LAZE-OUT the year with pastel balearica and melodic loungE.

One of our favourite producers and selectors, Max Essa waves goodbye to 2021 with a lazy collection of aural gems.

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How was the Covid lockdown period for you? How did you use your time productively and did the experience change your approach to your work or career? I have to say I quite enjoyed it overall, but towards the end I did start to look forward to getting out and about again and meeting up with people. I just continued to do what I normally do most of the time during the week, which is make music. The big benefit for me was having the weekends available to actually do something constructive. Normally I’m sleeping during the daytime and DJing through the night.

How did you decide to approach your Lazydaze mix? Was there a concept behind it? There was no concept as such. There is so much good music available these days it’s a challenge just deciding what you’re going to include in a mix. This particular selection is based on the kind of stuff I play early in the evening at one my residencies in Tokyo, at a place called Aoyama Tunnel.

Are there any particularly special tracks or moments in there for you? The opening track, Halaqah ‘Azaliyyah by Field Works is definitely worth mentioning. It’s from an LP which came out this year on the Temporary Residence label called, Cedars. The whole LP is breathtaking and I highly recommend searching it out. Also the Fuga Ronto track, Mystery of Zambio is from their latest LP, Greatest Treasure on Phantom Island and is one of my favourite releases this year.

How long have you been living in Japan for? Why did you decide to move there, and what’s great about the country in regards to life as a working producer and DJ? I’ve been living in Japan for close to fourteen years. I was offered a one year job contract with a company here from the beginning of 2008. By the time the contract finished things were picking up for me music wise - quite a lot of DJ bookings coming in as well as remix work and also writing music for a theatre company in Tokyo. Staying on was an easy decision to make.

One of things that makes Tokyo standout for me is the DJ bar culture. There are so many great little places with awesome sound systems that stay open all night long with customers who are seriously into their music. I’m also always surprised by how many great venues there are in really quiet, out of the way, provincial towns, again with wonderful sound systems and enthusiastic, knowledgeable music lovers. As a producer I think it helps being in an environment that can be both invigorating and also at times tranquil and serene. The urban areas like Tokyo are very intense but when you get away from that and head into the countryside it’s very calming.

What’s coming up for you in the next few months? Any upcoming releases or gigs you’re excited about that you can share with us? Well, I’m working on a couple of collaborative projects at the moment that I’m quite excited about, although I can’t say much more than that for the time being! I have a whole bunch of remixes for a variety of labels around the world coming out, so keep an eye out for those. Tokyo nightlife is kind of returning to ‘normal’ at the moment and I’m looking forward to getting back out there!

It’s Sunday afternoon and you’re at home. What album are you putting on? Recently Mark Isham’s Vapour Drawings (Windham Hill Records) has been getting played a lot and also an LP from earlier this year by Reinhard Vanbergen called Geometric Shapes on the Belgian label Sdban.

Lazydaze.40 // Max Essa // Tracklist
Field Works - Halaqah ‘Azaliyyah
Reinhard Vanbergen - Lilac Cone
Lovelock - Center Square
Fuga Ronto - Mystery of Zambio
George Solar - Luz
Nico Motte - Tacotac
Steve Moore - Arp 188
Steve Cobby - Babylon On The Hudson
Loveshadow - Tableaux Vivant
Super FU - Elysian Mind (feat. Huggy Sammy)
Pharaohs - Air Kiribati
Templehof & Gigi Masin - Vampeta
Black Merlin - Voyage