Figurine « AZLTRON

January 28, 2009

James Yuill is a Sonic Scientist! No Surprise!

Filed under: danny tamborello,Figurine,james yuill,moby,Postal Service,Red Light Company,state shirt — AZLTRON @ 5:00 am

What’s the deal? There’s been a bunch of solo artists that have been releasing full length albums of electro-folk-rockery that have been excellent. Granted Mr. James Yuill from London, UK released his excellent debut “Turning Down Water For Air” last year, but that doesn’t stop it from being new to me. He effectively combines intimate guitar folk/pop with catchy keyboards and dancy glitch beats that are sure to have you nostalgically bopping your head with watery eyes. 2009 has some talented artists making the scene. Keep ‘em coming!

James Yuill – No Surprise

James Yuill – No Pins Allowed

James Yuill Myspace

I wish this was the future of coffee shops everywhere.

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January 15, 2009

The Jellyfish Bandits, Lo-Fi Indie Electro Pop!

Filed under: Architechture in Helsinki,Chairs in the Arno,Figurine,Postal Service,The Jellyfish Bandits — AZLTRON @ 5:00 am

The Jellyfish Bandits are Melinda Tracy and Aaron Leck from Portland Oregon. Their lo-fi electronic indie pop is akin to other bands in that vein like Chairs in Arno and Figurine. Although thier music can be distinctly more alternative at times, even including some simple guitar riffs. Their lyrics are mostly whimsical, but when they feel like using harder language they pull no punches. The band is at it’s best when they give into sugary choruses and twinkling melodies like on thier track “Famous Art Thieves”.

The Jellyfish Bandits – Famous Art Theives

The Jellyfish Bandits – Ghostical Love

The Jellyfish Bandits Myspace

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December 3, 2008

DNTEL Releases Free Song for the Holidays!

Filed under: ben gibbard,can't be sure,Figurine,free single,free song,holiday,James Figurine,Postal Service — AZLTRON @ 9:07 am

Jimmy Tamborello of DNTEL a.k.a. James Figurine has released a new song for the holiday season entitled “Can’t be Sure”. The track is full of synthetic pop goodness, from Tamborello’s almost spoken word vocals filtered through a high pitched vocoder and his trademarked bendy sinebass grooves to some full on feel good 80′s new wave synths and minimalist German ticks. This is the kind of electro that sticks to your ribs in the cold months of winter.

James Figurine – Can’t Be Sure

You can also get the song here under DNTEL
Jimmytamborello.com

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October 10, 2008

Hearts of Palm UK, sensitive all girl synthpop FOR LIFE!

Filed under: au revoir simone,Blondie,Figurine,hearts of Palm Uk,indie pop,Metric,Postal Service,Ratatat,Sally Shapiro — AZLTRON @ 3:07 pm

Hearts of Palm UK, is that girl that introduces herself to you under the wrong name at a party, but through perseverance, wit and charm you will find out on the third or fourth date. I say this because their name itself is something of a red herring, they are from Echo Park, California. That’s pretty far from the UK. Either way, the female electro-pop brandishing trio fires off some touching and danceable tracks on their debut album “For Life”.

Songwriter Erica Elektra originally wrote the album on her acoustic guitar, and fantasized about remixing it into a more electro style. So she did, and the results are gorgeous. These are three girls after my own heart, incorporating sweeping keyboard melodies, emotional bass, glitchy beats and even vocoder over their lovely voices. Another contributing factor in the sublime sound featured on this album is sure to be that it was mastered in Sweden by Henrik Jonsson who has mastered the likes of Peter Bjorn and John, Robyn, The Knife, and Lykke Li. I’m telling you, those Swedes know where it’s at. All this and they have a Brian Ferry cover. What are you waiting for! Sample tracks below!

Hearts of Palm UK – Forever

Hearts of Palm UK – More Than This (Bryan Ferry Cover)

Heart of Palm UK Myspace

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July 20, 2008

Microfilm’s Teenage Symphony

Filed under: Figurine,Justice,Magnetic Fields,Microfilm,Postal Service,Sufjan Stevens — AZLTRON @ 7:39 am

Microfilm has released a new EP featuring the first single, “Teenage Symphony”, from their anticipated new album “The Slingshot Orchestra”. Just as the cover of the album would suggest the song is very much like a relaxed beach, with synthesizers and piano ebbing and flowing over the gentle crashes of the beat. This song is a strong step forward for the band, the vocals and instrumentation sound much more human than their previous releases. They’ve definitely learned a lot from their excellent Magnetic Fields and Sufjan Stevens covers. I look forward to the full length album, it may be one of the best of 2008.

