Max Tundra: Mastered by Guy at the Exchange

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.

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.)

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.

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?)

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.

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.

TMFTML
http://intonation.blogspot.com

I don't think Cornelius is "soulless" -- I've found some of his songs very moving, particularly the "Brazil" cover on Point.

Whereas Max Tundra is like there! and there? and there and there.

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.

(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...

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.

And the lyrics on Lysine are not weak!

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.'

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.

Currently rocking world: Max Tundra remix of "Do You Want To."

His Shirokuma remix is rather good - I did the engineering on the original and it was fascinating to hear what he did with it.

I'll see if I can dig up that Franz mix and YSI when I get home.

Also rumored (though possibly not recorded) = Max Tundra and Kevin Blechdom live duets on "More than Words."

Given the guy's career so far, I feel like there's every chance his third album will be something really, really special.

Nice discussion! Great motivation for me to hurry the fuck up and finish my third album. Sorry it's taking so long (four years is a ridiculous gap), but I assure you I am writing and recording much music every day. I've no idea when it will be ready; hopefully some time this year, but there's still lots of work to be done. I am extremely excited about these new songs and can't wait to share them with you all.

Ok, so this Remixes and Interpretations thing is just a CDr I made myself to send to bands and labels who might want a Max Tundra remix. I did some copies for friends too, and sent one to wfmu.org who are always very supportive of my stuff. The track listing is as follows (tracks 1-12 are remixes and 13-16 are cover versions, although I guess all remixes are cover versions in a way):

1. The Strokes: Alone, Together
2. Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott: The Rain
3. Turin Brakes: Long Distance
4. Architecture in Helsinki: The Owls Go
5. Ambulance: Whindie
6. Simon Bookish: Terry Riley Disco
7. Mogwai: Helicon 2
8. Shirokuma: Moonlight In The Afternoon
9. Ruby: Lilypad
10. The Monsoon Bassoon: Commando
11. Future Pilot AKA: Mein Nehi Jana
12. The Futureheads: Decent Days And Nights
13. Paul McCartney: Coming Up
14. Taylor Dayne: Tell It To My Heart
15. So Long, Farewell (The Sound Of Music)
16. Theme From The Bill

Who wants a copy? I have a small handful of these CDrs left. You should message me through my Myspace page, which is here:

http://myspace.com/maxtundra

...with your name and address, quoting "A Certain Member Of Ex-Models Lookalike Giveaway". I merely request that you would be kind enough to do me the favour of introducing a friend to the music of Max Tundra. That's all I ask.

My Mint Royale remix is still on the Myspace page, but my Franz Ferdinand one is not. There are some white label 7"s of the latter floating about (with my instrumental version of the remix on the b-side), so keep your eyes peeled.

Happy new year!

Ben / Max x

It's strikes me as more in-between Point (incidentally, Cornelius' 3rd best album but also his most studio-skillful) and Fantasma (which also wears its happy little pop-rock heart on its sleeve more so than the other two) and also synchs up, perhaps in part because of Becky's presence, with C's work with his wife, Takako Minekawa ('Lysine' sounds like a cousin of 'Plash' and Teriyaki Boys' 'Moon The World', which he produced last year). I also note something of an opposite approach - Keigo was a pop kid who travelled steadily into electronic experimentalism, whereas Max has approached in the opposite direction. Today, the Franz remix could - and should - have been released to radio in the original's stead.

If anyone is after a Max Tundra album that actually sounds like Keigo ;-), you could do worse than tracking down 9 Cliches or Cartoom (both on Tokyo's Vroom Sound Recordings but can be found by means which practially every ILMer uses) by Refely and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box respectively, as well as works by The Aprils (electronic dancepoppers with indie, hip hop and Nintendo fetishes, among others) and World's End Girlfriend (constantly mutating, multi-instrumental textured soundscapes). Little wonder Max is hot in Japan.

!!

the exact same thing happened to me the last time this thread got revived, i just didn't feel like admitting it!

- MBGATE = title acronym
- all song titles are six characters
- the lyric of "MBGATE" is the sentence from Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman where the narrator "dies"

Can this really be five years old next month? I hope there's a new one soon.

