Only a small collection of electronic musicians are able to have the versatility required to adapt to an ever-changing climate of genres, subgenres, and trends. Telefon Tel Aviv (Joshua Eustis) is amongst these artists. Recently, Telefon Tel Aviv played at an after party to Houston’s Day for Night festival.
After the rain, the crowds exited the festival grounds, and Aphex Twin’s remarkable IDM set was complete—some of us relocated to the seedier part of the city to watch a group of musicians continue the vibe at Warehouse Vanguard. Hitori Tori took the stage and juggled glitchy drum’n’bass with finger snaps and guttural bass drops. The temperature was now in the mid 30’s and the anticipation for Telefon Tel Aviv’s long awaited set was warming.
The group that was Telefon Tel Aviv was not originally manned by Joshua Eustis alone. Tragedy struck back in 2009 when Eustis’s bandmate, Charles “Coop” Cooper, died suddenly. Eustis continues as Telefon Tel Aviv, but has been relatively silents for the last several years. Eustis has occupied his time by touring with Pusicfer and Nine Inch Nails and recently saw a re-release of the group’s first full length album, Fahrenheit Fair Enough.
Once Hitori Tori finished his set, Telefon Tel Aviv took the stage to a crowd of smiles. Eustis was also smiling, and chatted it up with Richard Devine (the headliner for the event’s following evening) before beginning his set.
I got to speak with him after his glitchy set and he laughed, “Once I heard [Hitori Tori] doing darkcore, I realized my set would put people to sleep.” He mentioned that he was planning on doing an Immolate Yourself-esque set, something he referred to as a “song set,” but considering his voice felt shot and his predecessor was on a different wavelength, he improvised. With a cigarette cantilevered out of his lips and his eyes on his black-taped Macbook, Telefon Tel Aviv showed its roots of being able to take minimal and dark and digital to the extreme. The atmosphere in the warehouse immediately resonated with the homage to the Aphex Twin of the festival, but also inspired imagination of what Telefon Tel Aviv could be bringing with its next release.
Eustis confirmed that new music is coming, that the re-release of Fahrenheit Fair Enough, and being off tour with Puscifer and Nine Inch Nails has freed up time.
When I asked him if he was behind the synth-sounds of Pusicifer’s second album, Conditions of My Parole, he curtseyed before the question completely left my mouth. It was validating to confirm my suspicion that Telefon Tel Aviv is more than a touring member of different groups, their input welcomed and regarded. It mirrored the exact impressions from the crowd of late-night party goers who were in attendance to this after party, glued in front of the bass bins getting lost in the wall of sound.
For more photos of the event, click here.
Article as told to Bex by Frank Lenz.
Journalist/blogger since 2009 and music lover since 1980. Bex now travels the world and writes and takes photos of dance events, creates art in various media, sings quietly to her cat in the shower, and occasionally builds something that tends to involve a blowtorch. She can usually be seen hiding behind some sort of camera rig.
