In the past month, I've bought new albums by Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, Explosions in the Sky, Low, Eluvium, Andrew Bird, LCD Soundsystem, Do Make Say Think, Jesu, Bonnie "Prince" Billy (EP), and Bright Eyes (the Four Winds EP - I don't have Cassadaga yet), as well as Sun Kil Moon's re-release of the brilliant Ghosts of the Great Highway and Caspian's first album (I can't wait for The Four Trees now). So that's a pretty decent amount of new music floating around my ears right now. Not to mention that fully 4 of my favorite 15 bands of all time are represented above, including two of my all-time top 5. And there really isn't a clunker in the bunch. All the releases range from good to fairly excellent, so I can really only complain about being awash in so many great songs that my ears can hardly adjust, especially since it's going to be until the end of the week - STILL! - before I get my car back. Fucking deer. Anyway, the point of the post, is given all of that, how come my #1 song of the week on the left side of this page is not by any of those bands? How is that possible?
Dntel is the pseudonym of Jimmy Tamborello (one of his many), a prolific electronic artist with only one full-length under his belt as the Dntel moniker, the well-received 2001 album Life is Full of Possibilities. But while the reviews of that album were stellar, I have to admit that I think I've only heard one song off of it, the phenomenal "This is the Dream of Evan and Chan" featuring Ben Gibbard on vocals. As everyone knows, the Gibbard/Tamborello collaboration continued in the form of Postal Service, who also have one excellent full-length album under their belt to date (which was better in my opinion than the last two Death Cab albums). Tamborello has mostly kept silent since the release of Give Up, though, performing only in another "side" project, Figurine, which released the also well-received Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake last year, an album I didn't really love. But now comes Dumb Luck, releasing in April, Dntel's second full-length, and the lead single is apparently sung by Tamborello himself (he relies heavily on guest singers on the rest of the album). Take a listen and enjoy.
Here is the track listing for the album, which I have on pre-order. I have a download of Jenny Lewis's song and it's pretty great as well (just like anything she sings on), but due to a new policy on Vague Space, I'm trying not to post unauthorized tracks for as yet released albums (mainly because the labels invariably ask me to take them down shortly after I posted them, and I'll respect their wishes, especially the independent labels).
- "Dumb Luck"
- "To a Fault" [ft. Grizzly Bear]
- "I'd Like to Know" [ft. Lali Puna]
- "Roll On" [ft. Jenny Lewis]
- "The Distance" [ft. Arthur & Yu]
- "Rock My Boat" [ft. Mia Doi Todd]
- "Natural Resources" [ft. Fog]
- "Breakfast in Bed" [ft. Conor Oberst]
- "Dreams" [ft. Mystic Chords of Memory]
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