MAX TUNDRA, the English multi-instrumental musician, singer, and music producer, will play the Róisín Dubh on Strange Brew on Thursday January 22 at 9pm.
Max Tundra’s music is predominantly electronic but incorporates non-electronic styles and instruments. His influences are wide and varied and include prog rock, indie, mainstream pop, Art of Noise, Frank Zappa, Nik Kershaw, Mercury Rev, and Prince.
Tundra (real name Ben Jacobs ) began to take an interest in music when he received piano lessons as a child. Instead of the more formal pieces he was being trained to play, Tundra found he really enjoyed trying to figure out the melodies of TV theme songs and adverts.
In his teens he bought a Commodore Amiga 500 and began exploring electronic music with it. This led to Warp taking a chance with his track ‘Children At Play’ and releasing it as a single in 1998. In 2000, Domino released his debut album Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be.
His second album, Mastered By Guy At The Exchange, saw the use of vocals.
“When I was writing Some Best Friend, I thought of all sorts of weird and wonderful machines and instruments I could use to make noises, but singing never occurred to me,” Tundra explained in an interview. “I had never considered using my voice on any Max Tundra record ever, but hey, I like to keep things varied, so this time round I figured what the hell!”
The album enjoyed positive reviews and made Pitchfork Media’s list of Top 50 albums of 2002. In 2006, Max Tundra released the single ‘Alphabet Series’ and in September of last year released the single ‘Will Get Fooled Again’ from his forthcoming album Best Friends.
Support is from Uzi & Ari. Tickets are available from the Róisín Dubh and Zhivago.
