In the early 2000s, teenage Max Wood played his glitchy, experimental, and gripping pop music to small-but-mighty throngs of fans in laundromats, laser tag arenas, and other unconventional locations. Between 2004 and 2007, he released several collections of his music under the name Applied Communications, including the 2005 album Uhhh Sort Of, which Pitchfork (ugh) ranked along their worst of that year. (But what does Pitchfork know, anyway? Wood’s music was up there with the likes of Dan Deacon, Emperor X, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and other major experimental electronic artists of the time.)
Wood took a step back from music to focus on a career and family, but after two decades out of the game, he returned in 2024 after TikTok brought his discography back from the brink, thanks to the Internet Archive. The uncovering and subsequent increase of new fans gave Wood inspiration, leading him to release the EPs applied communications has a midlife crisis in 2024 and greatest applied communications music in 2025.
In September, Applied Communications will drop its first full-length album since its renaissance, applied communications bites the big one. The first single, “return of jafar”, is out now, and it has all of the charm that fueled Wood’s following in its earliest days: An infectious electronic drumbeat, Wood’s vibrant storytelling in his deadpan vocal style, and bouncy synthesizers and sounds including a funky flute solo at the end.
On the new single, Wood contrasts adult neuroses with whimsy, ruminating on memories of feeling alienated around older people during childhood, and comparing them to feeling distant from younger people now. The title of the song “return of jafar” hints at that association with childhood, given that it was a notable VHS that every millennial seemed to have back in the late ’90s. While a little of that emotional listlessness and loneliness creeps through the music, Wood knows how to make his tunes shine around the cracks.
“return of jafar” is the second track from applied communications bites the big one, as the song “cowboy bebop & eric’s trip” – which came out in May – also appears on the new record. It is a triumph for any musician or band to bounce back after years wallowing in the lost media wilderness. (Just ask FEX, for example.) Wood putting out a new full-length record as Applied Communications isn’t just a triumph: It’s vindication. Up yours, Pitchfork!
Take a listen to “return of jafar” below.
Written by Will Sisskind
