The Beautiful Swimmers have evolved from the humble origins of the Maryland suburbs towards international dance floors with the wild acclaim of fans and critics alike. Ari G and Max D together combine their array of collections and experiences to present world class DJ sets that are super fun, never contrived, rarely pretentious, but always magnetic. 

Montgomery County in Maryland, USA is known to many DC locals as an area responsible for producing an overwhelming amount of artists, musicians, emcees, producers, and adjacent creatives, intellectuals, and party people. This suburb that sits just within the DC metro area boasts excellent public schools, kids with enough of an allowance to buy weed, with lots of green spaces and long roads to smoke it on, and so has perpetuated a constant and exponential growth for excellent players of all intellectual and athletic fields. The Swimmers are a shining example (Ari attended Potomac High School; Andrew graduated from Blair) of the sweet, curious, talented, and sort of bored suburban kids that have gone on from their quiet beginnings to create something amazing. In their case, a sprawling discography of some truly beautiful, perspective altering music and art.

Andrew Field-Pickering (aka Maximillion Dunbar aka Max D aka Dolo Percussion) and Ari Goldman joined their forces and went B2B under the moniker in the late 2000s. Their commitment has built a shocking amount of knowledge that can purge endless spouts of friendly recommendations, like you might want to take notes. Their DJ sets pull from their wide experiences to reveal sounds both vast and thorough. From a lifetime of studying techno, house, Baltimore club, post-punk, jungle, disco, UKG, drum and bass, go-go, and hip hop, they’ve carved out their own paths, in a typical DC DIY punk sort of way, and have graced the finest venues for dance music in the world, including Berghain’s Panorama Bar, De School, Fabric, Oval Space, Smart Bar, and festivals like Sustain Release, Movement, Sónar and Dekmantel.

The cover art has carved its own space. Directed by Max D, the produced graphics convey the buoyancy of the overall sound.

Future Times

Run by Andrew, this label has featured artists like Jack J, Steve Summers, Shanti Celeste, and Magic Mountain High. Future Times is renowned for a consistency to excellence spread over a decade. Every release enjoys the artistic direction of Max D as well as the support of his finely tuned ear. He isn’t the type of person to hand out compliments, so a vote of confidence from him via a Future Times release can be the highest commendation from this selector. 

Both labels use art that feels hopeful for tomorrow. Ari G is responsible for the art direction of his imprint.

World Building

Ari Goldman had just gotten to a point where it seemed inevitable that he would start his own label after decades of DJing, producing, collecting, and dealing – it just made sense. The label has published music from Mark Seven, DJ Technics, Juana, Apiento, DJ Nativesun, James Bangura, and Sami in just a short amount of years. Through a lifetime of collecting records he’s honed his instincts and now has experience from assisting with operations with Andrew Morgan at People’s Potential Unlimited. The imprint has become just as well known for its merch, with Ari G taking advantage of his effortless style to design some timeless pieces for the heads. 

Their style as a duo writes narratives that can put even the most exhausted dance floors into an eager frenzy. Whether through bouncy house vocals or hip hop flavored break beats or seminal classic techno or the punk and gogo infused aesthetics of Washington DC, they do not fail to build nights that are just pure blatant fun. Like magnets, they’ve both managed to create cultish fans patient with hopes of new Swimmers shows and releases, with shops all over the world ready to buy out as many records they can get their hands on, and with encouraging music critics eager to praise their work.

The apparent evidence that the Swimmers both seem to be having a killer time in the booth make the sets even more inviting. You just want to party with these guys, which could be argued is a really important quality in this industry. They’re sweet and nice, they laugh easy, and they wield a supreme taste and an unquestionable artistic compulsion. They share their knowledge without conditions. Maybe no other traits could be more valuable from either a performative, curative, or productive standpoint. 

And as producers, they’ve built a discography that includes a slew of original releases as well as remixes of other projects, which all share a sense of blue cool blended with warm romance and rinsed with just enough nerdiness that have delighted their fans. Their work, while challenging enough for the deep listeners of experienced electronic enthusiasts, remains inviting for curious newcomers as they, with expert precision, carve delectable slices between the fiber of the esoteric and reformulate them for the easy digestion of the seminal. 

Follow Ari on Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, BandCamp, or Discogs.
Follow Andrew on Twitter, SoundCloud, BandCamp, or Discogs.
Book the Beautiful Swimmers in the EU/World through Earth Agency.
Book the Beautiful Swimmers in the US through Liaison.