I've been listening to most of the Tundra stuff I've acquired over the years today, partly prompted by reading Pitchfork's review of YACHT which claims they sound like they're trying to do what MBGATE does (not so much to me, but hell, I wish someone would), and getting excited googling recent live reviews which mention new tracks.

Lots of remixes in the meantime, of course, some of which are really great, most of which follow the pattern (bit which prominently features vocals from original and I don't really get into) (bit which sounds like ALL-NEW TUNDRA TRACK with occasional spatterings of original chorus and makes me want to tell everyone this is the best thing ever and oh gosh I have to play it again, so I replay the first bit and remember I don't like the original vocals, but but hey! here's three minutes of Max Tundra genius on the end, and...)

Oh yeah, and once Resonance restarts its regular programming (next week, maybe?) Mr Tundra will be doing a show on Saturday afternoons which I'm looking forward to. Missed the first one, unfortunately (anyone here record it?), but the tracklist is up here. Something else to tide me over until a new album. Please?

(also, sorry for yet more parentheses, but that Cozen post upthread - "the record is so fidgety, like he's saying "look look!!!" and when you turn to look at it he's already saying "but, oh yeah, as well..." - there's this boundless joy that is hard to not be affected by" - is the most OTM thing I've read about MT anywhere)

I do really like this record, but I never really got into it. I should really give it another go, I suppose.

Proclaimed his MySpace blog in May of 2006:

"My new record will contain around ten brand new songs, but thanks to my laboriously luddite working methods it's taking me anything up to three months just to record one track. Domino will be releasing this LP; this might happen as early as this year, but then again, what's the rush?

That said, I'm deliriously excited about these new songs. They make everything else I've ever recorded sound more insignificant and ordinary. I really should spend less time on Myspace and get them finished."

Fingers crossed. I was traveling this summer and had only a half-dozen albums with me on cassette. MBGATE soundtracked a disproportionate share of my bus rides and never got old.

playing @ the whitechapel gallery on oct 26th. same night as the boredoms :(

i like some of his less "wacky" stuff.

nice sounding remix of tunng's bullets, previewable on boomkat

this album rocks

I thought this was going to be about a new album : (

These are both awesome:

13. Paul McCartney: Coming Up
15. So Long, Farewell (The Sound Of Music)

AGREED

Max Tundra has very, very nearly completed his third album. (2 hours ago.)

are you his facebook friend?

and can you tell us what he wrote after heath ledger died?

MySpace friend

My fake/crappy electronic music is friends with his real/awesome electronic music.

does myspace have status updates now?

I think you guys are ignoring the exciting point here

that myspace is cool!

You guys really should listen to his radio show, you know...

But yes, super-excited for new album.

Max Tundra has finished his album (On Friday).

Wow, you're really following that story!

is myspace cool?

i'm excited

yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

best news ever

I am happy about this news.

sweet!!!

Oct. 20?

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=95;-1;-1;-1&sku=841756

got this from mt the other day, and is great

Totally great. Awe-inspiring. Can't stop listening to it.

yeah

Is it similar in style to the last one? How about some details?

It sounds like 'Steppin' Out' played at 45 rpm.

very excited for this

It sounds like 'Steppin' Out' played at 45 rpm.
:D :D

Sooo psyched for this. Glad to hear such positive reviews already!

Totally great. Awe-inspiring. Can't stop listening to it.

-- Owen Pallett, Saturday, 2 August 2008 20:42

^^^heh

Max Tundra poos FRAGRANT SPRING RAINSTORMS

'"Parallax Error Beheads You" will be released by Domino on 13th October this year,' says the email update.

Real title? No idea. Made me laugh though. Well, smirk in an office-inappropriate sort of way. Excited by the prospect of finally having new Max Tundra in my life!

http://www.myspace.com/maxtundra - new song "A Truce" is lovely.

ha nothing else sounds like max tundra, maybe "one size fits all" zappa--

"a truce" is great

Note: "A Truce" isn't a "new song," really -- it's from that comp of musicians doing David Shrigley items, not a dribble from new-album stuff.

It is pretty great, though, yes.

A song that kinda reminds me of Max Tundra...

