Naytronix

Nate Brenner operates under the solo alias Naytronix as a producer, multi-instrumentalist, and tUnE-yArDs bassist whose experimental electronic pop mixes danceable rhythms, ethereal atmospheres, and playful compositional touches. Brenner launched the project via a self-titled EP in 2012, yet his third Naytronix album, 2019's Air, moved into a darker, more robust synth-pop territory. Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs served as co-producer on that release and again on 2021's Other Possibilities.

A Bloomington, Indiana native, Brenner trained in jazz bass at Ohio's Oberlin Conservatory before entering Garbus's tUnE-yArDs lineup for the group's second album, 2011's W H O K I L L. He supplied bass, percussion, backing vocals, and horn arrangements on the record. In May 2012 Brenner issued the four-track Naytronix EP on Plug Research, which contained a cover of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately," then followed two months later with the full-length Dirty Glow. Garbus, a horn section, and several other musicians contributed while Brenner performed most of the parts himself.

Brenner continued with tUnE-yArDs and resurfaced in 2015 with the Naytronix album Mister Divine on City Slang. Compiled from hours of road-written material during tours with both tUnE-yArDs and Naytronix, the sessions occurred at New, Improved Recording in his adopted home of Oakland, California, with guitarist Mark Allen-Piccolo and percussionist Robert Lopez.

After adding to the score of Boots Riley's 2018 film Sorry to Bother You as part of tUnE-yArDs, Brenner delivered his third Naytronix album, Air (BotCave Records/Singing Light Music), in 2019. Contributors included Garbus (vocals, co-production), Ross Peacock (synths, co-production), Hamir Atwal (drums), and Madeline Kenney (vocals). Garbus and Peacock rejoined Brenner for 2021's Other Possibilities, Naytronix's first release on Overseas Artists Recordings.