James Scott Tamborello, (born 1975) also known by his stage name Dntel , is an American

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

artist and DJ. Aside from his main solo project, Tamborello is also known as a member of the groups

The Postal Service The Postal Service was an American indie pop group from Seattle, Seattle, Washington, consisting of singer Ben Gibbard, producer Dntel, Jimmy Tamborello (also known by his stage name, Dntel), and Jenny Lewis on background vocals. The band relea ...

, Headset, Strictly Ballroom, and

Figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

, where he is sometimes cited as James Figurine.

Personal life

Tamborello's father was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

player,

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, and a songwriter for many

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

-based bands. His mother, Joyce Menges was an actress who starred in the sitcom '' To Rome with Love'' starring John Forsythe,

Kay Medford Margaret Kathleen Regan (September 14, 1919 – April 10, 1980), better known as Kay Medford, was an American actress. For her performance as Rose Brice in the musical ''Funny Girl (musical), Funny Girl'' and the Funny Girl (film), film adaptati ...

, and Melanie Fullerton, in 1969, and later in the

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

film '' Now You See Him Now You Don't'', starring

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...

, in 1972.

Musical career and Dntel

Tamborello first began creating music in 1989, when he was in junior high school in Santa Barbara. His father bought him a drum machine, a sequencer, a keyboard and an eight track recorder, primarily for the possibility to create music on his own. Tamborello recorded an album under the name Antihouse in 1993, which was released the following year, then beginning work on the first Dntel EP. During these years, Tamborello attended

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

where he was a DJ and music director at KXLU. He engineered on several albums recorded at the station including " KXLU LIVE: Volume 1," for which he also designed the album artwork. Tamborello was also the bass player for a band known as Strictly Ballroom. The band was often described as "Enocore," as

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

soundscapes were an important influence in their music. Strictly Ballroom recorded one album, ''Hide Here Forever'', which was released in 1997 on the Waxploitation Records label. They released a single in 1995 titled "Dear XXX" on the Chou Chou records label. A collection of the demos during the period of 1995 to 1997 was released as '' Early Works for Me If It Works for You'', in 1998, and work from the first Dntel EP was released as '' Something Always Goes Wrong'', in 2000, both on the Phthalo label. As a pioneer of contemporary

glitch A glitch is a short-lived technical fault, such as a transient one that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among pl ...

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

, Dntel gained a cult following. After writing a track for the ''Voices in My Lunchbox'' collaboration for the Plug Research label, he was asked to work with them. Tamborello released a 12-inch LP, ''Anywhere Anyone'', in 2000. Tamborello released the debut Dntel full-length album, '' Life Is Full of Possibilities'', in 2001. The album featured several guest artists on vocals and instruments, including Ben Gibbard of

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...

Mia Doi Todd Mia Doi Todd (born June 30, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter. She was described by ''Dusted Magazine'' as "one of those artists that seem to function not just as creators in their own right, but as connecting links between other musicians." ...

, fellow Figurine member Meredith Figurine, Chris Gunst of Beachwood Sparks,

Brian McMahan Brian McMahan (born January 26, 1969) is an American musician from Louisville, Kentucky. He was a guitarist and vocalist in the seminal rock bands Squirrel Bait and Slint. After the breakup of the latter in November 1990, he went on to play with ...

Slint Slint was an American Rock music, rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986 after the dissolution of two local bands, Squirrel Bait and Maurice. It initially consisted of guitarist-vocalist Brian McMahan, guitaris ...

, The For Carnation, and Rachel Haden of that dog. The track " (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" from the album was very well-received, which led to the song being released in 2002 as the only single from ''Life Is Full of Possibilities''. A remix of the song by

Superpitcher Aksel Schaufler better known by his stage name Superpitcher, is a German producer affiliated with Cologne's Kompakt music label. Background Superpitcher made his first appearance on Kompakt's ''Total 2'' compilation album in 2000 with the song " ...

was voted the 17th best dance track of the decade by a

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

poll in 2010. On April 24, 2007, Tamborello released his third album '' Dumb Luck'' on Subpop Records to generally positive critical reception. This, coinciding with Death Cab For Cutie's release, '' Narrow Stairs'' moved any future plans of The Postal Service recording past the end of the decade. Tamborello released a surprise new album called ''Hate In My Heart'' on August 2, 2018, through Leaving Records.

