"I do not need too many more four-to-the-floor beatdown joints in my life," says Andrew Field-Pickering, AKA Maxmillion Dunbar, or more simply, Max D. The Washington DC resident and Future Times label founder, who is also one half of Beautiful Swimmers alongside like-minded selector Ari Goldman, has never followed traditional dance music tropes, and his appetite for weirdness only seems to be increasing. "Right now, I'm trying to hear like piano pieces," he says, "or like some ambient thing or some sort of more complicated drum stuff. I'm ready to hear all types of shit, and I think a lot of people are getting into that zone where they're really trying to stretch out what it means to be [part of] underground electronic music."

Field-Pickering's attitude may seem cavalier, but it's allowed him to take Future Times in all sorts of different directions, building the label into one of the most adventurous outposts for dance music in North America. His own productions are no less diverse. Field-Pickering's output goes well beyond Beautiful Swimmers and his solo work as Max D. There have been additional monikers and collaborations, including Dolo Percussion (a solo outlet for rhythm tracks), Zsa Gang (with Jordan GCZ of Juju & Jordash) and Lifted (a wide-ranging collaboration with Matt Papich, AKA Co La).

Across these varied projects, Field-Pickering has gleefully muddied the waters between house, disco, techno, jazz, new age and various experimental sounds, and his listening habits are even more varied. For him, it's not about unwavering loyalty to a particular sound or scene—all that matters is whether or not a piece of music makes him feel something, and as far as he's concerned, the current musical landscape is providing plenty of quality.

"Anybody who's sour about [today's output of music] is tripping as far as I can tell," he says. "There's so much music and so much of it ends up being good when you check it out. I'm a cynical dude, too, and I still feel that way. There is too much good shit to even listen to. One cannot buy all of the good records every month." This open-mindedness doesn't mean that Field-Pickering doesn't have a discerning ear. "I got friends who tell me they like Britney Spears," he says. "I say, 'I can't see it, man. That's just not funny to me. I hear you, but I don't.' It's like, 'Alright, you love every Rihanna song for real, that's your shit.' I think Rihanna has a vibe, but there are a whole lot of bad tunes. All this pop domestic shit, I don't get it, man."

Maxmillion Dunba

These opinions aren't exactly unique in electronic music circles, but where many artists and fans are content to spew some vitriol online before moving on to the next gripe, Field-Pickering prefers to engage in actual conversation. "If people want to talk about some shit for real, why are we talking on Twitter?" he asks. "If we want to talk about Rihanna, I can't just be like, 'Yo, Team Ri-Ri, let's go, boom, smooch!' I love that new one, 'Bitch Better Have My Money' is amazing and some other joints are terrible."

"It's like people don't have the patience to talk to one another about the details anymore," he continues. "Now you've got to be about some shit 100% or not about it at all. I feel like a lot of people are trying to separate into tribes and it's just premature. You just need to talk. Music is a fucking kaleidoscope. It's a huge, huge thing. It doesn't make me lose any sleep at all if Rihanna comes incorrect with one track and then makes another track that I love. I'm happy with that. That's cool. I don't need to be on team Ri-Ri."

Since he co-founded the label in 2008, Field-Pickering has himself assembled an impressive team with the Future Times roster. The imprint began with a 7-inch from Field-Pickering, and its early days were largely a DC family affair, with the young label issuing records by Beautiful Swimmers, Protect-U and Jason Letkiewicz (who was then producing under names like Rhythm Based Lovers and Sensual Beings, but is now best known for his work as Steve Summers). As the years passed, the Future Times family grew, especially following 2011's Vibe 2 compilation, which featured contributions from Juju & Jordash, Hunee and Steve Moore. They've been followed by the likes of Huerco S., Jordan GCZ, Mo Kolours, Japa Habilidoso and Mosey, along with Hashman Deejay, Jack J, House Of Doors and Kinetic Electronix from Vancouver's Mood Hut collective.

Future Times' discography is a testament to Field-Pickering's keen ear for talent, yet his curatorial philosophy remains remarkably simple. "We will release anything if we feel like it's our shit," he says. "I'm always basically just trying to keep it super wide. I don't even think it sounds super wide as a catalog, and that's probably just a testament to how wide I usually think of things… It comes from a home-team zone and just pulling people into the fold that match up."

