Customer Reviews

Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It seems as if Jimmy Tamborello just can't make up his mind. On some days he's glitching his way through elaborate musical compositions under the name Dntel, while on other's he's one third of the electro-pop trio "Figuring" or one half of "The Postal Service" (and let's not forget his days in "Strictly Ballroom"). Yes, if there's one man who has toured the far reaches of the electronic indie universe, it is undoubtedly Jimmy Tamborello.

Tamborello's latest album comes to us under the name of "James Figurine."

"Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake" gives those uf us who are Dntel fans, a little bit to be excited about. In many ways this album can be viewed as a Postal Service/Dntel hybrid, featuring many of the same qualities as a Dntel album, yet also boasts some incredibly catchy Postal Service-ish hooks. "55566688833" ("love" in text messaging language), for example, contains a pretty catchy hook that has been stuck in my head for days now, while "Ruining the Sundays" and many others on the album sound like songs right out of a Dntel handbook.

Though "minimalist techno" would be the best way to describe this album, it is much more complex than that. Featuring elements of pop, electonica, techno, and experimental electro, the album really delivers, even if it comes off as a bit unfocused at times.

Recommended for fans of Dntel, Figurine, The Postal Service, and Magnetic Fields or anyone who feels like exploring how far electronic music can go.

Key Tracks:
1. "55566688833"
2. "Left Overs"
3. "You Again"
4. "One More Regret"
5. "All the Way to China"


3 out of 5 Stars

If you love rare DNTEL, then you will love this. Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake is less like "Life Is Full of Possibilities" and the Postal Service but more like his rare glitchy albums "Early Works for me if it Works for you", and "Something Always goes Wrong". DNTEL is epic as always, even as James Figurine.

James Figurine is the Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello solo album. I, being a fan of the alternative/indie music scene, remember back in 2003 when he teamed up with another favorite Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie recording "Give Up". It was a nice sounding electronic/indie record of sad and deep songs that ended up selling a lot of records.

Now with this album Jimmy Tamborello uses the alias James Figurine (I'm not sure why or how he came up with it). The album feature materials that is slightly different from his stuff with The Postal Service. He uses a different vocal style by slowly whispering the lyrics and his thoughts making it interesting. He even has friend and fellow musician Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley on the song "You Again". This is a great album to put on late at night when you return from clubbin' to fall asleep with.

This is a new side project by Jimmy Tamborello who is in The Postal Service. He also has toured with Lali Puna. So it's a little mix between those two worlds. So we have a bunch cool electronic tracks, much like Notwist and Postal Service. Most of the vocals are this spoken Kraftwerk type of singing. The beats on "Ruining To Sundays" are amazing. The song "You Again" features Jenny Lewis. She has an ability to turn everything to gold. This is a pretty good record for Plug Research. I dig it.

I luv Figurine's The Heartfelt, and after a couple albums where Tamborello seemed to be expanding his sonic palette and refining his pop songwriting (DNTEL's Life Is Full Of Possibilities, The Postal Service's Give Up), while in my estimation having his talent diluted by inferior collaborators, I assumed this album would be where it would all come together, the masterpiece he'd been training for. Wow, I was so wrong. I guess the other members of Figurine contributed more than I thought to The Heartfelt, and I guess Gibbard made some musical contribution to The Postal Service, because James on his own seems to be producing much less developed ideas. The more I listen to it the worse it gets. Most of the tracks are not only lacking in melodic pop appeal but not unique, original, creative, or progressive in any way. Just why? At this point I'd be much more interested to hear what the other members of Figurine are doing.

It's going to be a moment till the new Postal Service album comes out. Right now, Jimmy Tamborello has ways of continuing a trend like what The Postal Service start. Apparently, he went solo with his very own solo effort, experimenting with many other Indie singers like Erlend Øye and Jenny Lewis. But who on this album can really take Ben Gibbard's place as Indie-Electronica's best singer for electronic and Indie's at-the-moment brightening mesh? In fact, I'm asking the wrong question here. Is James Figurine's alum the best showcase for singers that may make it in the electronic trend?

