Applied Communications is quite an appropriate moniker for the music of Max Hood. Max takes all types of communications and applies them straight to your ears. A cacophonous symphony of electronic sounds, beats, and tones brace up the delivery of almost stream-of-consciousness thoughts and tirades in the combined traditions and styles of Cex, They Might Be Giants, the Circle Jerks, and Henry Rollins. When Max repeats, “I don’t know how to play any instruments” over and over at the beginning of “Do You Know What I’m Saying?”, you realize, well, that’s not really his point, is it?
Emperor X
Sure, we all had Casio keyboards as teens in the ’80s. The only groove I could ever manage came from holding down the “fill” button on the disco beat. But the 7″ EP by Sea Saw that I bought in 1995 showed me what a Casio keyboard can do in the hands of a genius. I expanded my love of Casio keyboards to include its cousins, the Farfisa, the Rhodes, etc, and I ran the gamut from hollAnd (the re-named Sea Saw) to the Rentals to Quintron. With hollAnd going spacey, I now have Emperor X to provide me with my fix.