your greedbagpress release - Mastered By Guy At The Exchange
Mastered by Guy at The Exchange is a diverse collection of energetic songs for voice, keyboards, guitar, assorted instruments and a combination of real, programmed and electronically manipulated percussion. This last, highly diverting ingredient has misled many a lazy ear into assuming that Ben Jacobs, the brain, and now voice behind Max Tundra, is primarily an electronic artist. While tracks such as Fuerte and Acorns demonstrate his formidable skill as a programmer, his work is characterised by the subtle and relaxed manner in which he is able to employ these sounds amongst an exceptionally broad range of instrumentation. His dazzling eclecticism and attention to detail are as much in evidence as ever, but his apparently limitless musical resources are employed with customary restraint and good judgement. The introduction of vocals for the first time does nothing to tame his restless and expansive sense of development, and while the deceptive commercial radio sheen of brassy opener Merman or Lysine (the first single) may at least suggest the lightness and immediacy of accessible pop, the irregular sung sections of Cabasa, Pocket and MBGATE draw attention to the highly unconventional nature of what is perhaps his most subversive work to date. While computer generated material forms only one element of the music, Jacobs applies the care and cool detachment of the programmer to every element of this constantly surprising record. The roles of electronic wizard and multi-instrumentalist are combined in a way that enables them to rid each other of their more hideous connotations. Hopefully the immaculate vocals delivered by Ben and his sister Becky, combined with the charming wit and sincerity of songs such as his hilariously compressed employment history Lights, will attract listeners unaccustomed to the rewarding complexities of this ambitious and adventurous brain-pop.
release:Mastered By Guy At The Exchange
label: Domino