Tyondai Braxton

Tyondai Braxton composes highly dynamic music which fuses experimental rock, modern composition, and progressive electronics. Making his solo debut in 2002 with a set of loop-based compositions titled History That Has No Effect, he received greater recognition as the frontman of Battles, a math rock band whose 2007 album Mirrored received widespread acclaim. Braxton released the orchestral solo work Central Market in 2009 before leaving Battles and focusing on commissions and collaborations, including work with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Philip Glass, and Mouse on Mars, among others. He also issued solo electronic recordings such as 2015′s HIVE1 and 2022′s Telekinesis, an ambitious work for orchestra, choir, guitar, and electronics.
Tyondai Braxton is the son of avant-garde jazz legend Anthony Braxton. He began performing and writing in Middletown, Connecticut, in the early ’90s after studying composition at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School. Trying everything from creative orchestra to avant-garde jazz to art rock with Antenna Terra — which also featured Extra Life’s Charlie Looker and Mike Pride of Period — he released his first solo album in the summer of 2002. History That Has No Effect, which mixed orchestrated organic and electronic loops manipulated through guitar pedals, was issued by JMZ Records. That year, he also formed the band Battles with John Stanier of Helmet and Tomahawk, guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams of Don Caballero, and guitarist David Konopka of Lynx. Following a series of EPs, their Warp-issued debut album, 2007′s Mirrored, earned widespread praise for its kinetic, adventurous take on rock. He returned to his solo career in 2009 with Central Market, an orchestral album also released by the Warp label.
After Braxton left Battles in 2010, he embarked on a string of projects and performances, including 2011′s TREMS, a piece written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and collaborations with the Kronos Quartet and Philip Glass in 2012. Along with Fly by Wire, an orchestral/electronic piece that debuted at Carnegie Hall, 2013 also saw the premiere of HIVE, a composition for modular synthesizers and acoustic percussion, at the Guggenheim Museum. The piece was also performed in Poland and Australia before it was released by Nonesuch as HIVE1 in 2015. The label also released his trippy, beat-driven electronic EP Oranged Out in 2016.
Braxton played modular synthesizer on Dirty Projectors’ self-titled 2017 release. The same year, his compositions were included on releases by contemporary ensembles Yarn/Wire and Brooklyn Rider. His piece Telekinesis, for orchestra, chorus, and electronics, was premiered in London in 2018, and performed in Helsinki in 2019. Two home-recorded electronic pieces, “Dia”/“Phonolydian,” were released in late 2021, preceding several other recordings in 2022 and a performance residency at Public Records in Brooklyn titled Multiplay. In 2022, a studio rendering of Telekinesis finally appeared on the New Amsterdam label. The recording was made with New York chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble, led by Andrew Cyr, chamber choir the Crossing, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. ~ Bradley Torreano & Paul Simpson