bad tuner’s Daft Punk-Meets-UK Garage EP + Live Dates

bad tuner is the Brooklyn-based DJ and producer who “like Daft Punk before him, takes a simple phrase and builds a world around its incantatory properties” (NPR Music), making music that sounds like “a shot of pure asphalt-scented adrenaline” (KCRW). Bad tuner releases the new EP look at me but through me (via Foreign Family Collective / Ninja Tune), alongside a music video for focus track “caught up“.

bad tuner also recently announced a string of live dates (see all below), with a headlining set at NYC’s Elsewhere on April 19th. Tickets and more info available here. 

Throughout look at me but through me, bad tuner exhibits an intuitive understanding of texture and an indelible style all his own. The EP incorporates unique twists on modern conceptions of UK garage, the sleek and deceptively syncopated productions of the lo-fi house scene, and glitchy hyperpop flourishes. Though look at me but through me has just six tracks, it contains a world of influences: the gritty rhythmic drive of Daft Punk’s Homework, the pop-forward synthesis of French touch a la Kylie Minogue’s Body Language, and thefestival-conquering percussive knock of big beat stars like The Prodigy.

On lead track “24 hours,” bad tuner “evokes the acid-soaked sounds of peak era Chemical Brothers, achieving a thrilling, hectic kind of grittiness.” (Billboard) The second single off the EP, “maybe so,” has its own sublime sonic environment — the track bounces between a sampled Congolese soukous vocal, patterned breakbeat drums, and a repeating bell lead as the intensity evolves into complete chaos. Most recent single “repeat to fade,” which premiered on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 show, is anthemic house; its sultry vocals sung back by high-pitched harmonies that move in tandem with a wickedly rhythmic percussive presence and voluminous bass. 

Having caught an early eye from BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong with “Coming Down,” bad tuner’s tracks continue to be spun regularly by tastemaker stations and DJs globally, including KCRW, SiriusXM Chill, Lauren Laverne & Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music), Jeremiah (BBC Radio 1), Ben Malone (Kiss FM UK), Triple J, and RMC. As he sold out Brooklyn’s Elsewhere rooftop in May of last year, bad tuner has also played shows across the US while on tour with the likes of Polo & Pan, TOKiMONSTA, Bon Entendeur, Amtrac, Joy Anonymous, and more. Keeping in good company, his most recent EP, Back to My <3, arrived via the electronic imprint LG105, home to artists like Ross from Friends, Fakear, and Mall Grab.

TRACKLIST
caught up 
maybe so
jade
what’s the rush 
24 hours 
repeat to fade

BAD TUNER LIVE DATES
April 5 – (EP Release Show) @ Listening Room, Chicago, IL
April 19 – (Bad Tuner & Friends Headline) @ Elsewhere Hall, NYC
April 27 – Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO
May 3 – Monarch, San Francisco, CA
June 6 – The Spotlight, Los Angeles, CA
June 8 – Bar Oriente, CDMX, Mexico

 

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