With applied communications Complete

Also credited as Max Wood

Solo alias of Max Wood (Washington, D.C.), lo-fi / anti-rock art-pop built from discordant vocals, found sounds, and deconstructed gestures. Luke Francis Walton mixed the 2024 comeback EP Has a Midlife Crisis and post-EP singles; Riley Knapp mastered. Uhhh Sort Of (2005) was teen outsider-pop that Pitchfork put on its 15 worst releases of 2005 list; Has a Midlife Crisis (2024), billed as 17 years in the making, is beat-driven alt-pop.

Early run: Africa Baby, Yeah Yeah Yeah (2004) and Uhhh Sort Of (2005), basement-pop computer collage. Pitchfork called Uhhh Sort Of emotionally exposed but famously hostile; it landed on the 15 worst releases of 2005 list.

Comeback: Applied Communications Has a Midlife Crisis (Apr 2024), billed as 17 years in the making, more accessible, beat-driven alt-pop while keeping the idiosyncratic core. Chorus.fm: off-kilter pop with Casio, drum machines, random electronic elements, discordant melodies and key changes. Bandcamp tagline: noisy screamy mostly electronic pop music.

Walton’s role is mix only, not produce. Mixing credit runs EP through 2026 singles (greatest applied communications music comp 2025, playing plinko, boyfie sale, lobsteriscos rocketiza, etc.). Shazam lists lobsteriscos rocketiza with Max Wood vocalist/songwriter, Scoobert Doobert mixing engineer, Riley Knapp mastering.

See also: Press & credits · Catalog