As 2012 comes to an end, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite posts of the year by our guest editors.
Jimmy Tamborello, known as Dntel to most, has been making music for more than a decade. In 2001, he had the indie world buzzing when he released Life Is Full Of Possibilities, making him one of the most notable figures in the turn-of-the-century glitch scene. Commercial success hit Tamborello as one half of the Postal Service, the other half being Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie. The sole Postal Service album, Give Up, is Sub Pop’s second best-selling record to date, and the “Such Great Heights” single was used on TV shows and covered by Iron & Wine, whose version in turn made it onto the Garden State soundtrack. Tamborello has worked with artists from Conor Oberst to Grizzly Bear, and he still engineers electronic music and hosts an internet radio show. On Dntel’s latest album, Aimlessness (Pampa), he dialed back the guest vocals, focused on instrumentals and made an ethereal, spaced-out electro album. Tamborello will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Tamborello: This mini-synth from Critter & Guitari is one of my favorite new instruments. It’s tiny and light, battery powered and has a built-in speaker. If you’re not careful, it can become an electronic musician’s version of bringing an acoustic guitar to a party, it’s so portable and fun to noodle around on. Its strength is making pretty, arpeggiated synth lines. Even though a lot of the time I treat it as a toy, it’s been really useful in the studio as well. Once I even brought it to go Christmas caroling.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiRwWhJ9_WY
