Biography

The music that Londoner Ben Jacobs makes under the name Max Tundra is dizzyingly dense, labyrinthine, and hyperactive, while being utterly effervescent, sunny, and obsessed with melody, which led to him being cited as a trailblazing force for an entire new generation of musicians. In 1998, Warp released his debut EP, Children at Play, based on a demo tape sent to the label. The LP some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be followed in 2000 on Domino. The endlessly unclassifiable and lyrically curious Mastered by Guy at The Exchange followed in 2002. Its innovative fusion of frenetic, electronic arrangements and exuberant melodies predated the emergence of hyperpop by more than a decade and has since been cited as a key influence by PC Music founder AG Cook. Tundra was conspicuously quiet for the next half-decade, popping out remixes for Franz Ferdinand, Pet Shop Boys, Missy Elliott and The Strokes, before re-emerging in 2008 with his latest LP, Parallax Error Beheads You. It featured his most polished, pop-oriented compositions to date, without sacrificing any of the frenetic giddiness, control-freak complexity, or visionary strangeness of his earlier work. In 2018 he wrote and produced the comeback album for 00s poppers Daphne and Celeste, their first album in 18 years. Tundra released the ridiculously melodic Daphne & Celeste Save The World on his brand new label, Balatonic. As Q magazine put it: 'Once heard, it will live in your brain forever.'