Telefon Tel Aviv

Telefon Tel Aviv

Telefon Tel Aviv is an electronic music project formed in 1999 by Josh Eustis and Charlie Cooper. It begins in Los Angeles, having previously been based in New Orleans and then Chicago. Eustis and Cooper meet in high school, but they do not start making music together until after university.

Style and work

The project’s music is centred on electronic production and also draws on classical music, vintage soul, ambient drone and noise. The duo builds a studio in Chicago to work on their own recordings and other projects. After Cooper’s death in 2009, Telefon Tel Aviv continues as a mostly solo project for Eustis.

Recordings and collaborations

In early 2000, the duo works with Danny Lohner, Trent Reznor and Alan Moulder on remixes for Nine Inch Nails’s Things Falling Apart. They then complete their debut album, Fahrenheit Fair Enough, for Chicago label Hefty Records, alongside the original score for the film Newport South. In 2002, they release an EP with Lindsay Anderson of L’Altra, featuring the single “Sound In A Dark Room”. Their second album, Map Of What Is Effortless, is completed in 2003.

A retrospective of their remix work for other artists appears on Hefty Records in 2007. Work on a third album begins in late 2006 and results in Immolate Yourself in 2009. The project also carries out production work for Marc Hellner/Pulseprogramming, L’Altra, The Album Leaf, Apparat, Belong and The Race.

After 2009

After Cooper’s death in January 2009, Eustis performs Telefon Tel Aviv material live with Fredo Nogueira. He later releases more music under the Telefon Tel Aviv name, including Map of What Is Effortless, Something Akin to Lust and Dreams Are Not Enough, and also records as Sons of Magdalene, with Move to Pain and Ecumenicals. He also releases the single “For James, To Sleep” on Bandcamp.