I have been listening to it all week and think it's both terrific and very interesting to think and talk about. For one thing, he, more than the vast majority of other musicians, seems to take a lot pleasure in music not as "emotional" expression but purely as music, an idea I'd like to discuss. And I don't mean that in quite the sense that one might say it about, say, Cornelius -- it's less a sense of flashy structural play and more just a sense of enjoyment in the basic tools of assembly. Does this idea at all correlate with anyone else's experience of this album, or am I only imagining?
― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 17:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dleone (dleone), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
It's hard to put a finger on where that comes from, exactly -- I think part of it is how it jumps from one thing to the next, referenceing different genres & techniques, & since it's short it seems like he's trying hard to squeeze it all in. The emotion that comes accross (& I think this was true of his first album as well) is Joy, but you're right, it's Joy in music, not Joy in romantic love or life or whatever.
The best example I could think of is about 2/3 the way through "Cakes" on that first record, when it builds suddenty and the off-key horns come blasting in -- that the essence right there.
― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
So I guess I just want to disclaim that I don't mean "it's about the music" in the standard "it's about the music, maaaan" kind of way: more that for him it seems like it's less about the music having an effect on you or carrying emotional or communicative weight, and more about the simple pleasure of certain constructions or rhythms or harmonic developments.
(Heh: also it sounds a lot like XTC in bits.)
― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gazuga (gazuga), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
I am not partircurlarly looking for 'emotion' so it was good when he didn't push those triggers. there are things to listen to and that is fine.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
Actually, I agree with this -- and I do think that XTC (or at least Andy Partridge) are very into the music for music's sake thing. And not surprisingly, one thing I hear from non fans is that some of their music sounds "clinical".
My question is this (and it may only be relevant to composers): does the attitude you bring into the music, regardless of the kinds of sounds you use, etc, often translate to how people hear it? (I think it does -- but how can I prove?)
― dleone (dleone), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
as long as you hear abt it could do. you could begin by justifying your like/dislike of a rec by citing his attitude to the music he's making.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 18:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 11 October 2002 01:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― A.V. Alexandre (Keiko), Friday, 11 October 2002 01:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
Eventually I decided that I felt like the main impulse behind a lot of what he does is just the one that goes "I wonder" -- "I wonder if I could do a track like X, Y, or Z," and usually he succeeds, and you can really hear that he enjoys the process of trying. It seems less like communication as an address from artist to listener, and more like you're being invited along to see what he can manage with the actual sounds and forms.
― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 11 October 2002 06:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
TMFTMLhttp://intonation.blogspot.com
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
I don't think Cornelius is "soulless" -- I've found some of his songs very moving, particularly the "Brazil" cover on Point.
― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
Whereas Max Tundra is like there! and there? and there and there.
― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Honda (Honda), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 12:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
momus and squarepusher invent a time machine and travel back in time to take the stage at the finale of the synthed-out fusion spectacle that must have been the montreal jazz festival circa 1985. along the way they pick up gender-bending electronics pioneer walter/wendy carlos and a team of nintendo sound designers who have brought their own midi rig, powered by a beige macintosh pc.
― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
(but it's not a bad description of the album)
(although bringing Momus into the equation also raises unrealistic expectations about the quality of the lyrics, which are a weak link I think)
My mind boggles every time at the way the title track morphs so quickly from a loose-and-laid-back jam session, to an ass-kickingly tight dancefloor groove that brings to mind Daft Punk or Avalanches ("Electricity"). Maybe not the most extreme juxtaposition in the history of music, but one of the smoothest! It says a lot about the rest of the album that it manages to sustain the "high" I get from this track...
― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 19:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
YES! you know it! definitely one of the best bits of recorded sound in 2002. the thing is, his cut-up house groove is actually tighter, funkier, and better than the entire recorded output (in 2002 at least) of all the microhouse guys, even though he seems to have done it for the sheer irony/contrast/look-what-i-did value. absolutely stunning.
― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 19:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
And the lyrics on Lysine are not weak!
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 20:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 20:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Miranda, Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― bob snoom, Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Friday, 17 January 2003 02:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Charlie (Charlie), Friday, 17 January 2003 03:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 06:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
I talked to Max/Ben when his first album came out about putting it out in the US through my label, and we still e mail each other. We were going to meet up in Japan recently, but didn't because I was in Paris! Anyway, he's great. And funny too: when I told him I'd seen his video on French MTV, he mailed me back 'Hooray! But I'm still Benny from the block.'
― Momus (Momus), Saturday, 18 January 2003 23:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 20:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 20:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 21:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David (David), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 22:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
Massively into this. Sorry if I was a bit late to the party, but I was trapped in cultureless Ormskirk n'all.
Mbgate is the best thing ever which isn't soft and moist and most of the rest of it wants me to go out and go crazy.
I love this record. I really get the XTC thing people mentioned upthread. Nice parallel. Also I think the Cornelius link is relevant to.
If you ain't got this go out and get it, it deserves far more than the pithy length of this thread.
― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 22:52 (twenty years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 07:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 12:38 (twenty years ago) link
― Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 13:45 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 7 February 2005 22:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 03:48 (nineteen years ago) link
I bumped into him at a gig about 6 months ago and he told me that he was working on something different that was a little more 'far-out', I think he might have mentioned something about other musicians but I could be mistaken.
― The 5 FPs (MaresNest), Sunday, 9 November 2014 08:29 (nine years ago) link
Parallax is a total masterpiece of course, but me I love his remixes so much and wish he'd pursue that as a full-time thing
― fgti, Sunday, 9 November 2014 08:38 (nine years ago) link
Was looking for news on the twitter and found this pretty funny/sad one:
https://twitter.com/MaxTundra/status/530690153980108800
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Sunday, 9 November 2014 09:50 (nine years ago) link
He's one of the only artists I can think of where the sparseness of his output is justified by the quality of the product
― fgti, Sunday, 9 November 2014 10:58 (nine years ago) link
His Exquisite Corpse Game segment is straight-up incredible, probably my favourite bit. Also think it might be the only original music he's released since Parallax. Hunt it down, folks
― imago, Sunday, 9 November 2014 11:12 (nine years ago) link
https://twitter.com/MaxTundra/status/518062219528269824
checked his followers, she's not in there :'(
― Merdeyeux, Sunday, 9 November 2014 12:43 (nine years ago) link
He has a strangely melancholic twitter presence, which I find uncommon for musicians on twitter
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Sunday, 9 November 2014 14:57 (nine years ago) link
From Kavus Torabi on ProgressiveEars:
He's one of my close pals and, you'll be pleased to hear, very much 'back at work'. I saw him at the Lindsey Cooper concert and he made mention of working on two albums. That said, his previous album, Parallax Error Beheads You took him seven years. It's a masterpiece, mind.Trivia: He plays trumpet on the first Knifeworld album and on the song HMS Washout.
Trivia: He plays trumpet on the first Knifeworld album and on the song HMS Washout.
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:28 (nine years ago) link
Into this.
http://www.stereogum.com/1721843/azealia-banks-chasing-time-max-tundra-remix/mp3s/
― michaellambert, Saturday, 29 November 2014 00:30 (nine years ago) link
This jumper was bought for 20pThe trousers and shirt were thrown in free-ee-eIf this one is the tune about Louis VThen which song is the one about Agnes B?DOO DOO DOO DOOT DOOT DOO DOOTILY DOOT
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 22 January 2015 23:40 (nine years ago) link
Jacobs produces track for Daphne & Celeste, namechecks Pink Floyd, what a world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJr_uyA0Np4
― MaresNest, Sunday, 29 March 2015 18:32 (nine years ago) link
that's really great
belongs here just as much: Daphne and Celeste and maybe i'll post it there too if it seems a good idea
this is quite the comeback from all parties
― u have wiked together fiords (imago), Sunday, 29 March 2015 19:16 (nine years ago) link
Sure thing
― MaresNest, Sunday, 29 March 2015 19:18 (nine years ago) link
done! :)
― u have wiked together fiords (imago), Sunday, 29 March 2015 19:24 (nine years ago) link
digging it. never heard of them before, but cool hearing his sounds wrapped around someone else's song in a non-remix kinda way.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 29 March 2015 19:46 (nine years ago) link
http://boomkat.com/vinyl/1240173-daphne-celeste-you-i-alone
― djh, Sunday, 29 March 2015 20:41 (nine years ago) link
lmao at the click track
― got a long list of ilxors (fgti), Sunday, 29 March 2015 21:44 (nine years ago) link
wait he's collaborating with who now
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/david-liebe-hart-max-tundra/pets/
― frogbs, Friday, 15 May 2020 14:58 (three years ago) link
so this guy basically invented the pc music sound right
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Friday, 15 May 2020 15:28 (three years ago) link
he's currently twitter-eulogising the charli xcx album with their air of someone who deep down feels he should have been invited to produce a track for it. he wouldn't really be wrong either
― imago, Friday, 15 May 2020 16:58 (three years ago) link
daer ag cook: pay yr deferences
i feel like if he'd gotten in touch charli would have been open to it
― ufo, Friday, 15 May 2020 23:08 (three years ago) link
he almost certainly did get in touch multiple times knowing him haha
― imago, Friday, 15 May 2020 23:17 (three years ago) link
Um guys? Max Tundra in 2020 is the greatest thing
― DJ Fiona Apple Genius (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 15 June 2020 04:49 (three years ago) link
might be a good time to dig out my copy of PEBY
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Monday, 15 June 2020 13:21 (three years ago) link
https://www.dominomusic.com/releases/max-tundra/collection/max-tundra-reissues
all 3 albums getting a reissue. this is good b/c the first 2 are pretty hard to find. wonder if he's working on another one, he's been kinda teasing things lately but who knows. cannot believe the last one was 14 years ago, my god
― frogbs, Wednesday, 29 June 2022 15:36 (one year ago) link
World definitely in need of saving again by another Max Tundra project.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 29 June 2022 21:55 (one year ago) link
Lmao he composed an original song for “Trombone Champ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvawOXoSp1E
― frogbs, Saturday, 24 September 2022 18:47 (one year ago) link
lol that rules
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 25 September 2022 00:46 (one year ago) link
