It’s turning out to be a pretty good year for Max McFerren. In the last nine months he’s delivered a murky chunk of dark, acid-flecked techno on Don’t Be Afraid, a pair of quirky, rave-and-UK garage influenced workouts for Allergy Season’s free Side Effects May Include compilation, and a typically kaleidoscopic, nostalgia-soaked cassette – under the arguably more familiar MCFERRDOGG alias – for 1080p. All bar the Don’t Be Afraid outing are colourful, cute and energetic, fusing his love of vibrant, vintage synthesizer sounds with breaks, samples and beats inspired by early British hardcore, sweaty rave-era house, and all manner of long-dead electronic genres. That all have sounded like nobody else is testament to his growing strength as a producer.
