Max Gardner
also plays Berlin — 1 night
Techno is a layered phenomenon. On the surface level is the talk, fleeting and temporary. Beneath it lies an intricate web woven by all manner of creatives and intellectuals. At the center of it all is the sound itself, and it is in this realm of sonic abstraction that you find Max Gardner.
The San Francisco DJ and producer did not initially pursue electronic music with ambitions to promote himself as a brand. Doors opened nonetheless, and they never stopped. He is now one of the artists most closely associated with Bay Area techno, releasing on labels like Sonic Groove, Blank Code, and Northern Parallels.
A pivotal turning point saw Max launch a label called Peer. He set forth to create a techno platform free of superstar ego, prioritizing musical merit over celebrity. Since its launch, Peer has become a respected outlet for forward-thinking underground techno from both established artists and emerging voices.
The rest of it — three more paragraphs
Max's often psychedelic, sometimes suspenseful, always hypnotic range of the techno spectrum has brought him to audiences across the US and Europe, with performances in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Berlin, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Madrid, Lisbon, Medellín, and more. At home, he has held residencies at essential San Francisco venues including F8, 1015 Folsom, Monarch, and the legendary 222 Hyde.
As founder of the influential Direct to Earth collective and a resident throughout its 15+ year history, Max helped establish the foundation for San Francisco's modern techno community long before the genre reached its current prominence in the Bay Area. What began as a niche scene has since grown into a thriving network of artists, promoters, venues, and audiences.
Max Gardner lives for the ephemeral moments in which time stands still, where words fail, as pure and honest audio shakes every reveler to their core. To see him behind the decks is to understand that he belongs here. He knows this world intimately. His place in it is permanent.
Their Resident Advisor profile, in full and unedited.
SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Discogs ↗
Records out on Sonic Groove, Resource Records, Blank Code, Truncate, Occultists, Excise, Oktave Records, Northern Parallels, Vexed Sphere and peer. — their own list on Resident Advisor
The nights
2026
- Fri 13 MarRefuge Fridays with Cell Injection, Shinedoe, Max Gardner, Adra & Henry ChowRefuge · first time · Refuge NYC
2025 — 1 night
- Sat 12 Jul 2025Direct to Earth TakeoverBossa Nova Civic Club · their 2nd night · Direct to Earth
2024 — 1 night
- Sat 13 Jul 2024Direct to Earth TakeoverBossa Nova Civic Club · first time · Direct to Earth
Their rooms
One tick a night, on the one axis this page has — Aug 2023, where the listings start, to Jan 2027, the last night anybody has announced. The shaded end has not happened yet.
- Bossa Nova Civic ClubJul 2024 – Jul 20252 nights
Once each: Refuge.
Who they play with
Counted from the bills themselves, over bills of twelve names or fewer. A pair's count includes a night that is announced and not yet played; where there is one, the row says when.
- AdraBossa Nova Civic Club ×2, Refuge ×1 · Jul 2024 – Mar 20263 nights
- Henry ChowBossa Nova Civic Club ×2, Refuge ×1 · Jul 2024 – Mar 20263 nights
- TariqBossa Nova Civic Club ×2 · Jul 2024 – Jul 20252 nights
The nights, the rooms and the bills are the listings themselves. The biography, the labels and the photograph are Resident Advisor's. Nothing on this page was written for it.