VF Live x Aloha Got Soul: Max High

A mix of new age, gagaku, Japanese ambient and more from Max High.

We’re back at Honolulu’s Aloha Got Soul for the first VF Live of 2024.

This instalment comes from multi-instrumentalist and vinyl DJ of Japanese-Filipino-French descent, Max High.

The set is based on the genres and artists that informed Max High’s latest release Recordings 3, released by Aloha Got Soul on vinyl this past November. With a focus on ambient music, the selections reflect Max’s influences–genre-bending artists that also use his primary instruments: flute, drums and synthesiser.

The selections lean into Japanese ambient music as well as traditional Japanese music such as gagaku, since flute and drums figure as core instruments. It later delves into the textured downtempo music which influenced some of the left field dance-oriented tracks on his album.

The Vinyl Factory’s feature on Roger Bong in 2015 was Max’s first exposure to Aloha Got Soul. He subsequently became close friends with Roger and joined the label’s roster.

Watch the set above, and check out the tracklist below. Check out the VF Live archives here.

Tracklist:

1. Haku – Introduction
2. Michel Sabourin – La Relaxation Passive
3. C. R. Gillespie – Tracings In Honey
4. Max High – Cutting Down The Tree
5. The Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra – Irite (prelude)
6. Meitei – Sento (Pt. 1)
7. Andrew Pekler – Humidity Index / Khao Sok (chopped and screwed)
8. Ulla – Leaves and Wish
9. Sam Wilkes & Sam Gendel – Track One
10. Romeo Poirier – Ekphrasis
11. Yasuaki Shimizu – Boutique Joy
12. Robert ÆOLUS Myers – Cosmic Snail
13. Space Ghost – Sounds of Peace
14. Farben – T. Microsystems
15. Max High – Fire Hazard
16. Blank Check – The Real Candice
17. Surfing – End of the Night
18. Daniel Aged – Home_Lost
19. William W. h. Gunn – Band 4