Elma Mayer 'My First Kazoo' from the 1985 comp 'a beginner's guide to COMA'

This was posted on Mutant Sounds, but there's still cheap (and sealed!) copies available for just $10 on the Rotary Totem website.

Note: "A Truce" isn't a "new song," really

Oh. Well. I liked it anyway!

Album details:
http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/albums/11-08-08/parallax-error-beheads-you/

cool cover:

http://www.dominorecordco.com/images/artists/max_tundra/maxtundra_parallax.jpg

this is really good.

title not as good though

Wow, it's even better than what I expected it to be !!!
Will be on my 2008 top 10 for sure.

fun fun fun

i can't make out what's on the cover. are those thumb tacks?
ladies shoe heels?

"which song" is so great

"which song" is so great

It sounds like the song Michael Jackson will never again make.

or ever did make.

Looks like he's one-upping Of Montreal: instead of lamps or t-shirts or whatever, you can buy his new album as soup. Kosher chicken soup, to be specific. And it apparently comes with an extra limited edition download album, of covers of songs from his first LP.

SO GOOD.

I really need to order this, shit.

Yeah, me too! I really wanted the bonus disc that came with the soup can edition but then I realised it only came with a download voucher and no actual CD, and I didn't want to pay twice for the album when I have no idea what you're supposed to do with a limited edition soup can anyway. (Eat it and throw it out? Eat it, wash and treasure the can? Let it moulder unopened on yr shelves forever in the name of ROCK?)

Anyway, yeah, so good. Though I need to look at my setup as it's the most trebly (or upper-midsy) album ever on my system but I'm assured there is actually a healthy dose of bass which I'm not hearing.

Though I kind of think I may not be in the same place as Mr Tundra is heading for, because much as I love the new coherent songy nature of the album, my favourite is the track which starts as 3 minutes of oldschool Tundra instrumental business before getting all Rundgren (I hear "A Wizard, A True Star" a lot on here - just me?) on us. Having said that, as an album I think it's his most successful yet.

NB a passing spacecadet posts guaranteed to contain no soup, no bass and no new coherent nature.

Got my tin can yesterday...not gonna open it as I make the Best Chicken Soup in London(Carcass not whole fowl piece)...Listened twice already...Definitely a grower...Sounds more "Todd" than "Wizard" to me...Does sound incredibly tinny (no pun intended) though...Have'nt listened to covers album yet but will in near future...Just checked his playlists on Resonance FM...great taste in music...

Do not like.

This has really been growing on me. I like how the last few seconds of the album remind me of the end of the Entertainment Tonight theme.

are you referring to MBGATE or the new one?

The new one is amazing. The perfect pop of "The Entertainment", the manic chopping on "Orphaned", the heavy bends on "Number Our Days", the overall Buggles-worthy gloss on the vocal lines, the clever but ouch-worthy personal risk of the lyrics vs. the clean room OCD production, I could go on but the whole thing is jawdropping.

have you ever seen the holy mountain on ice?

I can't listen to the beginning of this song without imagining the opening graphics of Max Tundra Action News for Lego People. If I were young and bored I'd put together a video montage of news anchors turning to face the camera and throw it on YouTube.

The guitar freakout after the vocal part is just ... astounding.

Also he rhymes "pale saints" with "sale paints!"

The new one, Cutty.

the opening graphics of Max Tundra Action News for Lego People

YES

The new one, Cutty.

ok, you should make that clearererer

so you did some work for meeeeeee and you didn't get paid

The first time I heard that, I was worried it was about his sister.

I don't know if you got my letter but everyone thinks you're great

Listening to the new one right now for the first time (came in the mails days ago and i have been dying for the time to put it on) and it is GREAT. Coherent thoughtful response will take a lot longer but it is if anything even more joyful than MBGATE, definitely more delirious. Loving it.

I definitely think this is better than MBGATE

First listen, but Number Our Days is absolutely astonishing.

I bought the soup and I still don't know what to do with it. It is in a rust-flecked tin which has no best before on, so possibly best to decide sooner rather than later. The boyfriend has been asking awkward questions.

Album is great, yes. Also, anyone know anything about Toirse O'Riordain, who does one of the interpretations on the bonus soup-edition mp3s? Cz his one's pretty ace but I can't google a thing about him.