Let's see what happens when he starts with the opener with a title complex and in a way cliché compared to complex codes and numbering "55566688833". The song joined by Sonya Westcott from Arthur and Yu doesn't sound quite like it could hold a candle, but it sure has a way of trying. The sound is Sonya singing the numbers in your attention and Jimmy Tamborello using his baritone yet on key voice to appear monotone and boring, but fitting in wonderfully with the music. "Leftovers" reach the heights that Royksopp didn't even touch yet. Plus, the Postal Service comparison on this song is certainly showing on the lyrics a little: "Tell me which one of these things could have made you stay?"

"Ruining the Sundays" isn't joined by anyone, but without vocals, the music made for a leftover soundtrack for space fights, until the lush melody cuts in the middle to make shown the electronic sun floating. Morgan Nagler from Whispertown 2000 cuts in on "Pretend It's a Race and I'm On Your Side" to construct a trip for the mind more experiencing than anything your hips would want a thing to do with.

The near hollow melody of "You Again" is constructing as the unlikely guest Jenny Lewis lends a few bits of harmony, chopped up to fill in the atmosphere of the album. "Apologies" brings along the drum machine as a way to enhance his attempt at playing a musical peacemaker: "Apologies/Forgiveness/Accept them with a smile on our face". Easy to say when the mistakes are so small, but I digress. A song that brings on drum machine and synthesizer to make you feel good and alive about life is definitely not worth shunning, and an accepting reason why this was the first single, technically. The only song that makes it easy to forget that there were vocals were the uber-quirky energy burner "One More Regret". Though, you can see that James Figurine could have done most of this alone, and became a brokenhearted James Murphy. "I pushed the music in my ears until it hurt/I pushed the tears back into my eyes.../A life with you I have to leave behind", he sang with dignity and nostalgia in his voice.

"White Ducks" is voice-free as he relies on cheep-cheeps and distortion more to save this skippable instrumental to go to Kings of Convenience's Erlend Øye's welcome on the so-so Underworld-meets-Fischerspooner track, "All The Way to China".Then the album near comes to a close with the sprited "Stop", with Figurine himself saying, "Just smile to remind me why I'm here". And at the end, you should think the album has life that doesn't quite need everyone's blood and organs anymore. And indeed, the album is incredibly healthy.

So the truth is you can't ever compare this to Postal Service a lot. The singers are there to fill an atmosphere, while Postal Service's work is just Ben Gibbard's experimental side taken by storm. Some will say this was done because he can't quite grab Ben for free time on the new album (as implied by Pitchfork's single review). But to tell you the truth, this is his way of experimenting with voices not to pick those to be on the spotlight, but to show that the album has a way with showcasing musical talents without making Jimmy himself to be just the electronic footnote. Mistake, Mistake, Mistake, Mistake? Not at all, not at all, not at all, not at a...well, a few things could improve the album, but otherwise...

Rating: 7.25/10

Jimmy Tamborello has been a busy man. Between his Dntel and Postal Service projects, I'm surprised he had time to devote to James Figurine, but here comes MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE, a further exploration of electronic music and pop. Particularly, he's interested in the blend of tech-house with pop melodies, placing it squarely between his other two projects in terms of accessibility. "55566688833" and "Apologies" have an indie-electro groove going for them, while "Ruining the Sundays" is a much more straightforward tech-house track, but with the wobbly tones that you can also hear on his Dntel project. "Pretend It's a Race and I'm On Your Side" has a light, breezy touch to it, while "You Again" goes instrumental and deeper. "White Ducks" throws a wobbly curve into the album, though, that bursts through the relative niceness of the crust, as does the hint of heartbreak that shimmers on "Stop." James Figurine is another feather in Tamborello's cap.