How are you? Who is Max Corbacho? How did you become an ambient artist?

Max Corbacho is simply a human being. The question of who I am is the fundamental question of our life. We are here to remember who we are. So, I’m on it! My relationship with ambient music, began when I heard the great pioneers in the genre such as Steve Roach, Robert Rich and Vidna Obmana., among others.

 How is music important in your life?

Music is a form of expression closer to me. In fact any artistic expression, it is. However, the music contains the essence of all and above all, has the ability to introduce us to the great and ineffable mystery of our existence as any other.

Your music induces very spiritual experiences. What emotions do you want to share with your music?

I would like to convey the feeling that everything is within us. The entire universe is hidden deep in there. Often we spend our lives complaining about everything that happens in the world but nobody want to change anything in ourselves. Is the approach we have followed since man is man. Changing everything around us. But we continue like 40,000 years ago. We have gone through thousands of revolutions, wars and conflicts. But we continue like 40,000 years ago. Change, first, ourselves. It is the key. If you change, the world changes. There is only one revolution possible, the Individual Revolution. The world is a reflection of ourselves.

I hope in the emergence of a new global consciousness from the belief that all, are one. Everything is connected.

 Where do you get inspiration? Which artists did influence your music?

The inspiration is so volatile that it is difficult to answer this question. Sometimes you must, stay one night in the desert to find it, climb a mountain, and others, comes as you wash the dishes. The question is, why come to us when we are in the desert one night? Well, because at that time, we are ourselves, with nothing, free from the tyranny of our thoughts (which, coincidentally, always refer to past or future, ever, to present). It is in the absence of such a tyranny that we are ourselves. And we are free to create. We must remain at the present moment, minute by minute. The inspiration will be with us. Climbing a mountain or doing the dishes.

There are many artists that influence my music. But fundamentally, on the classical side, Bach, Debussy, Stravinsky and all symphonists of the 20th century.

In the field of jazz, of course Miles Davis, and all masters of the genre.

In electronic music, the great German pioneers, Klaus Shulze, Tangerine Dream, and in the ambient – space music, Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana and Michael Stearns.

 Let´s take a look on your music. You´ve released 9 albums. Which one do you like most? Which one is most important for you and why?

Well, to be honest, I think the work that has made me reach a large number of fans, is «The Talisman». I think not because it is better or worse than others but because, somehow, was an album that all my listeners were waiting, and hit an incredible way with the public.

Recently, your new album Ars Lucis was released. Together with it, your two older albums The Resonant Memory Of Earth and BreathStream were rereleased on CD. Can you tell us shortly about each one of your re-release?

Yes, BreathStream first was released as a digital download-only delivery, at full CD quality through Musiczeit. But during one year, I received many emails from listeners who, I confess, like me, love the physical format, and complaining about the inability to achieve BreathStream on CD. That claim made me decide to edit them in CD format.

 And on «The Resonant Memory of Earth», is one of my old works in Space for Music and out of stock. He continued to have high demand, so, too, have made a reissue on our label, ad21music. This time, remastered in 24 bit and with some changes to the artwork.

What is your relationship to eastern spiritual techniques like yoga or meditation in it´s many variants?

Yes, for years I practice yoga and meditation. Thousands of years ago that this knowledge is there, as the only way to free ourselves from our ego, and get to be ourselves. I am an avid reader of Eastern philosophies, but do not stay in the simple reading, because they are only the finger pointing to the moon, not the moon. To make this wisdom, penetrate within, we must practice.

Which synthetizers do you prefer? Do you like pure analog sound, or do you use also digital and software tools and instruments?

I confess that I never had an analog synthesizer. But yes, I have one of that called Analog Modeling, for example, my Korg Z1. I’ve never been an analog purist, I do not like fundamentalism. Surely if ever falls into my hands on a Yamaha CS80 will not say No! I love them! but has not given the opportunity and, frankly, I know friends who have sold them because they are not easy to maintain. My current setup consists of:

• – Korg Triton Extreme
• – Korg Triton (Classic)
• – Korg Z1 expanded
• – Novation Supernova
• – Soundcraft Mixer
• – Lexicon PCM 80 reverb

 And an assortment of software sequencers and plug-ins. Most of my music is based on my hardware synths. Although I’ve tried, I could not get comfortable with software synthesizers. I’m an old man!

 What are your future plans?