Figurine

Since 1994, Tamborello has also been a member of the

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

band

. Consisting of Tamborello (as James Figurine), Meredith Figurine, and David Figurine, the trio were high school friends and created music based mostly on the theme of long-distance love, releasing their debut album, '' Transportation + Communication = Love'', in 1999. The group released their second album, '' The Heartfelt'', in 2001, and a remix album, '' Reconfigurine'', in 2002. Tamborello released a solo album under the name James Figurine, '' Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake'', in 2006, featuring a

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

electronica style.

The Postal Service

The success of the collaboration between Tamborello and Ben Gibbard on the song " (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" from '' Life Is Full of Possibilities'', which features lyrics and vocals from Gibbard, led the two to form their own side-project

in 2001. The duo released their debut album, '' Give Up'', in 2003 on Sub Pop Records, receiving very positive reviews from critics and eventual platinum certification from the Recording Industry of America. The album spawned the successful singles " Such Great Heights", " The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", and " We Will Become Silhouettes". Along with additional member

Jenny Lewis Jennifer Diane Lewis (born January 8, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley. Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child ...

, who performed vocals on the album, the group toured in support of ''Give Up'' despite their main projects also being active at the time. The Postal Service became largely inactive after 2005, until 2013 when the group reunited for a tour to celebrate the tenth anniversary of ''Give Up''. However, on August 3, 2013, Ben Gibbard announced via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that The Postal Service would permanently disband after the tour. On December 9, 2009,

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

named the song "Such Great Heights" the 27th best song of the decade. In December 2022, the group announced a 2023 tour co-headlining with Death Cab for Cutie to celebrate the twentieth anniversaries of ''Give Up'' and '' Transatlanticism''.

Other projects

Tamborello is also the host of a regular music show called ''Dying Songs'' heard on the internet radio station Dublab. In 2004, Tamborello was credited for programming on the song " Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" by Bright Eyes, which reached number two on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' US Singles Chart. As Headset he collaborated with Plug Research record label owner Allen Avanessian and a number of guest

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

s on the 2004 album ''Space Settings''.

Equipment

Tamborello uses a large variety of electronic equipment to create his sound. He uses Logic Pro for programming, a Rode k2 microphone for vocals, and Dynaudio Air series speakers. His studio has a

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

, Avalon Design VT-747sp compressor, MicroKorg, Elektron Machinedrum, Vostok Matrixsynth, Elektron Monomachine, Vermona Retroverb, Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor Compressor, MOTU MIDI Timepiece, Vermona DRM1 MKII (drum machine), Dave Smith Poly Evolver Rack, Minimoog Voyager, two Motu 828 MKII, Mackie 1604 mixer, Kurzweil K2000 synthesizer, Jomox Xbase 999, Moogerfooger MF-104Z Analog Delay, DigiTech IPS33 Smartshift Intelligent Pitch Shifter,

Nord Modular The Nord Modular series is a line of synthesizers produced by Clavia, a Swedish digital synthesizer manufacturer. The Nord Modular series, in common with their sister range the Nord Lead series, are analogue modelling synthesizers, producing soun ...

G1, an

Omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It allows users to play distinctive harp-like arpeggios produced through an electronic strum plate, simulating the experience of ...

, accordions, jingle bells, Line 6 Delay, and an M-Audio Radium MIDI controller.

Discography

Studio albums

*2001 – '' Life Is Full of Possibilities'' ( Plug Research) *2006 – '' Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake'' ( Plug Research) (as James Figurine) *2007 – '' Dumb Luck'' (

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

) *2012 – '' Aimlessness'' (Pampa) *2014 – ''

Human Voice The human voice consists of sound Voice production, made by a human being using the vocal tract, including Speech, talking, singing, Laughter, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically ...

