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From The Desk Of RJD2: Tonto’s Expanding Head Band’s Self-Titled LP

RJD2LogoRJD2 has had quite the curious career. The Eugene, Ore., native lives in West Philly, has transitioned from dirty, jazzy hip hop to wonky electropop, leapt from El-P’s Def Jux label in 2004 after several critically acclaimed albums to his own RJ’s Electrical Connections in 2010 (with his The Third Hand LP at the XL label in between). Though he doesn’t think of himself as a film composer, he has one of the most recognizable theme songs ever: AMC’s Mad Men. Now, he’s changed his sound around completely with one of the most compelling albums of 2013 in More Is Than Isn’t. RJD2 will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.

TontosExpandingHeadBand

RJD2: The duo of Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil were best known for doing synth programming for Stevie Wonder in his synth golden era. “Programming” is a term that might not hold much relevance in today’s world, but before synths came with presets—up until about ’77 or ’78—one would have to craft the sound used via the controls of a synth. So texturally, they were responsible for the tonality of some of the most memorable synth passages in soul-music history. This album sees them kind of going off the deep end of Moog modular exploration, in a great way. The composing is surprisingly good, and the whole album has a feel that is perfect for a certain kind of mood that I don’t think I could put in words, but is illustrated quite well by the music within this LP.

Video after the jump.