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.

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