Jona Bechtolt (born December 2, 1980) is an electronic musician and multimedia artist based in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, best known for his band YΔCHT. He is a former member of The Badger King,

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The b ...

, and The Blow. YΔCHT began in 2003 as a vehicle for his solo work, but in 2008 became a duo with the addition of singer Claire L. Evans.

Background

Bechtolt was born in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and was raised in Astoria,

. Bechtolt began playing music as a teenager. He never attended high school, instead opting to play drums and tour the U.S. with his brother Joel Bechtolt in their punk band, Allegro. He started working with

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

in the late 1990s. He has been a vegetarian for most of his life and a vegan since 2000.

YACHT

In January 2006, Yacht was commissioned for two performances for the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

based art and technology platform

Rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

, as part of their "Crap-tops vs Laptops" show. In February 2006, he performed at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

's P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and produced an hour-long internet radio program with

Clear Cut Press Clear Cut Press was a small press based in Astoria, Oregon. About Clear Cut Press was founded by novelist Matthew Stadler and Up Records co-founder Rich Jensen in 2002. Jensen began talking to Stadler while taking a poetry class in 1997. The ...

; a

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

-based publisher of new literary work. In 2007, Yacht released ''I Believe in You, Your Magic Is Real'' on

Marriage Records Marriage Records is a small, independent record label formed in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 2001 by Curtis Knapp and Adrian Orange. The label has released a number of albums by musicians such as Adam Forkner, Dirty Projectors, Little Wings ...

. For the release party, Bechtolt performed a concert on an actual yacht on the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

in Portland. His live performances include dancing to the music that he has created as well as elaborate

PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPoi ...

presentations. He documents his professional and sometimes personal life via video, text, and images on his blog.

Software infringement

In early 2009, Bechtolt stated during an interview that he uses unlicensed copies of audio software for music production. He claimed to possess unauthorized copies of software made by

Audio Damage Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

and Propellerhead Software, and to have previously used copied versions of Ableton Live. This caused a "nerd flame war" with the makers of Audio Damage.

Other projects

In 2003, Bechtolt was commissioned to create a full length audio/visual electronic pop opera by the

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) is a contemporary performance and visual arts organization in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. PICA was founded in 1995 by Kristy Edmunds. Since 2003, it has presented the annual Time-Based ...

(PICA). He performed with his group The Badger King with bandmate M. Ritchey (a Wolf Colonel and

Dear Nora Dear Nora is an indie pop band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1999 by songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Katy Davidson, drummer and vocalist Marianna Ritchey, and bassist Ryan Wise. Ritchey and Wise were previously members of Wolf Colonel. They n ...

alumnus who went on to record alone as Manta, and then Mantar). In 2006, Bechtolt collaborated with

Khaela Maricich The Blow is an American electro pop band, comprising Khaela Maricich and Melissa Dyne. Maricich and Dyne write, compose, produce and perform all the music. It was formed as a solo project by Maricich in 2002, and she was joined by Jona Bechtolt ...

as half of the pop group the Blow to release ''Paper Television''. Bechtolt toured extensively with the Blow, providing beats and backup vocals until quitting the band in 2007 in order to focus on his work in YACHT. He is a co-founder of the Portland-based popular blogging web community

Urban Honking ''Urban Honking'' is an American webzine and pioneering blogging collective founded in 2001 by Steve Schroeder, Jona Bechtolt and Mike Merrill. The site and the community that has grown up around it are often collectively referred to by the contrac ...

as well as the producer, editor, cameraman and a writer of

The Ultimate Blogger ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

Discography

Solo (as Yacht and Y.A.C.H.T.)

*''Mike's Crest'' (2003,

States Rights Records States Rights Records is an independent record label founded in 2001 by Steve Schroeder. The Portland, Oregon label's premier release was "Come Along" by Little Wings. Later that year, the label released "Tongue and Tooth" by The Badger King. B ...

