November 3, 2009

Passion Pit Remix Max Tundra (Stereogum Premiere)

In addition to including Final Fantasy's justifiably hyperbolic promotional blurb when first posting on the excellently kinetic synth-pop of "Which Song," we added this bit from Ben Jacobs aka Max Tundra himself on the process and equipment used to achieve his tones:

The main technology behind this and all of my albums has been the Commodore Amiga 500 - bestselling home computer at the time - running a $1 public domain software tracker program. The sounds don't emerge from the Amiga itself however; the machine is used to control various synths, samplers and the like. I look at colums of numbers all day on the screen of a black and white television; these digits relate to pitches, durations and tones. A lot of the noises on my record are real; the cello, bass guitar, drums, piano, trumpet and others are all rehearsed and played by me, but sometimes I will use realistic fake versions of these noises. Each song is recorded in a different way; drumkits are recorded on mono cassette recorders twice, then stuck together on the left and right of a mix; string arrangements are planned and then layered up; each note of an electric guitar is sampled so that it can be sequenced in ways too complicated for my fat fingers to play at full speed. And then I have a cup of tea and sing my heart out.

It's worth mentioning this because a remix of a Max Tundra song is, by definition, a shattering of the laborious process that yielded a truly great track. That seems sad somehow! Luckily this remix is in good hands with Passion Pit, who know from putting synths to uplifting ends. The Boston boys wrap "Which Song" in syncopation and patches dialed to their "Little Secrets" presets, pitch-shifting their synths like elastic bands, ending with some cowbells and a glimmering fade out. It sounds like it could be a Manners track with less helium vocals and more of Max Tundra's, so -- for fans of Passion Pit and Max Tundra.

Max Tundra - "Which Song" (Passion Pit Remix) (MP3)

Have the original for comparison's sake:

Max Tundra - "Which Song" MP3)

Max's Parallax Error Beheads You is out via Domino. And don't forget "Which Song"'s one-shot video, which features Tundra in a Ben Folds shirt and a little bit of sushi. He's also heading out on the road with Deastro:

11/05 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas
11/07 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
11/08 - Toronto, Ontario @ The Drake
11/09 - Montreal, Quebec @ Lambi
11/10 - Boston, MA @ Great Scott
11/11 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/12 - Washington, DC @ DC9
11/13 - Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
11/14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
11/16 - Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
11/18 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk
11/19 - Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
11/20 - Kansas City, MO @ Czar Bar
11/21 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
11/22 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
11/24 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
11/25 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
11/27 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
11/28 - Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
11/29 - Vancouver, British Columbia @ Media Club