Max Tundra is the recording name of Ben Jacobs, an electronic musician, singer and producer from Camberwell, United Kingdom, born in 1974. His music combines electronic and non-electronic sounds, with dense arrangements built from real and synthetic instruments. He is associated with labels including Balatonic, Warp and Domino, and his listed styles include art pop, avant-garde pop, avant-prog, bitpop, chiptune and electropop.

Background

Jacobs grows up in the United Kingdom and takes piano lessons as a child, but he is especially drawn to television theme music and advertising jingles. As a teenager, he buys a Commodore Amiga 500 and begins exploring electronic composition with it. He continues to use the computer for sequencing.

Releases

Warp releases his song “Children at Play” as a single in 1998. He then issues three albums on Domino Records. Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be appears in 2000 and is entirely instrumental. Mastered By Guy At The Exchange follows in 2002 and includes vocals from Jacobs and his sister Becky, who is part of Tunng. Parallax Error Beheads You appears in 2008 and features Jacobs on vocals alone.

Other work

Alongside his own albums, Jacobs undertakes remix work for artists and groups including Franz Ferdinand, Architecture in Helsinki, Kid606 and the Pet Shop Boys. He also presents a weekly radio show on Resonance FM, Max Tundra's Rotogravure. He is one of the last musicians to record a John Peel Session.