lotta pop music that I hear nowadays sounds like max tundra mbtgate
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 2 March 2023 19:27 (one year ago) link
oh yeah he's the og hyperpop guy, for sure. as with many ogs his work is also pretty different from his successors when you look under the hood. definitely an irreducible, quirky tundran core, as opposed to the cultivated emptiness of some in the pc music universe
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Thursday, 2 March 2023 19:31 (one year ago) link
yeah more like twitchy straight ahead pop rather than pure cool weirdo or dumb art weirdo stuff
whenever I hear any pink panthress track I feel like I'm hearing him singing
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 2 March 2023 19:40 (one year ago) link
“mgtgate” -> it’s not “the guy” but “Guy”, Guy Davie at The Exchange. Really a brilliant album title imho
― lurching toward (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 2 March 2023 21:21 (one year ago) link
whenever people say "I listen to podcasts at 1.5x speed" it makes me think of "Merman" which I think is a really funny way to make a 3 minute pop song into a 2 minute one
― frogbs, Thursday, 2 March 2023 21:23 (one year ago) link
I seem to remember, and I might be wrong, but I think it was a Pitchfork review, of “Parallax Error Beheads You”, and I think it was written by the beautiful Dominique Leone, and I think it began with a fantasy-version of the previous decade of pop, where MBGATE was the primary indie influence on electronic chart-pop (as opposed to The Postal Service); and wouldn’t it be great if we’d had a decade of music that sounded like that instead of a decade of Owl City. Seems like Max lost the battle but won the war in the end!
― lurching toward (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 2 March 2023 21:24 (one year ago) link
Ha, quite! Leone's own pop experiments can definitely play in that game too btw - crashingly underrated and proto-hyper
― imago, Thursday, 2 March 2023 21:35 (one year ago) link
one exciting prospect of AI is more weird pop dudes making stuff like "Orphaned"
― frogbs, Thursday, 2 March 2023 21:45 (one year ago) link
I drunkenly accosted him post-show in portland ca. 2009 and basically asked him "how the hell did you make orphaned" and he was like, "it was 6 months of my life mate" and was keen to point out that it never repeats. so ... you're right.― unknown pleasure zone (uptown churl), Sunday, November 9, 2014 1:51 AM bookmarkflaglink
― unknown pleasure zone (uptown churl), Sunday, November 9, 2014 1:51 AM bookmarkflaglink
i think of this post every time i think of this (incredible) song.
― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Friday, 3 March 2023 02:17 (one year ago) link
Might finish this. https://t.co/RVxzqbBSPx— Max Tundra (@MaxTundra) January 27, 2023
Please!
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Friday, 3 March 2023 02:32 (one year ago) link
(The quoted Tweet is from March 30, 2012)
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Friday, 3 March 2023 02:33 (one year ago) link
https://thequietus.com/articles/33310-max-tundra-interview-kate-bush
New music - version of This Woman's Work + nice interview.
(Ben your time has come I hope)
― woof, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 11:09 (seven months ago) link
delighted to hear he also adores "human sadness" and that a new album is coming along (though very slowly)
― ufo, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 12:08 (seven months ago) link
his hyperpop "this woman's work" cover rules too. i'm excited to hear new music from him that's influenced by all the cool stuff he's influenced in the last decade
― ufo, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 12:10 (seven months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x9CggWVsiA
i hadn't noticed he put out a new version of "lights" earlier this month, very promising for where he's at right now. it somehow answers the question "what if bloc party were hyperpop"?
― ufo, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 12:16 (seven months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8W5RzTCAY0
oh there's a 6 minute version of it here too, even better. really wonderful stuff
― ufo, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 12:30 (seven months ago) link
Kind of odd that that interview doesn't mention the Daphne and Celeste album at all.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 23 August 2023 14:35 (seven months ago) link
I was a bit surprised by that - kind of nice in a 'let's keep the focus on you' way but it does seem both big & pertinent, so weird there's not even a small mention.
― woof, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 14:51 (seven months ago) link
that new "Lights" is very cool - the chimey sound added in the second verse might be a sped up "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" lol. Kate Bush cover is ok, wish more of it was like the final minute
the D&C album is a Max Tundra album in my mind, he wrote and produced the whole thing and his style is pretty strong on it. I don't like the album as much as his three solo albums but still look forward to anything he puts out
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 23 August 2023 17:30 (seven months ago) link
somehow missed the Daphne & Celeste album when it came out! been listening to it off and on for the past week since your post, Vinnie. it's a charmer! no question that i hear his style in basically every melody and production choice. maybe with fewer moments of sheer MIDI-glitchy sonic explosion than i'm used to? but very clearly of tremendous interest to any Tundra fan alive, glad to be getting to know it. "BB" was stuck in my head all yesterday and into the night.
― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Friday, 1 September 2023 12:00 (seven months ago) link
Yeah "BB" and "You and I Alone" are def keepers
― Vinnie, Friday, 1 September 2023 19:58 (seven months ago) link