dntel: aimlessness

Dntel releases his long-awaited new album on DJ Koze's legendary Pampa Records label. Dntel aka Jimmy Tamborello is also a member of The Postal Service. Pop and electronica eye each with mutual curiosity: the latter longs to get stuck in a listener's head like a pop song, the former longs to incorporate the exuberant sonic richness of electronic sounds. From his home-base in Los Angeles, Jimmy Tamborello aka Dntel has transformed this mutual desire into an inexhaustible love affair. The magical, unforgettable melodies and strange, outlandish sounds of his music generate an intimate, unique universe. As part of the band Figurine, Jimmy developed a charmingly bewitching, at times absurdly silly electro-pop sound. Together with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie, he started The Postal Service, whose song "Such Great Heights" was featured on Rolling Stone's "100 Best Songs Of The Past Decade." Aimlessness transports the listener to the middle of the Dntel universe. Inexorable electronic sounds breathe life into a body, an emotional world. The album explores the way childish naivety can evolve into presumption, how helplessness and implacability work together. Meditative dub groove, Steve-Reich-like chords, Nite Jewel's voice, Wolfgang Voigt's Love Inc. productions evocation and a pensive mood that dissolves into an optimistic, light-flooded house beat, the album fades away with graceful, sublime fanfare sounds sampled from Krautrock heroes Popol Vuh. One wonders how this so very otherworldly music fits into one's idea of L.A. As it turns out, it is not just about endless freeways, perpetually good weather and, lately, mainstream dubstep. From Van Dyke Parks to Pavement, from the Dead Kennedys to Dr. Dre, California pop music has long fascinated listeners with its emotional depth. In much the same way, Dntel pulls us into an improbable maelstrom of beautiful, iridescent melodies and never-before-heard electronic sounds. CD housed in a digipak.