'' (Leaving Records) *2018 – ''Hate in My Heart'' (Leaving Records) *2021 – ''The Seas Trees See'' ( Morr Music) *2021 – ''Away'' ( Morr Music) *2021 – ''In Media Res'' (Palette Recordings) (with John Tejada)

Compilation albums

*1998 – '' Early Works for Me If It Works for You'' (Phthalo) *2001 – '' Something Always Goes Wrong'' (Phthalo) *2009 – '' Early Works For Me If It Works For You II'' (Phthalo)

EPs

*2001 – ''Anywhere Anyone'' ( Plug Research) *2002 – '' (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan'' ( Plug Research) *2010 – ''Early Works, Later Versions'' (Phthalo) *2010 – ''After Parties 1'' (

) *2010 – ''After Parties 2'' (

) *2014 – ''Human Voice Outtakes'' (Leaving Records) *2021 – ''Futureangelics'' (Cached Media) (with Brin and More Eaze)

Singles

*2001 – "Season" (Vynalogica) *2002 – Styrofoam / Dntel Split ( Rocket Racer) *2006 – ''Jukebox Series #10'' (AIM Records) *2006 – ''Eleven Numbers'' ( Monika Enterprise) (as James Figurine) *2006 – ''Forgive Your Friends'' ( Monika Enterprise) (as James Figurine) *2007 – ''Covers'' ( Plug Research) (as James Figurine) *2007 – "The Distance" ( Moshi Moshi) *2008 – "Dreams" – ''Lawrence Remixes'' (Deal) *2011 – "Jitters" / "Swells" (Edit) (Dying Songs) *2012 – ''Dntel – The Robag Wruhme Remixes'' (Pampa)

Other appearances

* Beachwood Sparks – '' Make the Cowboy Robots Cry'' (2002 ·

) *Giardini Di Mirò – ''Little Victories (Dntel Remix)'' (2002 · 2nd rec) *Barbara Morgenstern – ''Aus heiterem Himmel (Dntel Remix)'' (2003 · Monika Enterprise) * Bright Eyes – '' Take It Easy (Love Nothing)'' (2004 · Saddle Creek) * Rilo Kiley – '' Accidntel Deth'' (2004 · Brute/Beaute Records) * Bright Eyes – '' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn'' (2005 · Saddle Creek) *

Grizzly Bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

– ''Merge (Dntel Remix)'' (2005 · Kanine Records) *

– ''Deep at Sea (Dntel Remix)'' (2006 · City Zen Records) *Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory – ''Feet Upon the Sand (Dntel Remix)'' (2006 · Mush) *Gudrun Gut – ''The Wheel (Dntel Remix)'' (2007 · Monika Enterprise) * Idiot Pilot – ''Cruel World Enterprise (Dntel Remix)'' (2007 ·

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

/ WEA) * Why? – ''By Torpedo or Crohn's (Dntel Remix)'' (2008 · Anticon) * Free Moral Agents – ''Sound At Sea (Dntel Remix)'' (2010 · Gold Standard Labs) *dné – ''Like Physical (Dntel Remix)'' (2012) *

- ''Summer Years (Jimmy Tamberello Remix)'' (2018) *Mia Doi Todd – ''Little Bird (Dntel Remix)'' (2021 · City Zen Records) ;Notes 1. First edition released on 250 CD-Rs, later re-issued by Phthalo Records
2. Contains material recorded between 1994 and 2000
3. Reissue of ''Early Works for Me If It Works for You'', ''Something Always Goes Wrong'' plus additional material recorded between 1999 and 2003

References

External links

News and media

"Sometimes a song kind of turns 3D" – 2012 Dntel Interview at Drowned In Sound

2008 Dntel Interview at Bandega.com

Dntel Dumb Luck Announced
{{Authority control American electronic musicians Intelligent dance musicians Living people The Postal Service members Sub Pop artists Plug Research artists 1975 births 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American musicians