Jona Bechtolt (born December 2, 1980) is an electronic musician and multimedia artist based in Portland, Oregon, United States, best known for his band YΔCHT. He is a former member of The Badger King, Dirty Projectors, 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, Wisconsin and was raised in Astoria, Oregon. Bechtolt began playing music as a teenager.[1] 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.[1] He started working with electronics in the late 1990s.[1] 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 based art and technology platform Rhizome, as part of their "Crap-tops vs Laptops" show. In February 2006, he performed at the Museum of Modern Art's P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center[1] and produced an hour-long internet radio program with Clear Cut Press; a Northwest-based publisher of new literary work.
In 2007, Yacht released I Believe in You, Your Magic Is Real on Marriage Records. For the release party, Bechtolt performed a concert on an actual yacht[2] on the Willamette River in Portland.
His live performances include dancing to the music that he has created[3] as well as elaborate PowerPoint 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 and Propellerhead Software, and to have previously used copied versions of Ableton Live.[4] This caused a "nerd flame war" with the makers of Audio Damage.[5]
Other projects
In 2003, Bechtolt was commissioned to create a full length audio/visual electronic pop opera by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA).[1] He performed with his group The Badger King with bandmate M. Ritchey (a Wolf Colonel and Dear Nora alumnus who went on to record alone as Manta, and then Mantar).
In 2006, Bechtolt collaborated with Khaela Maricich 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 as well as the producer, editor, cameraman and a writer of The Ultimate Blogger.
