The Postal Service
Give Up
Sub Pop
2003
Rating: 7.5 prison sleepers out of 10
Most of the time, super groups don’t work (remember Contraband?)
- Postal Service is the odd exception, and it works quite well. Primarily made up of Jimmy Tamborello (Strictly
Ballroom, Dntel, sometimes helps out with Beachwood Sparks) and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, All-Time
Quarterback), The Postal Service got their name from the way the band assembled their songs, by sending bits and
pieces to each other through the mail and having the other add their part to the music. Back and
forth it went, until a song popped out (or possibly they couldn’t afford any more stamps, whichever came first,
but this second part is just a guess). These boys also got a little help in the additional vocals department
from Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and Jen Wood, to help sweeten out the sound. Like I said, the result is
magnificent, a beautiful mesh of electronic beats and bumps, synthesized bits that sound like they were taken from
the original Nintendo, and an occasional flash of organic instruments such as the guitar all add up
to the first really great indie-pop masterpiece of the year, and it’s certain to make it onto my year-end
best of list.
Dntel
Life Is Full of Possibilities
Plug Research
2001
Rating: 8.5 toy ambulances out of 10
Dntel . Don’t ask me how to pronounce it, cause I don’t know. I do know that they produce some damn fine music. In actuality it isn’t a they – it’s a he, but he has collaborators. The he in this case is one Jimmy Tamborello, formerly of Strictly Ballroom (an amazing rock band from the mid 90’s that often got lumped in with the emo bands, but were far better than most of them). This is Dntel’s third album, and although I haven’t heard the first two, I think it would be pretty difficult to top this one. The music reminds me of Boards of Canada, u-Ziq, Oval, and some of the others out there that populate the hordes of people trying to program their way to success in the electronica/glitch pop world. Somehow, this album surpasses all of those. Part of it comes from the extra atmospheric feeling that permeates many of these songs – when listened to through headphones the sounds seem to swirl around your head, as opposed to just being sounds coming from the speakers in your ears. The main ingredient to the success of this album comes from it’s immaculate line up of guest vocalists – Chris Gunst (Beachwood Sparks, and former band mate of Tamborello in Strictly Ballroom), Meredith Figurine (of Figurine, another band that Tamborello is in), Mia Doi Todd, Rachel Haden (That Dog), and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie/All Time Quarterback). My personal favorites are the Mia Doi Todd track "Anywhere Anyone" – a dark and brooding song, at times reminding me of Bjork without actually sounding like her; and "The Dream of Evan and Chan", with Ben Gibbard, which in many ways just sounds like a Death Cab song because of Ben’s easily identifiable voice, but somehow remains it’s own entity because of Tamborello’s stellar programming. If this sort of electronic goodness floats your boat, or if you are already a fan of any of the people collaborating on this disc, you should check this out.