Sincerity is important to Field-Pickering, so it's no surprise that his "zone" doesn't include artists trading heavily in irony. "I don't have too much of a conceptual art bone in my body, the sort of thing of like, 'Wink, wink, we're on a level with this,'" he says. "A friend of mine was like, 'PC Music sounds like Jeff Koons to me.' I said, 'That's tight dude, but Jeff Koons bores me to tears.' It's a big-ass Mickey Mouse made out of glass—like, what? I feel like a part of my brain is looking for what [PC Music] are looking for. I want to hear some really goofy, weird-ass Pixar shit or whatever, and the stuff that I've heard is just not hitting that zone, really. It's just hitting this 'wink, wink' shit."

All Future Times artwork includes the phrase, "Things will be better in future times," a sentiment that may be unexpected or even strike some people as corny, but Field-Pickering doesn't shy away from being called an optimist. "Everybody feels dark these days because there's some shit that's terrible in society," he says. "Shit is going haywire, but it never hurts to be the positive beacon in the midst of that or treat it like a mantra for yourself. You could say, 'Things will be better in future times,' to yourself and maybe you've got to manifest that and make it true. It's something to hold onto."

"I'm optimistic," he adds. "In my brain of brains, that's where I'm at. Shit will be better… Even if I don't see any positivity in front of me beyond that, there's probably positivity. I just feel like the odds— maybe it's like a math thing, too— the odds are just this will be better at some point. Even if they're not all the way better, even if you're living in some nuclear fucking wasteland, but then you've got like three people and you've found some fucking iPod in the woods that you brought back to life with some sticks, you guys are going to jam because the shit's going to be cool for you. You're going to have to make it positive."

Humor is a big part of what makes Field-Pickering such a distinctive figure, and he's not oblivious to that fact. "I like to tell jokes," he says. "I like to be a funny-ass dude. I consider myself to have a pretty good sense of humor, and I think people reinforce that for me… People love a funny, big-ass dude. It is what it is. When you're big enough, you're holding court anyway. You're taking up the most room at the table, so you might as well have something to offer as opposed to just taking up all of these people's space."

This performative streak can likely be traced back to Field-Pickering's childhood. "The family gets down with performing," he says. "If you think I'm funny, you should talk to my fucking brother. I mean, it's over. He's the comedy king." His grandfather was a drummer, and his father is a "super musical" guy who plays banjo and guitar in blues and rock bands. (Field-Pickering jokes that his dad is "living the rock-and-roll lifestyle" right now.) His mother was a Shakespeare expert who used to take part in "plays where [the actors were] hurling Victorian English jokes at each other." It was because of her that the family left rural Pennsylvania, where Field-Pickering grew up; when he was 12, she was hired by the esteemed Folger Shakespeare Library, and eventually became what Field-Pickering describes as "the Shakespeare lady of DC."

The move to DC had a major impact on Field-Pickering, as he was introduced to everything from hip-hop culture to underground hardcore shows. Like many teenagers, he was drawn to his local punk scene, which had famously been shaped in DC by bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Void, Fugazi and countless others, not to mention the impressive legacy of Dischord Records. Looking to get involved himself, Field-Pickering performed in a number of bands and eventually wound up in experimental noise-rap outfit Food For Animals. The group's music wasn't "punk" per se, but the project bore traces of DC punk's inclusive attitude and staunchly DIY philosophy.

Those values carried over into Future Times, which got off the ground just as Food For Animals was winding down, but Field-Pickering doesn't think he's alone in this regard. In his mind, the after-effects of DC's punk heyday continue to color the city's entire music scene. "Some people think it's cornball, but really it's pretty endearing," he says. "DC gigs just don't have bullshit at them. Even now with the dance shit. Even if we play, say, U Street Music Hall, a lot of those bouncers, they were punks or they were punks who also were into drum & bass raves, people who went to Buzz and hardcore shows at the same time.

"There's a lot of this punk ethic in DC that's dope… it's a very pleasant place to go see things. Some people think that it has a missing edge, but as you get older, you realize that this is just like a fully respectful place. If you're gay, trans, whatever, there are not really too many unwelcoming vibes at DC shit."

DC dance music has been gathering momentum in recent years, thanks to labels like Future Times, Peoples Potential Unlimited and 1432 R. "It's not like a miscue [to lump these labels together]," says Field-Pickering. "We all hang. We all share the same records and ideas and vibes with each other. I'll see if Joyce [Lim] likes the Future Times artwork and she'll see if I like the 1432 R labels. It is not ridiculous to call our scene close-knit."

Still, the city does have its limitations. "DC is a working-ass town," says Field-Pickering. "There are not really any bohemian vibes because the shit is expensive and crazy and you typically move here if you're going to one of the universities or if you're working for the government or various jobs that are localized in DC. Your ass is getting up the next day at eight. You're not going to party all night."

