Maximum Indifference is an all-instrumental progressive rock trio based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although each performer has been labeled a virtuoso on his respective instrument, it is not their technical prowess or the sophistication of the music for which Maximum Indifference is most renowned–it is the visual imagery that their music invokes upon the listener. Bassist Gustaf Fjelstrom aptly describes their music as a “film-less soundtrack.” As many fans have learned, to drive at night with a Maximum Indifference CD playing in your car is to be magically transported into a futuristic world that is both beautiful and dangerous… one without boundaries or dimension.

As they compose, Mark Bladek, Rich Duarte, and Gustaf Fjelstrom focus not on the adherence to a stock songwriting formula or recipe, but on the continual creative process of sonic experimentation and manipulation. Although Maximum Indifference is a traditional power trio of guitar, bass, and drums, the bad infuses their music with a luminous blend of synthesizers, samplers, sound effects—and the occasional mysterious spoken word. One pres review labeled maximum Indifference as “Virtuosity without any amount of self-indulgence.”

Maximum Indifference was formed in the fall of 1990 after Bladek, Duarte, and Fjelstrom randomly linked up through a series of music store ads. Their brief search for a vocalist ended abruptly when a planned two-hour instrumental rehearsal lasted throughout the whole night. As the sun came up, the exciting realization set in that the chemistry and technical abilities of the three musicians created brilliant music that transcended their greatest expectations. “We definitely knew what we had with the three of us…” drummer Rich Duarte remembers fondly. “That first rehearsal was unreal.”

The search for a vocalist was over for Maximum Indifference. There would be none.

After a rough live demo quickly propelled the band into the local progressive/fusion scene, Maximum Indifference released its debut self-titled album in 1996 (Botched 0000). Produced by longtime friend Steve Graham, Maximum Indifference showcases the band’s intense, melodic, and ethereal sound.

The summer of 2000 marked the release of the second Maximum Indifference album, The Transmutations of Supposed Angels: Or beings that were once Girls (Botched 0002).

Produced by Gustaf Fjelstrom and record primarily at Mercurial Labs, Transmutations genuinely reflects the aura of Indifference. The album features twelve intensely visual musical selections, from the hypnotic driving rhythms and vocal samples in Beware the Glabyglop, to Jack Palance the Ninja, a tune later labeled as a product of “The Surf Band of the New Millennium”.

Not surprisingly, Transmutations was picked up by a European distributor, and brisk sales and critical press reviews generated new Maximum Indifference fans throughout the United States, Brazil, England, France, Italy and Spain.

With its diverse and incredible tunes, The Transmutations of supposed Angels won the hearts and minds of many in the press, including one review who put it best when he said: “Yeah, they transmutate all right”

As their die-hard fans will attest, Maximum Indifference’s music creates a luxurious and fantastic soundscape that brilliantly conjures up countless images to accompany their film-less soundtracks. To this end, maximum Indifference seeks not for the empty promise of success—whatever that is—but for the perpetuation of their creative music experience. The emphasis is not on pleasing everyone, but on indifference—perhaps maximum indifference—to what the lowest common denominator may dictate. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.