MUSIC

Artists

Pioneers
The Human League
Kraftwerk
Suicide
Electro
Anthony Rother
Radioactive Man
Electronica
Boards of Canada
cLOUDDEAD
Casino Vs Japan
Jan Jelinek
Max Tundra
Classical
Balenescu Quartet
Steve Reich
Jazz
Jimi Tenor
Sun Ra
Techno
Mark Bell
Model 500

Labels

Max Tundra

Funny hair and he likes ice cream - Max Tundra

Ben Jacobs as he is know to is mum, is probably one of the most original, interesting and entertaining purveyor of any type of electronic music currently doing the rounds. Starting his career as teenage bedroom twiddler using an Amiga 500 and a £1 piece of music software, he released his first composition as the Children at Play EP on Warp Records in 1998. He has been rejected by a host of record labels with one even criticising him for having "too many ideas". Fortunately he found a home at the excellent Domino label who have released his first two albums to date.

His musical style is fast-paced, wildly eclectic and often chaotic sounding.
He claims that on his first album he "…wanted to invent eleven new types of music." What these new types are or where they appear I’m not sure but most of the tracks on Some Best Friend you Turned out to be are prone
to move off on wild tangents and often compact a series of diverse compositions into a single track.

Although Max Tundra has been known to use samples extensively, his preferred method is to play all the musical parts himself. If he needs a trombone part for one of his tunes he will hire a trombone and figure out how to play the part he wants and record it. So legend has it anyway. The opening track called Cakes on Some best friend… has a trumpet part that would have Miles Davis as dizzy as Gillespie.

He has a reputation as a very slow worker. Both his LPs last around forty five minutes and both took over a year to make. Tundra sights his insistence on using outdated equipment that make the creative process very long-winded, as the main reason for this.

His second album for Domino Records Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, features Tundra’s vocal talents along with his sister Becky. I had the privilege of seeing him perform live at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London in 2003. Unfortunately, I accidentally got drunk and my memory is a little patchy but it all seemed quite good.

Ink Me