Contact Sports Releases Self-Titled Debut Album With Tour Dates

Contact Sports – the musical persona of Illumitati, the visual artist, director, and model also known as Tati Bruening – has released her long-awaited self-titled debut album, Contact Sports, available now via Queens Road Music/Atlantic Records. One-of-a-kind physical variants, including CDs and limited edition Crystal Clear Vinyl housed in an embossed transparent sleeve with braille detailing, are also available for purchase.

Illumitati's digital art and liminal worldbuilding have amassed over 3M followers across Instagram and TikTok. 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,' Bruening 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.'

Bruening is celebrating the arrival of Contact Sports with a wide-ranging live schedule that includes a series of support dates on Madeon's Victory Live North American Tour, resuming tonight, October 2, at San Francisco, CA's historic Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and continuing through late October. 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.

The album is heralded by a series of evocative singles and equally compelling companion visuals, including last month's 'Attention Economics (feat. Genesis Owusu),' which featured a visual shot by 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 underwater photographer Jeff B. Hester (known for his 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.

About Contact Sports

Contact Sports is the music project of visual artist, director, and model Illumitati (also known as Tati Bruening). At only 25 years old, Bruening has worked with artists and brands including FKA Twigs, xaviersobased, A24, YSL Beauty, Google, Grailed, among others, building a following of over 3M followers across socials through haunting digital art and liminal-space world-building. As Contact Sports, blasted and bulbous synth shards dot her music, mapping onto the doom and gloom of a generation morphed by a pandemic and an internet era that feels all-consuming.

Raised in Newport Beach, CA, Bruening says she was 'bred to play sports,' born to parents who met playing professional basketball in Germany. She played the sport at a varsity level in school, but found herself more drawn to music, fashion, and art. During high school, she discovered the sprightly EDM corner of YouTube shaped by channels like Majestic Casual and TheSoundYouNeed. Further inspired by reference points including Lapalux, Leon Vynehall, and Clams Casino, she released her first singles, 'Enzyme' and 'WWW' in 2024, followed by 'Hydroxyzine' and the collaborative 'Radioaktives Mädchen' with Miguel Angeles. She continued to evolve with her 2025 single 'Malaysia Airlines.' Now, with her full-length debut album finally unveiled, a new era of Contact Sports has just begun.

'In a time and generation where we are entirely hopeless for the future, I want to plant a seed in an AI data center and cultivate an entire forest,' Tati Bruening says. 'This is the true expression that I would want to put out to the world without it being interrupted by algorithms or the influence of whatever audience I have on Illumitati.'

Tracklist

Contact (Intro)

Autonomous Romance (AR)

Insane

Me & My Machine

Attention Economics (feat. Genesis Owusu)

BP Oil Spill 2010 (feat. Weiland)

The Institution

Xylem + Phloem

Inertia // I=MR^2 (feat. 9mice)

Symbiosis

Weapons of Mass Ignorance <WMI>

The End

Contact Sports - 2026 Tour Dates

October 2 – San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *

October 3 – Sacramento, CA – Channel 24 *

October 9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Sky SLC *

October 10 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues *

October 14 – Tucson, AZ – La Rosa *

October 23 – San Diego, CA – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park *

October 24 – Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Expo Hall *

November 6 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean †

November 7 - Queens, NY – Knockdown Center †

* w/ Madeon

† w/ Danny L. Harle