Max Tundra

Music

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Number Our Days

Album: Parallax Error Beheads You

Released: Jan 1, 2008

Label: Domino Recording Co.

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Number Our Days
3:33
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Until We Die
11:03
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Lysine
4:02
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Hilted
2:51
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Subsi Kuku
5:07
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Total Plays: 353,359 / Plays Today: 1See All Featured ►

General Info

Genre: Pop / Progressive / Rock
Location London, London and South East, Un
Profile Views: 483700
Last Login: 4/22/2012
Member Since 9/3/2005
Website maxtundra.com
Type of Label Indie
Bio
Ben Jacobs was lucky enough to grow up in a house with a piano. As a child he protested about the lessons in which he was forced to learn the music of the famous (dead) composers. “I used to prefer sitting at the keyboard at home and playing tv theme songs and music from adverts”, remembers Ben. Eventually he realised that this expanse of black and white keys could be turned to his own advantage and he began forming his own musical inventions. One day, the teenage Ben bought a Commodore Amiga 500 home computer. Armed with this and a £1 piece of music software, he began to explore the world of electronic composition. Eventually he got so good at using this cheap set-up that back in 1998 Warp Records released his first single. “Warp were the only label who were interested in my first tune,” says Ben. “I sent my demo tape to fifty labels in all, but most people freaked out. A couple of guys made the bizarre criticism that I had too many ideas.” This criticism has frequently dogged Max Tundra (as he was hereby renamed), in a musically diverse, eclectic career where time signatures, musical genres and instrumentation have been given the thorough shake-up they have long needed. For the last few years (as well as remixing bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Pet Shop Boys, The Futureheads, Tunng and Von Südenfed), Max Tundra has been working on his third album for Domino. This record has been completed, is called “Parallax Error Beheads You”, and was released in October 2008. Six years have passed since the release of his previous LP. During this time many bands have formed, recorded albums, and split up. In a time when groups are encouraged to bang out new records two or three times a year, it is almost quaint to encounter a project which took the best part of a decade to record. Despite the attention to detail in the densely layered programming, these new songs are Max’s catchiest, brightest and most memorable yet, and make much of his earlier work sound home-made and clunky. Now that it’s finished he can leave the house once more. Max Tundra's warm, emotive, uplifting songs will capture your spirit, pour it over ice, and serve it back to you at the best disco in town (where you won't get turned away for liking both Destiny's Child and Frank Zappa). Incidentally, there's no dress code either. BOOKING MAX TUNDRA: Europe: a@puschen.net North America: carter@windishagency.com UK & elsewhere: bookings@maxtundra.com
Members
Ben Jacobs
Influences
tUnE-YaRdS, Skeletons, What's Up?, Abe Vigoda, Eats Tapes, Armand Schaubroeck, The Fiery Furnaces, Frank Zappa, Set The Tone, Marnie Stern, Jensen Sportag, Talk Talk, MGMT, Kelley Polar, Magma, Eskaton, Cornelius, Gong, Isolee, Todd Rundgren, The Laughing Dogs, Mr Oizo, Bill Nelson, Model 500, Hella, Tin Huey, Desmotabs, Yes, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Sebastien Tellier, Rip Rig and Panic, Guapo, Nico Muhly, Human Chain, Don Caballero, Ben Folds Five, Matmos, Safetyword, Supergrass, Heavy Vegetable, Lilys, Bjork, Autechre, The Fugs, Prince, Andrew Poppy, 400 Blows, Gnarls Barkley, Ensemble, Joanna Newsom, Alan Braxe, Polysics, Godiego, Mark Hollis, Kimitaka Matsumae, Ultra Vivid Scene, Sheila E, Cardiacs, The Car Is On Fire, Akufen, The Shaggs, Steely Dan, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Black Dice, Voivod, Klark Kent, Disco Inferno, White Noise, OOIOO, Lumberob, Junior Senior, The Shirts, Caleb (the 60s one), Theoretical Girls, Amit Lissack, Team Doyobi, Silver Apples, The Gas Man, Jib Kidder, The Science Group, Primus, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rolo Tomassi, Arthur Russell, Tipographica, Oorutaichi, UM, Patrick D Martin, Daft Punk, The Chap, Ira Newborn, Final Fantasy, M.I.A., Solex, Broadcast, Authority, Tractor, Damien, Karel Fialka, mid-period Flaming Lips, Clue To Kalo, Junior Boys, Rei Harakami, [Chris] Clark, X-103, Unit 4+2, Jan Hammer, This