This sort of sentiment is common amongst artists who live the United States' major creative hubs, and it's part of what Field-Pickering sees as the difference between living in the US and Europe. "The way that society works in the States fucks up things that are more esoteric, like dance music… Capitalism will grind your shit down. You just have less options. You can't be 50 and go out to some techno parties anymore in America. You've got to be doing your shit to support your family at that point. You've got to be not going out to do the nightlife in order to make sure you get to UPS on time. You've got to do different shit in America that you do not have to do in Europe."

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Despite these difficulties, Field-Pickering still takes pride in being an American artist. "The thing about the States is, you could be patriotic about music as a motherfucker," he says. "Shit is dope here. You have a short window in which to get perfect at your music that you have to do after work... it's all pretty much a piece of charcoal turning into a diamond. Your shit just gets worked. You just get worked. You have to grind."

Economics aside, there's also something distinctly American about artists making the transition from punk and hardcore into dance music. For many people, those worlds seem completely separate, but in Field-Pickering's mind, the journey isn't so hard to fathom. "When I first got into house, I was like, 'Man, I don't like these vocals and, I just want to listen to acid,'" he says. "That's the most punk shit that there is in house. Armando is punk as fuck. Jamal Moss is punk as fuck. It's easy to get into those as a person who likes aggressive, noisy music." Dutch electro and techno was another entry point: "Bunker Records, Viewlexx stuff, that's aggression. Or just slamming drum machine stuff or I-F's 'Portrait Of A Dead Girl' or 'Superman.' These tracks, they're crazy. You can get into that no matter how much of a metalhead you are."

Field-Pickering admits that some musical growth was necessary before he could fully jump into dance music. "I think you get older and you soften up," he says. "You have more of these heartfelt feelings and a lot of these disco songs really speak to you. A lot of the more simple genres like punk and whatnot, they don't really get into the complex emotions that a deep house song will. These songs will be about like getting back together with somebody who you caused to lose their trust in you. That's deep, you're-about-to-be-30-type shit."

Field-Pickering is 32 himself, and while he self-deprecatingly acknowledges that he's getting older—he facetiously blames his increased interest in jazz on his age—he remains incredibly busy. Aside from running Future Times, which will soon be releasing the triple 12-inch compilation Vibe 3, and maintaining a busy touring schedule as a DJ, he also continues to periodically help out at Joe's Record Paradise, a shop just outside of DC in Silver Springs, Maryland. "I'm not a regular in any capacity, but I price hip-hop and house records for them," he explains. He also works at an after-school program with middle school students, noting that, "It is not tutoring or educational, really. It's straight-up basketball, making little beats on the computer, playing cards. I think it's just teens having quality time away from being on Instagram at their house."

Amidst these responsibilities, Field-Pickering also finds the time to make music of his own. His most recent Maxmillion Dunbar LP, House Of Woo, was released in 2013 via RVNG Intl., and its follow-up, Boost, will be released early next year on Future Times. And though he's more skilled as a producer than he's ever been, his technique has become largely unregimented. "I do not meticulously do my shit," he says. "I do not ponder what a track will be… I just want to let the music take me where it goes. I really believe in that. I like to work like that.

"It's one of the reasons I like to work with Jordan GCZ so much, for Zsa Gang or mixing my albums—it's just these intuitive decisions, like boom, boom, boom. Call it jazzy, call it whatever you want. It's that sort of intuitive, trusting yourself thing and improvising… I'm not trying to construct any bangers. Sometimes I feel like I do put out things with nice, hard drums that bump nice and you can DJ them, but I really am not concerned with whether or not you can anymore. The new album is definitely stretched all the way out… I'm going all over the place. I follow the muse a lot more often with Max D stuff into crazy places. I don't care anymore if it has a kick on it. I don't limit myself at the moment."

Field-Pickering's current outlook was partly fueled by his work on the Lifted album, 1, which came out earlier this year on PAN. He describes the jazzy, experimental and loosely structured LP as "some of my favorite stuff I've ever been a part of making," and the project also allowed him to function as a sort of bandleader while enlisting contributions from artists like Italian ambient composer Gigi Masin, 1432 R's Dawit Eklund and drummer Jeremy Hyman. "I'm getting more into this thing of knowing who to have contribute some humanity to what is usually machine music," he says, before noting that Boost will feature performances from Jack J, Benedek and Jordan GCZ, who also played on 1.

Boost may seem ambitious, but Field-Pickering, ever the optimist, has plenty of faith, not just in himself, but also in his audience. "People want a little bit more now," he says. "It's moving way past disco. It's moving into more pure imagination-type things… What our crew wants to hear from one another is expanding. It's getting deeper. It's getting more out there. I think a lot of people are feeling the same urge."