Bliss Point is a label, party, and mix series run by the New York-based DJ and producer Max In The World. Since 2019, the label has put out a steady stream of deep—and, yes, blissful—dance music from artists including Ko Yang and SPF 50. Max In The World’s mix for Nina is a dive into the Bliss Point back catalog and features plenty of self-made tracks. As followers of the label might expect, the mix is a cruise through soulful and ethereal body music. We caught up with Max, read the interview, and listen to the mix, below.

Where are you based?

Max In The World: Bliss Point is based in New York City.

Can you describe your label mix?

For this mix, I wanted to shine a light on some of Bliss Point’s lesser known tracks. I love every track I put out on the label deeply, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to focus on some hidden gems which define the label to me as much as those with a larger profile.

The tracks are not pitch shifted, and there’s minimal mixing. It was important to me to present them as they were intended by the artist.

What inspired you to start a label?

The first time I remember being aware of a record label was when my friends and I discovered The Social Registry label in 2007. I was in high school on Long Island, living in a very conservative area, so it was exciting to know there was a group of people less than an hour away who were putting out this really leftfield and boundary-pushing music. We were obsessed with The Psychic Ills and Gang Gang Dance and had a band of our own, imitating their style as best we could. We’d take the LIRR into the city and drop our homemade CDs at Other Music and Rocks In Your Head. I remember this feeling we had that if we could just make it to the city, we’d find like-minded people. It turned out to be true.

I wanted to start a label from that point on, and though it wasn’t until much later that I founded Bliss Point, this aspect of a label stuck with me: that record labels could act as a beacon for people to find each other. Any time I see a 12” order come in from the suburbs, I like to imagine it’s a young person like we were, dreaming about the city, excited about the music being made there. 

Does your label have a sound or a mission?

Besides being primarily club focused, there’s no specific genre or sound I associate with the label. That said, I have been told there is a “Bliss Point sound.” I know that the music I am most excited about is transportive—music that can bring a listener to another place, that other place. In fact, the unofficial tagline of the label is “Bliss Point is a place you can go.”

In terms of mission, it’s pretty straightforward: keep going. Every time the label puts out a record and makes enough money back to put out another, I know it’s a victory. Long term, the goal is to build a sustainable, transparent, equitable and, crucially, independent institution that supports artists and is part of a strong creative ecosystem for underground music culture. Every time the label hires a designer, remixer or engineer, supports a record shop, makes money for our distributors or pays an artist royalties, I know these are all wins, because it’s independent up and down the line. This is what keeps our fragile underground community alive, what makes it possible. Contributing to this vision—one of independent artists, music workers and arts institutions working together and supporting one another—it motivates me a great deal.

Tell us about your scene(s).

Bliss Point is both deeply rooted in New York City and oriented internationally. Though it’s not on purpose, the releases tend to swap between local artists and artists from overseas.

The community and scene around the label in New York is really strong. I am so grateful for it. I’m floored by the level of talent in this city right now and the kind, caring people that contribute to underground culture. Most of the artists on the label are friends, and if they aren’t when we start working together, they are by release day. It warms my heart because I started the label before I knew any of these people—I just had music I’d made that I wanted to put out properly. The label was the vehicle to find these people, and for them to find me.

It’s no different with artists from overseas. Ko Yang is from Kyoto and we’ve never met, but he’s nevertheless become a close friend and collaborator. We’ll finally meet this year, when he comes to New York for the first time and gets to meet some of his labelmates. The connections will deepen, the circle grows.

What's your A&R process?

I don’t have a specific process. Music comes to the label a number of ways—demos, deep internet digs, a private SoundCloud link from a friend, the occasional hot tip. 

One thing I can say is that I know quickly when I love music enough to put it out. I clock my reaction—it’s a certain excitement, a literal tingle in the back of my head. I’ve looked this tingle up, it’s called “frisson” or “aesthetic chills”—basically an overwhelming emotional reaction to music. My focus isn’t really on judging the music in some objective sense, it’s whether I have this reaction. I know I can trust it.

I’ve also noticed that pretty quickly a possessiveness or jealousy will arise towards a set of tracks I’m particularly taken by. If I’m upset at the idea of the music coming out on a different label, I take this as a sign that I should be putting it out on Bliss Point. I’ve felt this about every one of the releases.

What labels do you look up to?

There are a lot…

Mulemusiq, Holic Trax, Comatonse, growing bin, RVNG Intl., MIND Records, Factory Records, Warp Records, L.I.E.S., an’archives, Sound Signature, Fixed Rhythms, Sorry Records, SUED, Hivern Discs, Groovedge Records, Macadam Mambo, Ocora, Music From Memory, smallville records, Mister Saturday Night, The Social Registry. 

All of these are in the Bliss Point DNA in one way or another.