Pitchtuner

Biography

The History of Pitchtuner starts with a mix tape. When Miki Yoshimura on her stop by in Germany saw a show of Johannes Marx’s former band Planet 9 and asked him for a tape afterwards. Planet 9 had only released on vinyl, so they had to make an appointment to make things happen. And things did happen! Shortly after, they formed Pitchtuner and since then has toured through Europe, Japan & China, releasing three albums to date, and ruining several cars and tour busses.

Pitchtuner built its style around a great combination of indie DIY spirit + 100% dance floor compatibility. Music critics loved their sound describing them as “Rocking Pop on electronic basics: smart and naive at the same time, exotic by nature, freshly grooving”

Since the beginning, Pitchtuner is searching for the perfect way to get together with the sequencers, explore the infinite sound-scapes of the electronic universe and combine it with the liveliness of guitars, unexpected changes and intuitive twists. To forward their idea of high-tech DIY and machine human integration (an idea first pioneered by Kraftwerk), Marx started building his own instruments, controllers and music software. With one-of-a-kind instruments, they get closer and closer to this concept and an every increasingly unique sound.

Pitchtuner’s third album ‘Riding The Fire’ partly produced by Moses Schneider (Beatsteaks, Tocotronic, Mediengruppe Telekommander etc.) presents Pitchtuner’s increasingly sharp sound design and composition. With pounding disco tracks like Supersonic Ride, they refined their more rock oriented grooves in the past for strong dance beats colored with space filling distortion and super catchy hooks. Other tracks echoed everything from Japanese Pop, to funk grooves, to prog-electro, all pulled together in a package of dizzying new sounds.

Right now, Pitchtuner is working on their club oriented fourth album which further goes into experiments with self-designed instruments. The new tracks are translated from their live shows that play like an interactive, hyperactive DJ set with live instruments. With kudos from contemporaries like Soulwax / 2 Many DJs / Das Pop / Goose / Peaches their upcoming album promises to be a true break out for Pitchtuner.

Discography

It’s Time To (Maxi CD, Doxa Records 2002)
Flight Up The Winding Stairs (CD, Doxa Records 2002)
Wanton Fever (12″Maxi, Doxa Records 2003)
Spiny Lure (CD, Doxa Records 2004)
Flic Flac (12″Maxi, Doxa Records 2005)
Riding The Fire (Doxa Records 2008)
Riding The Fire (Japan Release on Binyl Records / Avex 2009)