I keep forgetting to listen to this. I really enjoyed Mastered By Guy.

Saw MT in concert tonight (opening for the Junior Boys, who were good but not so exciting - great beats, few hooks, songs too long for my taste) ...anyway, Max was great, no complaints except I wish he'd played longer. God, Parallax Error is a really fucking good record.

This jumper was bought for 20p
The trousers and shirt were thrown in free

I still haven't eaten the soup and I still want to know more about Tóirse Ó Riordáin. Suggestions on both gratefully received!

I guess a tin of uneaten Max Tundra soup is not going to be the coolest item of rock'n'roll memorabilia in years to come so I should just eat the thing - who could not want to taste one of their favourite artists' cooking? (Uh, G G Allin fans, yeah.)

Why don't you write to the man himself and ask him?

oh, man: I got really excited to eat my soup, opened it up, and then ... something seemed to have gone slightly off about it.

(the preceding is not intended as a disparaging or libelous statement concerning the quality or safety of Max Tundra Liquid Soup products.)

max tundra is at spaceland tonight. i'd really like to go. should i go?

Yes do go! MT is a performing machine, not quite sure how he manages to hit all those keyboards in time so quickly, or where he gets his energy. Fun!!!

Max Tundra fans - listen to his awesome radio show on Resonance FM!

rotogravure.blogspot.com

ok how the ~fuck~ did i not know about this

MBGATE or Parallax Error, or both?

I like the former a lot, but Parallax Error ended up being one of my most listened to albums last year - it's so dense with ideas, and so immaculately made but also enormous fun to listen to. I absolutely love his lyrics as well.

Both! And the first album. Was always gonna be love. Dude started out from the same wide-eyed pack of Cardiacs obsessives as Kavus Torabi. The latter ended up IN Cardiacs, the former just ended up playing 'em on his radio show. And making some completely awesome electronic music.

So good - really what's not to love? I had no idea he was a Cardiacs stan, but that makes complete sense - there's surely something of the same intricacy and attention to detail in their musics. Max Tundra played somewhere round here last year and I managed to miss it, which is a source of bitter regret.

PLUS: the Silverlink remix of "Which Song" (which I first heard on Spotify, and am going to listen to right now) is militantly stupendous.

ha this is total LJ BAIT LOL

"Cabasa" is...staggering.

"parallax error" may be the better album tho. dude is on some good shit.

i feel that perhaps i understand this man better now that i've read the third policeman

The Gradual Disappearance from Food Packaging of the Lettres Ornees Typeface Since the Nineteen Sixties motherfuckers!

(met Mr Tundra at a Monsoon Bassoon gig where he happily chatted about Cardiacs and the whole-tone scale but I was and am too drunk to remember except that he is an A+ nice guy and I highly commend both his music and his radio show and also oh shit I never ate that soup)

"parallax error" may be the better album tho. dude is on some good shit.

I just ordered this the other day, I'm really excited to hear it.

Is his first album worth checking out?

yes

he's GRATE and that is no exception

i wish i knew of him sooner

I don't love Some Best Friend as much as the other two, but it was the first one I heard and I kept following the guy, so...
(may not be quite true as already thought Children At Play 12" was ace)

Longer explanation: I like it, but don't put it on often and find it a little slow. Most obvious contrasting point: no vocals. Whether this is + or - is up to you, but for me I'd love him to do some more instrumental stuff now and this is still my least favourite Tundra album, so read that as you will.

Also, a lot of the tracks are kind of sedate or understated beat-wise. It's simultaneously more real-instrumenty and yet less live/spontaneous-sounding. It sounds pretty unfocused compared to most of his stuff, it's more content to sit in loops and let them unravel slowly rather than kicking them over and running round the room with the shreds, and if you're coming from a pop/r&b/dance angle then that influence is a lot less obvious. I recommend checking out the single "Cakes" (which I was going to link to a youtube of and say "it doesn't do it justice", but apparently there isn't even a youtube) - if you don't like that, don't get the album; if you really love that, well, that's the best (uh, catchiest) bit by some way, but the rest has its moments.

tldr version: I'm suspicious of but generally agree with the rock idea that most artists' best work is their earliest, but Max Tundra is definitely an exception for me.

well true it is less GRATE. but it's still worth listening to!!

latest two albums are kinda godly.