Always continue creating music. It is my vehicle of life. I hope to have this opportunity for very long time. Currently collects new techniques in composition, harmony, and at the level of editing sounds on synthesizers, samplers, etc. Always investigate before starting a new project. I like to offer new things, but always in my style.

Morpheus Music & The Mall Magazine

STYLE

Expansive beatless spacey ambience created by the establishing of immense translucent zones of overlapping tonal masses. These swelling multiple layers are lustrous and dense like massive backlit clouds drifting in darkness. A warmth breathes into some pieces, still panoramic and open, but with waves and undulations of harmony and serenity. In other places the sound drops away into unfathomable depths where fractal lights play lazily on the surface of the abyss. The density of the music almost impenetrable at times – suggestive of enormity and endlessness. Amnios contains whispering voices, echoing sussurations, a hint of humanity adrift on meandering tides. Ruby For The Sun builds on a rumbling weight of sound, the glisten and shimmer of gossamer membranes unfolding their colour above – electronic washes bathing everything in gliding radiance. Cellular Memory contains near percussive flashes of white noise and trickles of glassy synthesiser, liquid clear amid the oceanic swell and pull of steady drones – the track fading almost imperceptibly, slowly, off into infinite distance …

MOOD

The Talisman engenders a definite sense of awe and wonder – a feeling of universal enormity pervades the whole album shot through with delicate filaments of light and colour. In general the mood is one of ponderous, harmonious drama, the occasional dissonant tones and grumbling clouds usually brightened by shifting unseen luminaries. Rather like a series of aural nebulae – each track has its own distinct personality but all clearly share a common structural nature.

ARTWORK

The imagery on this album is very beautiful – fractal swirls and organic loops and skins laid out one on top of another – all in luscious hues of green, olive and pale yellow. The designs were apparently created using Apophysis 2.04 beta – a neat piece of software ideally suited to producing abstract graphics. Subtle olive lettering disturbs the visual impact as little as possible – tidy and tasteful. Internal panels make use of black and white versions of similar images – with an explanation of the project, recording details and contact information laid out in a simple white font.

OVERALL

Max Corbacho seems to be growing in stature with each release – this is a very ambitious sound presented with a high degree of polish and attention to detail. There are eleven compositions on the album, each created sometime between 2004 and 2006. Max’s promotional material explains that «most of these songs were composed during various, long, deep meditative improvisation sessions». Equipment used for the project included «my beloved Korg Triton & Korg Z1, and sound processing outboard expansion units such Reverbs and Delays, as well some other esoteric gear». The results are timeless, placeless, progression free infusions of harmony, floating as if suspended in the vastness of eternity. The Talisman is released via ad21 Music – a label set up in 1998 by Max and fellow musician Bruno Sanfilippo to showcase their own ambient and contemporary electronic music releases.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM

If you like Steve Roach’s work, The Talisman might well be right up your street. Professionally produced ambient grandeur – free of beats and melodies, but thick with tenebrous drones and glowing textural density.

Max Corbacho composed The Talisman between 2004 and 2006 which is essentially made up of a series of beautifully arranged, atemporal, and ocassionaly improvised ambient recordings that all share the artist’s passion for creating atmospheric and deeply contemplative sounds and textures.

Armed with his undeniably perceptive inspirations and imaginings, Max worked tirelessly (particularly with his Korg Triton and Z1) to produce a magnificent album that ranks very highly in the league of major post-2000 contributions to the genre.

» In the planning stage, I have developed an intense activity in deeply programming new sounds in my habitual equipment, my beloved Korg Triton & Korg Z1, and sound processing outboard expansion units such Reverbs and Delays, as well some other esoteric gear. I have tried to create all the songs of this work «inside» my synthesizers exclusively, inside this deeply isolated world, an amniotic-like innerspace that develops in the synth and multieffects circuits, without insert any «external» element except for the voices in the first song. Also, I have experimented more and more with long, spacious reverbs and looping treatments «.

There isn’t one track on this album that I don’t like; all of which, have been carefully crafted with a sense of passion and appreciation that Max has managed to interpret and transform into the kind of waves and peaks we love. Watch out for the incredibly effective use of delay and loops that are blended subtely with some truly enjoyable pads and sweeps.

The Talisman Max Corbacho’s sense of what’s vital in creating and inspiring moods based on a love of life and it’s very important that you share that sense immediately.

Colin Lynch

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