Artists > Justin Maxwell

By the time Justin Maxwell began deejaying at age 14, he had already attached transducers to his cello and a Tesla coil to his guitar. Sadly, his techno entry lost to an abysmal U2 cover band in a local Battle of the Bands competition, but Justin pushed on, undeterred. His years of dabbling in house, electro, breaks, rave, trance, industrial, and general weirdness has since filled his studio with esoteric devices, modular synthesizers, and far too much electromagnetic radiation.

After years of running roughshod through the desert, twisting knobs in his studio, and deejaying both on the radiowaves and in the club, Justin teamed up with Jean-Paul Bondy to form Volsoc, a technologically advanced electro project that found support from Dave Clarke, Larry Tee, and Andrea Parker, among others. Mixing thunderous electrofunk with crunchy beats, thick textures, and plenty of digital sound processing, Volsoc's four releases garnered worldwide acclaim for pushing the electrobreaks scene in dramatically new directions.

Whilst nerding out in cyberspace, Justin met John Tejada, and the two pounded out enough strange noises in Justin's studio to record the "100% Post-Consumer" 12-inch, followed by the hits "Higher" and "Mindbend." The beginning of a new chapter in Justin's career, it moved him toward a more dancefloor-friendly sound.

Shaped less by the work of his peers and more by the technology and tools that inspire creativity, Justin's sound design skills have been put to use by Apple, Sony, Miramax, Viacom, and Alesis. Justin has also helped design of some of the most innovative hardware and software synthesizers available today.

Though he primarily releases on Palette Recordings and Pretension Records, Justin's music has also found its way onto Trapez, Compost Records, Poker Flat, Get Physical, Moonshine, Fabric, and Si Begg's "Noodles Discotheque." Justin has also remixed Dominik Eulberg on Traum, Sweet 'n Candy on Dumb-Unit, and many others.

In addition to his dancefloor material, Justin also collaborates with pianist Jacob Elijah Aginsky and visual artist Michael Stern to craft a unique blend of avant-garde electronics and downtempo jazz.