(Cardiacs are a MASSIVE exception to that rule. It often holds, but there are some pure-at-heart music-makers, often those for whom composition exceeds novelty value, who work at their craft and improve, often coming out with more original material after they've had time to examine just what it is they do well)

(nice write-up! yeah Cakes is super)

I'm going to have to check out this "Cardiacs," since you've mentioned them a couple times now on threads about bands I like.

I feel like Pandora.

i just listened to a cardiacs song and it was awful, like zappa prog wackiness + comedy british accents + circus music + queen.

(i'm sure that will sound awesome to someone)

You listened to an early Cardiacs song, then. Possibly one that predates their first album. a) they improved SO much, b) that stuff is still awesome in its mentalist way IMO

also, Queen? PFAH.

Like, the first Youtube hit (pretty much) is for Tarred And Feathered. You may have seen that one. That is not the one to see.

that's the one

Yeah. That was when they were my age and still just as concerned with being wacky as making amazing music.

Later, stuff like this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTrK0mBxoT4&feature=related

Oh, and they weren't bad live either. Both of these are performed inna garage-punk style for the BBC. They're two of Cardiacs' better songs. Wouldn't say best, but then they don't have to be. 'Signs' especially I find to be a stunner, although 'Fiery Gun Hand' is generally the crowd-pleaser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqAJcBh3sEQ&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8I5hXh2dbI

This, however, is probably my favourite song of all time. You have been warned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpEe0ztq2ck

This is not to denigrate the earlier album material. On Land And In The Sea is my joint-favourite album ever (along with the last two 90's albums), but there isn't much of it on Youtube. Fuck it, A Little Man... and Heaven Born... are both insanely good as well.

If you've run screaming after 30 seconds of Dog-Like Sparky, I don't really blame you.

Was gonna post about Cardiacs (if only because I'd put "Dog Like Sparky" pretty firmly in the "still wacky" category) but then I checked my email and saw that Cardiacs guitarist Kavus Torabi will be hosting Mr Tundra's radio show on Saturday 16th while he is on tour, and it will be good, and I will probably forget to listen because I always do. 2:30-3:30pm Britisher time, web stream at resonancefm.com. Presumably you can tune in this coming Saturday and hear a Max Tundra edition.

!!!

i really need to start listening to this show (and resonance fm more as a whole; it's responsible for ALL my favourite radio experiences) anyway, but this may finally convince me. kavus is a LOVELY BLOKE btw. i met him and it's true.

dog-like sparky has a structure that is more calculated than loopy. it's not scattergun, it's controlled madness, composed as a piece and utterly beguiling. it usually has SOME sort of profound effect on whoever i play it to. sometimes like. usually "holy fuck". it's the work of a master songwriter imo

I used to like the 0rg(anart) show on resonance until S34n 0rg4n didn't send me my ebay CDs (disclaimer: may have disappeared in post, and disappeared in post again when resent, and also every issue of my magazine subscription may have disappeared in the post). Maybe it is still going and playing some Cardiacsy things. (sulk)

(every other week it is M4r1n4 instead of S34n and as far as I know she is good people and didn't not send me any CDs and also is an ex-ILXor, so I still endorse her weeks, just not to the point of listening to them in case I tune in on the wrong week and get angry about ebay again)

when yr star attraction is a crusty old pronk band nobody likes, yr ship is not exactly gonna be tight ;-)

the main thing here is that i REALLY need to get some resonance fm down me. or i need to work there or something. i would sweep the floors there tbh

(best Resonance shows = Dan Wilson's 'exciting hellebore shew' and 'epistaxis time' and L Voag's 'Harmon E Phraisyar Show' which are both works of DERANGED AND BEAUTIFUL NOISE-COMEDY GENIUS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbxzUhk7R5c

Owe you a message LJ, too tired tonight tho', did you dig on MT from the HOS Compilation CD by any chance?