) *'' Super Warren MMIV'' (2004, States Rights) *''MEGA'' (2005,

) *''Our Friends In Hell'' (2007, States Rights) *'' I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real'' (2007, Marriage) *''Summer Song EP'' (2008,

DFA Records DFA Records is an American independent record label founded in 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. They previously had a production team called The DFA, consisting of Goldsworthy and ...

) *''

See Mystery Lights ''See Mystery Lights'' is the fourth album by Portland, Oregon-based band Yacht. It is the first Yacht release to feature the band's eventual frontwoman, Claire L. Evans, as a full-time member. The album's cover art was designed by Boyd Elder. ...

'' (2009, DFA) *''

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

'' (2011, DFA) * ''

I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler ''I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler'' is the sixth studio album by American musical band Yacht. It was released on October 16, 2015 via Downtown Records. Production was handled by Jona Bechtolt, Bobby Birdman and Jacknife Lee, with Justin Melda ...

'' (2015, Downtown Records) * ''Chain Tripping'' (2019, DFA)

Appearances

*The Badger King, ''The Lighthouse, The Giant'' (2001, This Heart Plays Records) *The Badger King, ''Tongue & Tooth EP'' (2002, States Rights Records) *The Badger King, ''Break Up'' (2003, States Rights Records) *

Little Wings Kyle Field is an American musician who releases material under the moniker Little Wings. Early life Field was born in Alabama in 1972. As a child, his family relocated to Los Angeles, California, where his father worked as a coach for the UCL ...

, ''Magic Wand'' (2004, K Records) * The Blow, ''Poor Aim: Love Songs'' (2004, States Rights/

Slender Means Society Slender Means Society is an independent record label founded in 2004 by Zac Pennington, vocalist for the band Parenthetical Girls. The label's premier release was Parenthetical Girls' debut, "(((GRRRLS)))", in 2004. The label has since released r ...

/K Records) *Various Artists, ''Own Zone'' (2004, States Rights) * Devendra Banhart, ''Cripple Crow'' (2005,

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...

) * Mantar, ''Classic Battles'' (2005, Marriage) * Calvin Johnson, "Before The Dream Faded..." (2005, K Records) *

, "The Getty Address" (2005, Western Vinyl) *Various Artists, ''Bro Zone'' (2005, States Rights) *

Bobby Birdman Rob Kieswetter, better known by his stage name Bobby Birdman, is an American musician. Kieswetter is originally from Nevada City, California, and lives in Los Angeles, California. He has released albums on Hush Records, Not Not Fun, Fryk Beat, St ...

, ''Giraffes and Jackals'' (2006, States Rights) * The Blow, ''

Paper Television ''Paper Television'' is the fourth LP from The Blow. It is also the band's first album as a duo consisting of Khaela Maricich and Jona Bechtolt Jona Bechtolt (born December 2, 1980) is an electronic musician and multimedia artist based in Po ...

'' (2006, K Records) * Architecture in Helsinki, ''

We Died, They Remixed ''We Died, They Remixed'' is a 2006 remix album of Australian band Architecture in Helsinki's 2005 release, '' In Case We Die''. Each track from ''In Case We Die'' was remixed, with "Do the Whirlwind" featured twice. "Like a Call", from their 20 ...

'' (2006, Inertia) * David Shrigley, ''Worried Noodles'' (2007,

Tomlab Tomlab is a German record label based in Köln. It has released works by bands such as The Books, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Deerhoof, Thee Oh Sees, Les Georges Leningrad, and acts associated with Blocks Recording Club, such as Final ...

) *Various artists, ''Grown Zone/Groan Zone'' (2007, States Rights) *Panther, ''Secret Lawns'' (2007, Fryk Beat)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bechtolt, Jona American electronic musicians Dirty Projectors members Musicians from Portland, Oregon Artists from Oregon People from Astoria, Oregon 1980 births Living people