Heat, Atom TM, Goodbye The Band, Manfred Mann, Cobra Killer, Devo, Goblin, Palladium, Dirty Projectors, Wallace Collection, Justice, Steve Reich, R Stevie Moore, Steve Vai, Fiona Apple, Mu, The Police, Sonic Youth, LiLiPUT, Benjy Ferree, Richard H Kirk, Simon Bookish, Principal Participant, Material, Talking Heads, Scritti Politti, Slits, Jim O'Rourke, Ruins, White Noise, Silverlink, DJ Falcon, Mitch And Mitch, The Divine Comedy, Robert Mitchum, Guided By Voices, The Art Of Noise, Nik Kershaw, Royal Trux, Salem Al Fakir, mid-period Mercury Rev (i.e. "See You On The Other Side"), Harry Merry, Jason Forrest, Mephany Stankins, Ariel Pink, The Curtains, O.Lamm, Agaskodo Teliverek, Illreme, Basement Jaxx, Moondog, Coolhaven, The Ladies, Captain Beefheart, The Turtles, Tracey Ullman, Severed Heads, "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals, Devin Townsend, The Buggles, Ludacris, Karel Fialka, Sleep, Ex-Models, Nathan Michel, Jiri.Ceiver, Please, Nedelle, Faust, Architecture In Helsinki, Educution, 4tRECk, Liaisons Dangereuses, Joni Mitchell, Beyondo, The Waitresses, Judee Sill, Haruomi Hosono, Phoenix, The High Llamas, Kevin Blechdom, Henry Cow, Baby Ford, Messiaen, Erase Errata, Hanne Hukkelberg, Ween, Stereolab, Field Music, The Red Crayola, Ivor Cutler, Van Dyke Parks, Tyondai Braxton, Defeat The Young, Zongamin, Benjy Ferree, Panda Bear, Mr Flash, Satanicpornocultshop, The Fifth Dimension, Neil & Iraiza, Charlotte Hatherley, Plus-Tech Squeezebox, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Deerhoof, A Certain Ratio, Die Monitr Batss, Dat Politics, Dominique Leone, Mathematiques Modernes, Vicious Pink, Kate Bush, Strapping Young Lad, Thunderclap Newman, Stock Hausen and Walkman, Chi Pig, Sweet Exorcist, The Monsoon Bassoon, M, Brandy, The Flying Lizards, Jackson Fourgeaud, Gentle Giant, William D Drake, Chris & Cosey, Stars In Battledress, Pinback, Storm and Stress, John Maus, Sparks, Gary War, Dillinger Escape Plan, Niobe, Qua, Sister Suvi, Andrew W.K.
Sounds Like
Praise for PEBY: “A whole other world of pop music – an absolutely unique, enchanting, and irreplaceable vision of how the stuff can work” – Pitchfork (27th best album [and highest-rated Domino release] of 2008) “Improves upon [his previous] albums’ strengths – wide-eyed eclecticism among other things – managing greater coherence and scope than anything he’s ever done... astounding” – Cokemachineglow “Parallax Error Beheads You is an enormous achievement, one that expands the syntax of the medium” – Momus (best album of 2008) “This year has bubbled and bleeped with the sound of bedroom electronica that harks back to the past, but the third album by Max Tundra is the most joyful of all. A pop tour de force, bursting with bright, bouncy hooks” – The Guardian “It is a near masterpiece, elastic, eccentric and eclectic” – musicOMH.com “He's never made anything approaching a bad record before, but the greatness that Max Tundra's turned out to be capable of still proves to be a revelation of earth-shattering proportions” - The Quietus “Mannered English eccentricity never sounded so deliriously thrilling” – All Music Guide “What Max has created as a result is nothing short of amazing” – Urb “Jacobs works in a peerless vacuum located in a hazy plot point on the pop timeline, located somewhere in-between outright sugary pop and nerdy bedroom electronica” – Prefix Magazine “It hurts and twists your brain until you start to crave this Tundra terrorism” – NME “Max Tundra’s music is smart, engaging, and both challenging and fun to listen to. That’s what makes it unusual, and worth treasuring” – PopMatters “His maniacal energy is infectious” – The Wire “Mr and Mrs Tundra can be very proud of their boy” – The Independent “It's eclectic, uplifting, vigorously produced and alluringly zany, yet ultimately, highly recommended listening” – Future Music “There's something for anyone with a taste for things multicoloured and marvellously eclectic” – Mojo “A photogenic view of the last thirty or so years of electronic music blended into one smart-paced gem of a record... one of those rare pleasures that inspire all parts of the brain. If this is the blueprint for music's future, we’re in good hands” – Austinist “A modern landmark in sophisticated pop-song composition. Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Scritti Politti, Cornelius, Prince, Daft Punk... it manages to consistently equal and even occasionally improve upon the best work by each of those artists and then some. 10/10” – Spencer Owen (mog.com) “He has struck gold with his masterful third release – smart and relevant” - Treble “A million-course meal stuffed into one disc from the singular mind of an itinerant musical chef” – XLR8R (Staff Pick)