Holy fuck L. Voag has a resonance show? How did I not know this?! "Kitchen" off "The Way Out" is a jam and no mistake. Don't take that frigidaire away from me!

Will check out the others, err, some time, I hope, maybe.

RIP Herra Arktinen's "Half a Map", unless it has reappeared on the airwaves without me knowing.

I think I got there via someone's comment on a Dominique Leone thread! I had to hear Dom Leone's album before deciding on my 2009 track nominations, and Max Tundra was implicated. I noticed there was a MT track on that compilation, which helped me decide to follow it up (seeing him in that company is persuasive), but I didn't listen to that track until after I'd devoured the albums.

Google Harmon E Phraisyar podcast or archive, there's some awesome stuff there (i.e. all of it). I think I marginally prefer Dan Wilson's work, dude's a true underground superstar. To the extent to which nobody knows he is.

Is Half A Map worth tracking down then?

To be honest I only heard a couple of them and can't really remember what it was like, but I do remember being pissed off that the second week I tuned in he closed with an announcement that the show was ending. Will google the podcasts at some point when it isn't past my bedtime, alas.

The Desmotabs song on the House of Stairs comp is also a jam iirc. Please add Desmotabs to my "who is ___ and what else have they done" bleatings along with Toirse O'Riordan (as mentioned upthread for being on Max Tundra bonus remix non-CD).

I assume LJ already has all the Cheval de Frise stuff ever but if not then check it out.

Will put the Desmotabs song on now!

I don't have any of that stuff. You forget I'm incredibly new to these musics! It gives me an in no way guilty sense of pride that I'm possibly the only 22 year-old alive who digs and chases down these things this hard. Look at the thread I started the other day! Unknown, vaguely Cardiacsy prog-pop that only MaresNest and I actually like Add 'R spacecadet' to the title and maybe this should all be on there! Nah, here's fine. :)

Oh, sorry, there is a Cheval de Frise track on that comp too I think, which is why I mention them. I think "Fresques sur les parois secrètes du crâne" is my CdF pick but it's all good except the last EP thing which for some reason I didn't care for. I dunno if they count as "this sort of thing" or "prog-pop" but they were first recommended to me by the person who introduced me to Cardiacs so there is definitely audience crossover. Abstract and kind of dizzying two-man post-something instrumental acoustic music <-- here is a description which does not do them any favours at all, maybe "Hella if they were arty French dudes that nobody knew anything about" would work better

Tired and probably got to go into work tomorrow no matter how much it snows so I'm off to be grumpy in bed. Happy listening!

I am listening to the CDF track already! It's kinda beautiful! Actually wait, this is the Stars Of Battledress track that follows it in the comp, didn't *gulp* notice the track changed! OK, let's rescreen that CDF...mmmmm. Am liking. Desmotabs was like some weird and brief tech nightmare thingy. In a good way!

Oh, and night! The man will tell you off for leaving early yesterday.

Ha. There's me standing here with my whole life to spare, and that's the way we all go.

I am all for weird and brief tech nightmares. Someone once told me that Sarah Monsoon Bassoon was making solo electronic music post-MB and I would v. much like to hear that. Doubt I'll get to though, not even sure I'll ever get to hear Torabi's Knife World stuff.

PS I imagine I don't actually know any more about this stuff than you do! I was going to say it's not the easiest to find out about, but then I can think of two places where I could find out about it and I don't generally read those, so I've only got myself to blame.

i liked both albums until the cutesy britishness started 2 grate, but they r still pretty awes imo, i just don't really wanna listen to em

if people are stuck for what to listen to, i would recommend the longest 4 tracks on each of the last 2 albums. all wondrous.

'until we die' is musical idyll, although 'cabasa' might be better. 'orphaned' is dazzling. 'acorns' is lovely. 'labial' is sexy as hell. 'which song' is a HIT. as is 'number our days'. and 'lysine' is about an enzyme iirc

OMG! awesome MAX TUNDRA INTERVIEW/HOUSEPARTY CONCERT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbWcR7Adr8Y

I just got Parrallax Error yesterday its sounding brilliant after a few listens.

Funny that this thread turned into a Cardiacs discussion for a while there. I was listening to Mastered By The Guy the other day and noticed about 45 seconds into Pocket it goes extremely Cardiacs, it's a lovely moment. It's such a shame their albums are all out of print, the prices on Amazon are ridiculous.

