Biography
Tyondai Braxton crafts intensely kinetic works that blend experimental rock, contemporary classical forms, and forward-thinking electronics. His first solo outing arrived in summer 2002 via JMZ Records with the loop-driven History That Has No Effect, yet wider attention followed his role as frontman for the math rock outfit Battles, whose Warp debut Mirrored earned broad critical favor in 2007. He next unveiled the orchestral solo project Central Market on the same label in 2009, then departed the group to concentrate on commissions and partnerships with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Philip Glass, Mouse on Mars, and additional collaborators. Subsequent solo electronic releases included the 2015 Nonesuch album HIVE1 and the expansive 2022 Telekinesis, scored for orchestra, choir, guitar, and electronics.
As the offspring of avant-garde jazz legend Anthony Braxton, he began composing and performing in Middletown, Connecticut, during the early ’90s while enrolled in composition studies at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School. Across projects ranging from creative orchestra and avant-garde jazz to the art-rock vehicle Antenna Terra—which counted Extra Life’s Charlie Looker and Mike Pride of Period among its members—he issued his debut solo recording in summer 2002. History That Has No Effect fused orchestrated organic and electronic loops shaped through guitar pedals. That same year he co-founded Battles alongside drummer John Stanier of Helmet and Tomahawk, guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams formerly of Don Caballero, and guitarist David Konopka of Lynx. After several EPs, the band’s 2007 album Mirrored appeared on Warp and drew widespread praise for its propulsive, exploratory approach to rock. Braxton resumed solo activity in 2009 with the orchestral Central Market, also on Warp.
Following his exit from Battles in 2010, he pursued an array of commissions and performances, among them the 2011 work TREMS written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars and 2012 collaborations with the Kronos Quartet and Philip Glass. In 2013 he presented the orchestral/electronic Fly by Wire at Carnegie Hall and premiered HIVE, a modular-synthesizer-and-acoustic-percussion piece, at the Guggenheim Museum; the latter traveled to Poland and Australia before its 2015 release as HIVE1 on Nonesuch. The label also issued his trippy, beat-driven electronic EP Oranged Out in 2016. Braxton contributed modular synthesizer to Dirty Projectors’ self-titled 2017 album and saw his compositions featured on releases that year by the contemporary ensembles Yarn/Wire and Brooklyn Rider. His large-scale piece Telekinesis, written for orchestra, chorus, and electronics, received its premiere in London in 2018 and reached Helsinki the following year. Two home-recorded electronic tracks, “Dia”/“Phonolydian,” surfaced in late 2021 ahead of further recordings in 2022 and a Multiplay residency at Public Records in Brooklyn. The studio version of Telekinesis finally emerged on New Amsterdam in 2022, performed by the New York chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble under Andrew Cyr together with chamber choir the Crossing and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
As the offspring of avant-garde jazz legend Anthony Braxton, he began composing and performing in Middletown, Connecticut, during the early ’90s while enrolled in composition studies at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School. Across projects ranging from creative orchestra and avant-garde jazz to the art-rock vehicle Antenna Terra—which counted Extra Life’s Charlie Looker and Mike Pride of Period among its members—he issued his debut solo recording in summer 2002. History That Has No Effect fused orchestrated organic and electronic loops shaped through guitar pedals. That same year he co-founded Battles alongside drummer John Stanier of Helmet and Tomahawk, guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams formerly of Don Caballero, and guitarist David Konopka of Lynx. After several EPs, the band’s 2007 album Mirrored appeared on Warp and drew widespread praise for its propulsive, exploratory approach to rock. Braxton resumed solo activity in 2009 with the orchestral Central Market, also on Warp.
Following his exit from Battles in 2010, he pursued an array of commissions and performances, among them the 2011 work TREMS written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars and 2012 collaborations with the Kronos Quartet and Philip Glass. In 2013 he presented the orchestral/electronic Fly by Wire at Carnegie Hall and premiered HIVE, a modular-synthesizer-and-acoustic-percussion piece, at the Guggenheim Museum; the latter traveled to Poland and Australia before its 2015 release as HIVE1 on Nonesuch. The label also issued his trippy, beat-driven electronic EP Oranged Out in 2016. Braxton contributed modular synthesizer to Dirty Projectors’ self-titled 2017 album and saw his compositions featured on releases that year by the contemporary ensembles Yarn/Wire and Brooklyn Rider. His large-scale piece Telekinesis, written for orchestra, chorus, and electronics, received its premiere in London in 2018 and reached Helsinki the following year. Two home-recorded electronic tracks, “Dia”/“Phonolydian,” surfaced in late 2021 ahead of further recordings in 2022 and a Multiplay residency at Public Records in Brooklyn. The studio version of Telekinesis finally emerged on New Amsterdam in 2022, performed by the New York chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble under Andrew Cyr together with chamber choir the Crossing and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Albums
