Black Zone Myth Chant has shared a new mix in advance of this year’s Maintenant Festival.

Max P has been creating his own mix of world music obsession, electronic sound research and psychedelic experimentations since debuting in 2009 on Not Not Fun Records under his High Wolf moniker. Since then, he has released albums on various labels (Shelter Press, Leaving Records/Stones Throw) and toured across the globe.

Other than High Wolf he has created many other projects, including Black Zone Myth Chant (or BZMC).

The BZMC story starts in 2011. Back from the US where he spent some time touring, hanging out with friends and listening to DJ Screw, Max P sat down in his studio and, without any plan, recorded Straight Cassette within a couple of days. Kind of a weird mix of free jazz influences, pitch down vocals and ambient synthscapes, this first album came out as a tape on High Wolf’s DIY label Winged Sun. With only a few copies made and no promotion, it was meant for it to be ignored and forgotten.

But for some reason, it slowly gained quite an obscure reputation which led to a vinyl reissue on french label Laitdbac in 2014. It has been then more widely re-discovered, and, in a perfect timing: after thinking BZMC was the buried project of a sole record, Max P had started working on a follow-up. Said album came out in 2015, entitled Mane, Thecel, Phares. Successfully received both by the press and the audience, it was time for Black Zone Myth Chant to make his live debuts.

Since this second LP there has been more music to come out on Editions Gravats: A CD, Judgement Mixtape, containing a collection of unreleased pieces chopped, screwed and mixed by Low Jack, and Jimi W, a 12″ that confirmed BZMC’s reputation for out there but groovy electronic jams.

You can hear and download the mix below, with tracklisting included at the bottom of this page.

When and where was the mix recorded?

It was recorded at home, in Rennes, France, at the end of September.

Could you tell us about the idea behind it?

I’ve done a fair share of more experimental music mixes lately so this time I wanted to do something more danceable and “fun.”

How did you choose the records in it?

I think they are relevant with the aesthetics of my project. It’s electronic / beat-based music (for the most part) but it still gives you food for thoughts. Some of the guys here (Pan Sonic, Drexciya) prove club-oriented music can be adventurous and weird, and others (Psychic TV, Hat Voi) show that weird music can be danceable. I like when music is more than just one thing. I couldn’t help to include a bit of out there hip hop (Dj Screw, Blackout) and to conclude with new age like synth explorations (Richard Horowitz).

When can we expect some new material from you?

November 17, with the new Black Zone Myth Chant record, Feng Shen, on Editions Gravats.

What have you got planned?

Did some shows last week (Budapest and Paris), now on my way to Unsound festival where I play on the 12 and coming back to play Maintenant Festival in Rennes this week end (on the 14th). More shows coming later, album announcement and promotion very soon, and a couple of more records later.

Tracklisting

01. Pan Sonic “Parturi”
02. Drexciya “Habitat ‘O’ Negative”
03. Aphex Twin “A4”
04. Underground Resistance “Base Camp Alpha”
05. Equiknoxx “Ilium Sphere’s The Journey Remix”
06. Rhythm & Sound “No Partial”
07. Blackout “Kronik City”
08. Dj Screw “High Till I Die (2Pac)”
09. Russell Haswell “Drive (Minimal)”
10. Psychic TV “The Wedding”
11. Muslimgauze “Reuters”
12. Hat Voi “Trong Com”
13. Richard Horowitz “Baby Elephant Magic”
14. Sacred Spirits “Elevation”

Maintenant festival forms part of SHAPE platform. More info here.