The best part about Max Tundra is this: Experimental does not mean dour or sterile. There is so much Jackson Pollock joy splattered across his frenetic drum machine and synth songs, you can't help but smile. He is pretty British too, which means a drier wit and deeper absurdism than you would get from say, Dan Deacon.



His off-the-wall lyrics on “Will Get Fooled Again” sum up his whole approach: “I found a girl on e-bay/ she was bidding on Halfway to a Threeway/ I wrote the words 'a grain of sand' onto a grain of rice/ she baked a pie of shy laboratory mice.”

Pretty ridiculous right? But in a fantastic original way. Silly and catchy as hell.

Here is the list of of possible reference points I came up with while listening to just one of his sprawling two and a half minute epics: Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts theme, the aging false lesbian Russian pop stars TATU, the song that plays when you beat Star Fox 64. And you know what, I still can't decide which is most apt.

My indecision comes from the fact that Max Tundra is indiscriminately remaking pop music in his own hermetic image. If, in our world, hooks are the concise gateway into a song, Max Tundra has stretched them out, silly putty style. This sort of fanaticism inspires (requires?) reciprocal love.

Max Tundra is playing Neumos Sunday April 12^th  with Junior Boys (!)

Music: http://www.lala.com/#artist/Max_Tundra