Welcome to this recurring article series where I namedrop some of my favorite artists making huge waves thru creative sound design. I also link a handful of favorite tracks that are really out there.
Mad Zach is easily one of my favorite producers because of his humbleness and ability to inspire others by simply playing. Ableton also quickly spotted this and have included many of his sounds and kit in Ableton over the years.
I interviewed Mad Zach a few years ago over at MusicTech, and everything he puts out is wildly inspiring. Check out any of his finger drumming and live performance videos, and you’ll quickly see what I mean. Talk about connection. His mind is on his music, full tracks in live memory, like a mad instrumentalist.
Mad Zach is a producer with a wide sonic spectrum, and he’s not limited by the genres in which he plays, spanning hip hop, electro, trap, dub, ambient and trance, but hardly ever in each singular form.
When not in LA and his hometown of San Francisco, Mad Zach spends time in Berlin, surely checking out other scenes and probably taking a bird’s view of things in more than one sense. I think that stepping back and resetting once in while can give a more focused return to and sense of purpose with your music, Mad Zach is that perfect example of being able to renew yourself while still holding true To The U.
There’s something really likeable about an artist who shares freely of his knowledge and techniques. Over the course of the past 20 or so years of Mad Zach making music and releasing both solo and in collaborations, he’s shared in even parts everything he does and thinks when it comes to setting up and playing live on a range of controllers. And after a long break from publishing videos with DJ Tech Tools, several years, he quite recently had a go with their Spectra midi controller, which gives a nice contemporary glimpse into his way of working:
DJ Tech Tools, by the way, have some great controllers that integrate tightly with DAWs like Ableton. I have their Twister controller (visible at the very front in the video), a 4 X 4 rotary knob controller with a push function and several banks as well. It seconds as a great parameter and macros controller for Ableton Live in tandem with the Ableton Move.
Anyway, here’s a pretty wild set of Mad Zach’s from Boom Festival a few years back, available in its entirety via their Soundcloud:
Here are some of my favorite tracks by Mad Zach – maybe you’ll like them too:
Check out his latest full album release Potential Energy on Bandcamp, which runs a whopping 2+ hours.
More info: MadZach.com
Image credit: Mad Zach