I've come to the rapid conclusion that Cabasa and Until We Die would have had an equal shot at turning my 23 Songs Of The Decade into 24. Completely torn as to which is better. Both incredible.

And Orphaned on headphones, I discovered, is something else.

MGBATE is my favourite album of the decade. Every track blows me away. Always found it bizarre that he's not more popular.

And this is the first time you've heard him, acoulethic? What a treat..

His attention to detail and expansiveness is basically big flashing me-bait. His melodic and structural sensibilities crown it off. I think his awesomeness can be summarised in the guitar-screech about 2 minutes into Labial. Who else would do that?

The little break before the second chorus of Which Song, sounds like a reference, almost a parody to 06-07 mnml techno. Haven't seen any reviews or discussion here pick on that.

And how about when it randomly, miraculously turns into trance in The Entertainment!

How Nord Lead Three actually sounds like the Max Tundra Live Band rocking out in his garage, although it was probably slaved over to its brim for years.

The Generation Game melodic turnaround in Until We Die!

The way a xylophone and a cello buried in the mix double up the tune in Pocket as you were saying

More subtly, how Hilted brings things down just as it starts to peak

Coda of Cabasa!

etc. etc. I'm Max Tundra's biggest fan.

whole of Cabasa, in its ridiculous sublime-to-sublimely ridiculous journey, but yeah that coda is pretty much moments when you were awestruck by pop to a tee

obviously you've barely scratched the surface there

I see Mr Tundra has rejigged his soundcloud and added many remixes and cover versions in addition to an old edition of his Resonance FM radio show. (Hope I didn't miss a new one this past weekend, as the resonance stream refused to work.)

http://soundcloud.com/maxtundra

Everything there is super good, love especially the cover of "Tell It To My Heart", and the Futureheads remix

gonna have to hear these

I never remembered to listen to his show (I only ever seem to listen to Resonance in the car, for some reason), and now it seems I never will.

http://rotogravure.blogspot.com/2010/10/ego-gymnastics_04.html

Based on MT's side of things that is shabby treatment for sure.

wtf

http://fiverr.com/users/maxtundra

jamming "Which Song" while looking at that

about 50 minutes of previously unreleased Max Tundra music here:

http://maxtundra.bandcamp.com/album/with-love-to-mummy

a little more dancey/less weird than the stuff he's officially released, though you can hear some little loops and samples that he'd use later on. this is actually quite enjoyable, though it really just makes me wish he'd hurry up with a new album already.

btw 5 years since the last one. listening to all these again, I really hope he comes back. Some Best Friend is kind of surprising to me now. I didnt like it much at first and it feels rather unfocused in spots but the concepts behind the tunes are so loopy that I can't help but love a lot of it. MBGATE still holds up well but I think a lot of the initial excitement I had about that album has died down a bit. That said I have yet to hear anyone else 'clip' a pop song like "Merman" or "Lights" to fit into a 2-minute space like that. Parallax Error is IMO his best and the sort of album I can listen to on repeat for days. It really takes the ingenuity of MBGATE and turns it on its head. "Which Song" is like, the song of the decade.

I need to put these albums on again. Loved the hell out of MBGATE and PEBY both.

I like the really long songs on his albums the most. He should do a record of full-on mental epics

talked to him briefly last month & it sounded like next thing is still a way off.

I'm about to receive in the mail a project he's part of - along with Dom Leone and Foetus and some other luminaries of the avant-pop brigade

Exquisite Corpse Game? I have it, everyone on this thread should check it out :)

MBGATE is classic

With Love to Mummy is amazing. This genius deserves more recognition.

https://twitter.com/MaxTundra/status/418778580177272832

So it looks like we'll be getting some new max tundra in 2014, hoping it's that new album that he's supposedly been working for a while.

