This is the first EP in a series of re-releases of all my nineties max 404 music. A lot of this music has never been officially released in digital format. All the music will be carefully remastered with love by the amazing Pieter Kloos to sound better than it has ever before. Way better.

max 404 – before and after
Originally released in 1997 on Evolution / Universal Language

The first half of the nineties were an incredible time in electronic (dance) music. An explosion of creativity where new sounds and new genres were emerging on a constant basis. Sometimes driven by the hunger for new music at parties and clubs all over Europe, sometimes by the need to chill-out, sometimes (let’s be honest) by drugs and sometimes by new, affordable technologies that offered the opportunity to become a “bedroom producer”.

I was one of these. And I count myself lucky to have been a (small) part in this whole music (r)evolution. When Stefan Robbers and Wladimir Manshanden started Eevo Lute Muzique in my hometown of Eindhoven in 1991, it was time to start properly record my bedroom sounds! Between my debut in 1992 and 1996 I released about 10 EP’s, an album, a handful of remixes, tracks on various compilations and I played live (and later also dj’d) at lots of places in The Netherlands and abroad. And all of this in a wide spectrum of electronic music genres.

There were many, many fellow artists from this new electronic generation I admired….but the ones I loved most were Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton. Their music was original, rich, highly emotive and covered many styles and genres. And they had their own label, Evolution, that was (like Eevo Lute Muzique!) named after Carl Craig’s seminal BFC record “Evolution”. IMHO this was the most influential techno/electronic record ever, it opened up a whole new world of sounds and directions for electronic music to explore. And Mark, Tom, Stefan and Wladimir must have thought so as well.

But I digress. In 1994 Stefan Robbers and me were invited to play at the Flow Festival at The Arches in Glasgow. And to my delight I saw that Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard were performing as well! When we arrived we told the organisers we’d love to meet them, to which they replied “They asked the same about you guys”. So I met my heroes and we stayed in touch. And from that personal contact arose the opportunity to release music on their Evolution label, which obviously was a dream come true. In 1996 the first EP, Before and After, came out.

The EP was mixed at Daltoon Studio, Eindhoven by Eric Vanderlest and featured Martijn Damen on guitar (on Lament). The original vinyl master and cut was done by John Dent at his then new studio Loud Mastering in Tounton, UK. This proved to be a bit of an ordeal: On Niceta Eric and I had used a stereo imaging effect on a sound (it comes in at 2:58) that meant the sound’s sub frequencies were also stereo. Which, we found out, a vinyl cutting needle doesn’t like. The record actually caught fire while the first master was cut. A lot of then cutting edge, now primitive digital wizardry was needed to get that track cut for vinyl. Hence the low end being weak on vinyl.

The EP was quite a success and was supposed to become the first in a series of EP’s for Evolution. The reason why that was not meant to be will be explained in the liner notes for the next re-release: The Last Days of House Music.

For now, enjoy Before and After. For the first time available in digital format, remastered with all our heart, expertise and 21st century technology!

Erwin van Moll
Eindhoven, March 2024