG: OK, so what's up w/ the food project?
MC: Foodie is an album I'm making about my favorite foods. I've always felt that capturing the style and feel of certain foods was a really interesting approach to music, so I finally buckled down and now I'm making an album about it! I've I'm more than halfway done at this point, it's looking like it's gonna be 11 tracks, probably about 40-50 minutes long in total. Foodie will be released on my bandcamp here: maxoisnuts.bandcamp.com