Contact Sports – Contact Sports
Today, Contact Sports – the musical persona of Illumitati, the culture-shaping visual artist, director, and model (Tati Bruening), whose visionary digital art and liminal worldbuilding have amassed over 3M followers across Instagram and TikTok – shares her long-awaited self-titled debut album, Contact Sports, available everywhere now via Queens Road Music/Atlantic Records.
Written and produced by Bruening and 2x ARIA Music Award-winner Konstantin Kersting (Fisher, Mallrat, Tones and I), mixed by Victor Verpillat (Don Toliver, Zara Larsson, horsegiirL), and mastered by Dale Becker (SZA, Billie Eilish, Kim Petras), Contact Sports includes a new standout single, “Insane,” which is joined by a visual directed by Kurt Johnson (COBRAH, Eartheater).
Shot at Linnahall in Tallinn, Estonia, the sprawling Soviet-era venue built for the 1980 Summer Olympics and later featured in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, the striking video features two android sumo wrestlers battling under Bruening’s command.
“This album is a collection of songs that are my reaction to the current state of technology and its’ impact on nature and society: ranging from positive symbiotic relationships between man and machine, and more dismal themes comparing the birth of AI to the creation of god,” Breuning shares. “Although heavy, there is some humor in the ridiculousness of the reality that we’re living in – displayed best in ‘Autonomous Romance (AR)’ which is an anthem about falling in love with a Waymo driver.”
She adds, “I hope this album resonates with anyone feeling like they’re going a bit crazy in this new frontier of humanity and maybe even dance to it to forget the chaos.”
The album is heralded by a series of evocative singles and equally compelling companion visuals, including last month’s frenetic “Attention Economics (feat. Genesis Owusu),” which featured a visual shot by renowned creative director Kurt Johnson and edited by Tati herself.
Further highlights include “BP Oil Spill 2010 (feat. Weiland),” which marked the first new music featuring underground rapper and pluggnb pioneer Weiland in more than two years. Shot by renowned underwater photographer Jeff B. Hester (known for his award-winning work for Netflix, BBC, Apple, Disney+, and National Geographic), the track’s official visualizer captures Bruening free-diving through dense kelp fields, a skill she learned specifically for the new visual.
Contact Sports also includes “Me & My Machine,” which, like the album itself, is driven by a core theme of humanism versus technology. Also directed by Kurt Johnson, the accompanying official music video utilizes practical effects, including a 35-foot Shibari “Tree of Life” installation hand-woven from electrical cords and Ethernet cables by artist Moir Div. Filmed in Latvia, “Me & My Machine” contrasts the clinical labs of the Bulduri Biotechnology Center with the vast greenhouses of Dižskudras, grounding the high-concept piece in reality.
Bruening is celebrating the arrival of Contact Sports with a wide-ranging live schedule that includes a series of support dates on Madeon’s epic Victory Live North American Tour, resuming tonight, October 2, at San Francisco, CA’s historic Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and continuing through late October. Tickets for all remaining dates are available HERE. Additionally, next month will see Contact Sports join Danny L Harle for shows including OUTLINE, an all-star electronic lineup featuring acts like yeule and Saya Gray, taking place November 7 at Queens, NY’s Knockdown Center.
OCTOBER
2 – San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *
3 – Sacramento, CA – Channel 24 *
9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Sky SLC *
10 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues *
14 – Tucson, AZ – La Rosa *
23 – San Diego, CA – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park *
24 – Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Expo Hall *
NOVEMBER
6 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean †
7 – Queens, NY – Knockdown Center †
* w/ Madeon
† w/ Danny L. Harle
#contactspoorts