Telefon Tel Aviv

Did You Know?

• Telefon Tel Aviv's third album, Immolate Yourself, was influenced by the English electronic band OMD.
• In 2016, the debut album Fahrenheit Fair Enough was re-issued with eight bonus tracks.

History

Telefon Tel Aviv began in 1999 as a collaboration between Charles Cooper and Joshua Eustis. Their first album, Fahrenheit Fair Enough, came out in 2001, and they followed it with the Immediate Action EP the next year. In 2004, the pair released their second full-length record, Map of What Is Effortless, and a compilation called Remixes Compiled arrived in 2007. Their third studio album, Immolate Yourself, was released in 2009.

Drawing influence from the English electronic act OMD, it reached number 17 on the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart. A reissue of their debut in 2016 included eight additional tracks. The group also contributed sounds to the Native Instruments Synthetic Drums 2 sample library. On January 22, 2009, Eustis wrote on the band’s MySpace blog that Cooper had died.

He then stated that all planned tour dates were canceled and the group’s future was unclear. In July of that year, Eustis revealed that three separate autopsies had concluded Cooper’s death was not a suicide, but likely an accidental combination of sleeping pills and alcohol. In December 2013, Eustis posted on the Telefon Tel Aviv website that he was returning to full-time studio work and had a nearly finished album under the name Sons of Magdalene.

He also confirmed he would keep making music as Telefon Tel Aviv. The band released the album Dreams Are Not Enough in 2019.