(photo by Saskia Kahn)

Junk Science is Baje One (Michael Angelo Tumbarello) and Snafu (James Luther Christensen). To contact us about Baje One, Snafu, or Junk Science, you can send an email to: michael.angelo.tumbarello@gmail.com
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“Old-school beats and clever rhymes…and a rewarding, wiser-than-their-years approach”
-THE NEW YORKER

“A Miraculous Kind of Machine points a peculiar but powerful way forward for hip-hop.”
-LIME WIRE

“Brooklyn’s freshest new MC/DJ duo adds the extra to ordinary.”
- COMPLEX MAGAZINE

“It’s not too often that hip-hop so real can provide such an escape.”
- XLR8R

“Fa-resh!”
- WIRED MAGAZINE

“Banging and boundary-pushing”
- CMJ

“If these cats remain in hip hop’s underground, it isn’t their fault.”
- TIME OUT

“Superb”
- URB

“A move in the right direction.”
- ALLHIPHOP.COM

Junk Science is Baje One on the mic and DJ Snafu on the beats. Simple. These two young gentlemen met in high school in Brooklyn in the mid-nineties (when Baje One stole a handful of tapes from Snafu’s backpack, including a cassette containing original beats that were “dope”). and started making lots of “not-that-good-but-definitely-interesting” music together on half-days and weekends. Not that much happened between then and 2003-ish. At that point, they moved in together and started working on their debut album, Feeding Einstein, and album that URB magazine called “simply superb”.

In 2005, they caught Scion’s attention when they won the car company’s NextUp Song Contest with their track “Roads,” a victory by popular vote which earned them a marketing deal that included a fully funded and fly music video directed by ANDREW GURA (Madlib, MF DOOM, Nas etc.) The success of their video and the quality of their then-finished debut LP in turn grabbed the attention of DJ Ese, of Brooklyn’s EMBEDDED MUSIC, who released Feeding Einstein in November of 2005 to critical acclaim.

The success of their debut led to a license of their 2nd record to indie superlabel Defintive Jux, who released Gran’Dad’s Nerve Tonic in 2007. In promotion of the record, and in keeping with Junk Science’s love of delicious beer, the duo teamed up with NYC brewery Sixpoint Craft Ales to create a limited-edition beer to coincide with the release of the album. Junk Science then went on a national tour with hip hop legends Del The Funky Homosapien, A Plus (Souls of Mischief), & Devin The Dude.

In 2010, with Definitive Jux closing its doors, Baje took matters into his own hands and started Modern Shark, a staunchly independent record label run out of his apartment in Brooklyn. The first release on the label: Junk Science’s A Miraculous Kind Of Machine, an album that The New Yorker praised for its “old-school beats and clever rhymes…and a rewarding, wiser-than-their-years approach”.

In 2011, Junk Science teamed up with longtime friend and collaborator Scott Thorough to release Phoenix Down, an album inspired by old-school video games. The beats for the record were made using all original music played on 8-bit synthesizers (the same tools available to the musicians who created the original scores for The Legend Of Zelda, Contra, and Ninja Gaiden etc.). Phoenix Down was released on Modern Shark records as a limited-edition, custom-molded, soft rubber 2GB USB drive in the shape of a “pixelated” feather.

Baje and Snaf released their newest album, Junk Science and the Hundred Dollar Sandwich, on Modern Shark, on their birthday: March 15th, 2015. Oh yeah, they both have the same birthday. Weird, right? To answer your question, Snafu is older.

FOR PRESS INQUIRIES OR TO OBTAIN HI-RES PHOTOS, CONTACT mike@modernshark.com