The sickly magic of the past that never was; the poisonous medicine of the present that is absent; the mad belief in retroactive miracles.

Max Abelev (Umenden, Radio Free Clear Light, Ambient Dream Garden, Mikrofon) is a San Francisco based practitioner of experimental music, sound art and intermedia.

Strictly speaking, I don't know the meaning of a single word I use.

Max Abelev was born addicted to music and has kept up with a life-long tendency to seek out the strangest and darkest sounds that he can get his ears on at any given time.

The alchemist’s relationship to the Divine was that of aspiration, not inspiration.

He has been involved in the electronic music community, as DJ and organizer of events since early 2000’s and as an aspiring composer/producer since 2005.

If all things in the world are indeed a reflection of a single watcher, then I know who she is and why there is beauty.

In 2007 Max led a team of musicians, craftspeople and Burning Man enthusiasts in building the Ambient Dream Garden, a sanctuary of psychedelic geometry, ambient soundscapes and dream stories in Black Rock City, Nevada.

What you think I am is a puppet with strings attached to my mouth.

The same year also saw the beginning of his collaboration with guitarist Kagan Arik, with whom Max formed Umenden, a collaboration that blends shamanic improvisation, post-industrial sonic glitchery and minimalist influences.

Make way for the hidden reasons.

In 2009-2010 Max also took part in the recording and production of “Colorblind,” an album by SF’s avant-jazz-punk group Varona, with whose members he has collaborated since.

No one to die, nowhere to breathe, nothing to dance.

Since 2010 he has been actively involved with the activities of Radio Free Clear Light, a hermetic intermedia art collective.

Break the machine before it builds itself.

In addition to his work with music, Max is also a research psychologist, having received a doctorate in 2005 from Stanford University.