{"id":32836,"date":"2026-05-19T23:59:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/castthedice.org\/?p=32836"},"modified":"2026-05-20T00:01:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:01:48","slug":"tyondai-braxton-is-back-with-fifth-album-splayed-werks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/castthedice.org\/?p=32836","title":{"rendered":"Tyondai Braxton is back with fifth album, Splayed Werks<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Ebru Y\u0131ld\u0131z<\/p><\/div>\n

News of a new album from Tyondai Braxton<\/a> fills us with excitement. The prodigious composer and producer has announced his new album Splayed Werks<\/em>, marking his first full-length release since his 2022 symphonic record Telekinesis, as well as his first release on The Leaf Label<\/a>. Braxton, who’s one of the most daring, ambitious and brilliant artists out there, boasts an incredible body of work, both solo and collaboratively, including Battles, a duo with Philip Glass, commissioned work for Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Alarm Will Sound, Third Coast Percussion, Brooklyn Rider, Kronos Quartet, New York\u2019s Wordless Music Orchestra, and Yarn\/Wire, amongst many other projects.<\/p>\n

In the course of fifteen tracks and over 70 minutes of electronics and sound design, we are taken for a wild stroll drawing influences from Aphex Twin and Autechre, to Mica Levi and Laurel Halo, and also a few of his collaborators, like Kieran \u201cFour Tet\u201d Hebden, Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma and Ben Vida. As the press release describes, “it\u2019s a world in which the multitude of dirty rhythms strays far outside club-land\u2019s big rooms”. Splayed Werks<\/em> features mostly newer compositions but also some pieces composed over the last decade. With his new album, Braxton ventures boldly into even more ambitious sonic territory. He comments:<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy philosophy on releasing music has changed a lot, but also my idea of what it means to be an artist. The important part of the artist\u2019s job is to archive what you’re doing\u2014what you’re excited about, what you’re dealing with, what you’re reacting against\u2014putting that in a form that documents your life\u2026 At the moment, we’re all looking out into the world, dealing with the helplessness in a time of war, media over-saturation. What’s the role of the artist in that? I think the archiving of any particular creative idea in the moment is one of the most significant things an artist can do now. Things I previously thought were important\u2014\u2019this piece means so much to me,\u2019 or \u2018listen to how this chord arrived\u2019\u2014are actually much less so.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Braxton\u2019s sonic world is a fascinating one, evolving in an adventurous and compelling way. He says:<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery record I\u2019ve ever finished, I\u2019ve been shocked with what it is. I\u2019ve never known it was finished until it was. Then you get to learn about it retroactively. If I\u2019ve done it right, the finished thing will feel like its own personality, its own being, its own vibe. [Splayed Werks] included.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Get ready for the absolute banger that is lead single ‘UnFS’, serving as a tantalising introduction to the album, ahead of its release on August 21st. Braxton describes the track as “a Rubik’s cube of sound, rough hewn samples fashioned into a functionally impaired dance track.” Take a listen now.
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