The album cover was painted by artist Dando Moore, but the exact inspiration for the album cover is unknown. Tundra claims to vaguely remember having seen an image of Rick Wakeman playing a keyboard with his hands and feet, and using that as inspiration. "I can’t remember how he came to be, but I vaguely recall seeing an image of Rick Wakeman playing a huge keyboard with his hands and toes on some gatefold sleeve and taking that as inspiration for our multi-instrumentalist merman friend, which was painted by artist Dando Moore." - Max Tundra on Twitter Read more on Last.fm.
If you take Max Tundra’s three albums and turn them into a venn diagram, Mastered By Guy At The Exchange would be placed firmly in the middle. Not only was is it his “middle child” chronologically but musically as well. With the psychedelic elements of the first mixed with the euro-pop elements of the third, perfectly cohesive. The one element that all three share is the clicks-n-beats style electronica.
The album starts with “Merman” and “Mbgate” which are both great songs but the album truly explodes in “Lysine.” Lyrically fascinating and a wonderfully inventive beat, it’s also the first song with female vocals that just shine and fit perfectly (also pairing well with Jacobs’ vocal qualities). There are a few interesting tracks that don’t fully connect and then things get started again with “61over.” A short little track that reminds me of Gotan Project, probably just due to the accordion. To me, “Lights” is my favorite track of the album; perfectly melding the clicks with a true pop sound and breakneck almost-chipmunk-like vocals. Never thought the combination could work but here it does and with very good results! “Hilted” is a very generic pop sound, one of my least favorite songs on the album. The album ends with “Acorns,” “Gondry,” and “Labial” all three of which are amazing tracks. These three tracks and “Lights” are the best tracks of the album.
Altogether this a fascinating “potpourri” of music. Combinations that were never thought of, showing through as pure gems. This is a work of genius.