Biography
Londoner Ben Jacobs produces music as Max Tundra that packs dense, twisting hyperactivity into bright, melody-driven packages. His earliest release arrived via a 1998 Warp single; after signing with Domino he issued Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be (2000), an album built from acoustic and electronic sounds sequenced entirely on an Amiga 500 and designed to sketch eleven distinct musical forms. Mastered by Guy at the Exchange followed in 2002, a maximalist left-field pop set that earned widespread praise. Parallax Error Beheads You appeared in 2008, tilting further toward pop while remaining strictly electronic. Archival material surfaced from time to time, and Tundra produced Daphne & Celeste Save the World, the 2018 comeback album by Daphne & Celeste. His work came to be seen as a key influence on PC Music and the hyperpop scene; the 2022 Remixtape collected reworkings by artists including A.G. Cook and Kero Kero Bonito. In 2023 he issued a cover of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work.”
As a boy Jacobs resisted formal classical piano instruction, choosing instead to replicate television theme tunes and advertising jingles by ear and occasionally capturing early re-edits on tape; at the same time he gained initial performance experience in his primary school’s steel pan group. During adolescence he acquired a Commodore Amiga 500—the dominant home-computer model of the late 1980s—plus inexpensive sequencing software, an arrangement that suited a solitary perfectionist better than band membership, and he began assembling intricate electronic pieces.
He eventually submitted a demo consisting of one thirteen-minute track to various labels. Warp elected to issue it unchanged as the A-side of the first Max Tundra single, “Children at Play,” in 1998. The full-length Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be arrived on Domino in 2000, trailed by the singles “Cakes” and “Ink Me.” Programmed on the Amiga yet augmented by an array of live instruments performed by Tundra himself, the largely instrumental IDM collection contained shorter but equally packed tracks. QY20 Songs, a short EP created on the Yamaha QY20 Music Sequencer, followed in 2001. The 2002 album Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, greeted with enthusiasm by critics, introduced vocals for the first time; its dozen warped pop songs—all bearing six-letter titles—were sung by Tundra or his sister Becky Jacobs, later of the folktronic outfit Tunng. Tigerbeat6 handled the United States release, marking Tundra’s debut in North America.
A half-decade of relative silence ensued, interrupted only sporadically by new material such as a 2006 single for Tomlab Records’ Alphabet Series (containing a 1989 recording of the KLF’s “What Time Is Love”) and a track for David Shrigley’s Worried Noodles project. Remixes for Franz Ferdinand, Architecture in Helsinki, the Futureheads, Pet Shop Boys and others also appeared. He resurfaced in 2008 with the third album, Parallax Error Beheads You, whose painstaking detail required six years to realize. Still built primarily on the same Amiga configuration he had long refined, the record presented his most refined, pop-focused writing while retaining the earlier frenetic energy, meticulous complexity and singular eccentricity.
Another extended hiatus followed, during which early 1980s and 1990s tapes resurfaced as the digital collections With Love to Mummy and Selected Amiga/BBC Micro Works 85-92. The two-track charity Incandenza EP, assembled in Renoise, and a remastered edition of the 2004 Peel Session both surfaced in 2018. That same year Tundra produced Daphne & Celeste Save the World, issued on his own Balatonic imprint.
He invited close associates to reinterpret tracks from his debut for the 2020 release Best Friends and joined David Liebe Hart on the single “Pets.” Late in 2021 Tundra appeared on Arca’s KicK iii as co-producer of “Rubberneck.” Additional left-field pop and electronic acts cited his influence, frequently positioning his output as a precursor to hyperpop. The three albums were remastered and reissued in 2022 alongside Remixtape, which featured contributions from Julia Holter, A.G. Cook, Kero Kero Bonito and others. The next year brought “Lights 2023,” a refreshed version of a song from Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, together with the Kate Bush cover.
As a boy Jacobs resisted formal classical piano instruction, choosing instead to replicate television theme tunes and advertising jingles by ear and occasionally capturing early re-edits on tape; at the same time he gained initial performance experience in his primary school’s steel pan group. During adolescence he acquired a Commodore Amiga 500—the dominant home-computer model of the late 1980s—plus inexpensive sequencing software, an arrangement that suited a solitary perfectionist better than band membership, and he began assembling intricate electronic pieces.
He eventually submitted a demo consisting of one thirteen-minute track to various labels. Warp elected to issue it unchanged as the A-side of the first Max Tundra single, “Children at Play,” in 1998. The full-length Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be arrived on Domino in 2000, trailed by the singles “Cakes” and “Ink Me.” Programmed on the Amiga yet augmented by an array of live instruments performed by Tundra himself, the largely instrumental IDM collection contained shorter but equally packed tracks. QY20 Songs, a short EP created on the Yamaha QY20 Music Sequencer, followed in 2001. The 2002 album Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, greeted with enthusiasm by critics, introduced vocals for the first time; its dozen warped pop songs—all bearing six-letter titles—were sung by Tundra or his sister Becky Jacobs, later of the folktronic outfit Tunng. Tigerbeat6 handled the United States release, marking Tundra’s debut in North America.
A half-decade of relative silence ensued, interrupted only sporadically by new material such as a 2006 single for Tomlab Records’ Alphabet Series (containing a 1989 recording of the KLF’s “What Time Is Love”) and a track for David Shrigley’s Worried Noodles project. Remixes for Franz Ferdinand, Architecture in Helsinki, the Futureheads, Pet Shop Boys and others also appeared. He resurfaced in 2008 with the third album, Parallax Error Beheads You, whose painstaking detail required six years to realize. Still built primarily on the same Amiga configuration he had long refined, the record presented his most refined, pop-focused writing while retaining the earlier frenetic energy, meticulous complexity and singular eccentricity.
Another extended hiatus followed, during which early 1980s and 1990s tapes resurfaced as the digital collections With Love to Mummy and Selected Amiga/BBC Micro Works 85-92. The two-track charity Incandenza EP, assembled in Renoise, and a remastered edition of the 2004 Peel Session both surfaced in 2018. That same year Tundra produced Daphne & Celeste Save the World, issued on his own Balatonic imprint.
He invited close associates to reinterpret tracks from his debut for the 2020 release Best Friends and joined David Liebe Hart on the single “Pets.” Late in 2021 Tundra appeared on Arca’s KicK iii as co-producer of “Rubberneck.” Additional left-field pop and electronic acts cited his influence, frequently positioning his output as a precursor to hyperpop. The three albums were remastered and reissued in 2022 alongside Remixtape, which featured contributions from Julia Holter, A.G. Cook, Kero Kero Bonito and others. The next year brought “Lights 2023,” a refreshed version of a song from Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, together with the Kate Bush cover.
Albums
This Woman's Work
2023
Remixtape
2022
Parallax Error Beheads You
2008
Mastered by Guy at The Exchange
2002
Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be
2000
Children At Play
1998
Singles