Also I think that Some Best Friend... is a horribly underrated album, surprised to not see it mentioned much in this thread.

i don't dig "some best friend" so much, save for a couple of excellent tracks, but the killer disc nobody seems to remember is "QY20 songs", which perfectly bridges toytown drill n bass, ralph records / zappa synclavier "jazz from hell" and some sorta pixelated ambient steve reich thing, without going down the 90's "newclassical" coattails route to chinstroking joylessness & the monolithic gravitas of "composition"/ conceptual hogwash (my personal anti-herbert strawman / vendetta which is some kinda re-framed self loathing or something). it's quick and it's effervescent, and brainy as all hell broke loose - one of my all time favourites !

"61over" sounds so much like stuff i was recording in the late '90s/early '00s.

Been getting back into this guy in a big way. Parallax Error is sounding even better than it did when it came out. So much energy, so much change per second. Still haven't gotten over "Orphaned" really - somehow feels like it loops the whole time and yet it also feels like not one second of it actually 100% repeats one other second. So cool when the vocals finally come in after three minutes of skittering, panicking, jam-packed and in-command sonic gibberish in rhythm. Parallax error beheads you / Framing of a history lost... But the whole record is great.

I really think "Which Song" is one of the best pop songs ever produced. As good as MBGATE is Parallax Error does really sound better to me every year, I think it's gonna become one of my favorites of all the 00's soon enough

Shame this dude isn't more popular therefore giving him more motivation to work on a new record. Hard to believe that one's 6 years old already.

"Still haven't gotten over "Orphaned" really - somehow feels like it loops the whole time and yet it also feels like not one second of it actually 100% repeats one other second. "

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.

Nice bump, truly this guy is amazing and quite singular. Pitchfork really went in on MBGATE...twelve years ago (!). Would love to see some more work from him. We're about due, six years and all.

Too bad they didn't go in on Parallax.

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.

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

Was looking for news on the twitter and found this pretty funny/sad one:

https://twitter.com/MaxTundra/status/530690153980108800

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

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

https://twitter.com/MaxTundra/status/518062219528269824

checked his followers, she's not in there :'(

He has a strangely melancholic twitter presence, which I find uncommon for musicians on twitter

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.

Into this.

http://www.stereogum.com/1721843/azealia-banks-chasing-time-max-tundra-remix/mp3s/

This jumper was bought for 20p
The trousers and shirt were thrown in free-ee-e
If this one is the tune about Louis V
Then which song is the one about Agnes B?
DOO DOO DOO DOOT DOOT DOO DOOTILY DOOT

Jacobs produces track for Daphne & Celeste, namechecks Pink Floyd, what a world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJr_uyA0Np4

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

Sure thing

done! :)

digging it. never heard of them before, but cool hearing his sounds wrapped around someone else's song in a non-remix kinda way.

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/1240173-daphne-celeste-you-i-alone

lmao at the click track

wait he's collaborating with who now

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/david-liebe-hart-max-tundra/pets/

so this guy basically invented the pc music sound right

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

daer ag cook: pay yr deferences

i feel like if he'd gotten in touch charli would have been open to it

he almost certainly did get in touch multiple times knowing him haha

Um guys? Max Tundra in 2020 is the greatest thing

might be a good time to dig out my copy of PEBY

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

World definitely in need of saving again by another Max Tundra project.

Lmao he composed an original song for “Trombone Champ”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvawOXoSp1E

lol that rules

lotta pop music that I hear nowadays sounds like max tundra mbtgate

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

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

“mgtgate” -> it’s not “the guy” but “Guy”, Guy Davie at The Exchange. Really a brilliant album title imho

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

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!

Ha, quite! Leone's own pop experiments can definitely play in that game too btw - crashingly underrated and proto-hyper

one exciting prospect of AI is more weird pop dudes making stuff like "Orphaned"

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

i think of this post every time i think of this (incredible) song.

Might finish this. https://t.co/RVxzqbBSPx

— Max Tundra (@MaxTundra) January 27, 2023

Please!

(The quoted Tweet is from March 30, 2012)

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)

delighted to hear he also adores "human sadness" and that a new album is coming along (though very slowly)

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

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"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8W5RzTCAY0

oh there's a 6 minute version of it here too, even better. really wonderful stuff

Kind of odd that that interview doesn't mention the Daphne and Celeste album at all.

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.

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

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.

Yeah "BB" and "You and I Alone" are def keepers