Microfilm – Teenage Symphony

Microfilm Myspace

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March 22, 2008

Science for Girls

Filed under: Andrew Bird,ben gibbard,death cab for cutie,Dntel,Feist,Figurine,Postal Service — AZLTRON @ 3:47 pm

Science for Girls is the brainchild of Darren Solomon, a producer with roots in Jazz and Brazilian music. His debut album features a slew of guest vocalists over the course of 10 downtempo electronica songs. Fans of expansive textured synthpop like DNTEL will find something to like here. Often times the songs bloom like a flower in slow motion in the spring. Conveniently for my previous analogy there’s even a song called “Violets”.

While I was looking over the bands Myspace I noticed that one of the influences was Wendy Carlos who was a pioneer of electronic music and recreated many classical (Ludwig Van Beethoven) works in the early seventies with a Moog synthesizer, perhaps most noticeable in the cult Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. The same kind of classical tones come through even in the distorted electronics making for what I regard as the most sophisticated down-tempo electronica I’ve heard in a long time.

Not to be pigeon holed as a one trick pony, Science for Girls has a couple standout indie-pop tracks that are too cute to not be mentioned, most notably “Australia”. If you know anyone from Australia, no doubt you’ll be playing this track for them within 10 minutes of your knowledge of its existence.

Science for Girls – Northern Lights

Science for Girls – Australia

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February 8, 2008

The LK Vs The Snow

Filed under: Figurine,Postal Service,Styrofoam,the lk — AZLTRON @ 2:30 am

Since I played “The Private Life of a Cat” off of their debut LP Vs. The Snow I have been hooked on The LK’s sound collage pop style. The band consists of Lindefelt, an abstract concrete music style sound artist and Frederik who is a master class songwriter. Together they craft some of the most compelling sounds I’ve heard so far this year. Super melodic pop songs with euro-disco stylings that will make you shimmy and shake while they melt your heart. As if that weren’t enough, they’re from Sweden, now I’ve stated before that artists from Sweden must be taking some kind of music enhancing drugs because anything from that country that’s been brought to my attention has been outstanding (Jens Lekman anyone?). I’ve listened through the album a few times now, and I can say, it’s a solid listen from beginning to end, I have a feeling that this will end up on my year end best of list. Yes, I know it’s just February, but this found sound euro-pop is stunningly well made. Maybe the reason the music is so good is because they stay inside and work on it rather than go out in the snow, the album is called Vs The Snow, after all. If I only had this album and some headphones to fight off a snowy day, I think I’d fair pretty well. As for conspiracy theories on the quality of Swedish music I think I’ll stick with my water theory. Someone get me a sample of the water supply in Sweden and check it for the raw essence of good music, then bottle me some.

The LK – Tandem Bikes

The LK – The Private Life of a Cat (Highly Recommended)

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January 25, 2008

Reclining with Chairs in the Arno

Filed under: Chairs in the Arno,Figurine — AZLTRON @ 2:16 am

Chairs in the Arno have an interesting origin. Their name comes from a story of the founding members of the band studying abroad in Italy. They were apparently having a bit too much fun, swigging wine and gallivanting about the country side, one thing led to another and literally there were lawn chairs thrown into the Arno river.

Origins aside, Chairs in the Arno’s debut album “File Folder”, is the true successor to the heartfelt synth IDM pop of Figurine, complete with Boy/Girl layered vocals, gimmicky technology concepts, and lyrics so saccharine sweet they will melt you upon contact.

Chairs in the Arno – I Never Loved You Anyways

Chairs in the Arno – Preprogrammed Casio

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January 15, 2008

Figurine is Way Too Good

Filed under: Depeche Mode,Figurine,Gary Numan,James Figurine,Postal Service — AZLTRON @ 2:18 pm

I became obsessed with Figurine over the summer. I heard that there was a more Gary Numan-esque project of James Tamborello, more song focused but with 100% less Ben Gibbard and 100% more David Figurine and Meredith Figurine. I heard songs like “IMpossible” and “Heartfelt” and I was hooked. The sounds were more lo-fi and the lyrics were so earnest and spot on. I loved these two tracks so much that I actually bought the real cd’s (Off of half.com, but c’mon I’m Poor). Their first release Transportation + Communication = Love is a cute expedition into the world of early Depeche Mode sounds and gimmicky lyrics. Not to say it’s not enjoyable, it certainly is. But their second release is more fully realized. If you’re a fan of the Postal Service you can hear the nuts and bolts of the contemporary cutesy synth pop forming. Particularly in the call and response of “IMpossible” in regards to the Gibbard/Lewis joint “Nothing Better”. Basically, Figurine is like a more raw Postal Service with a more deprecating lyrical style similar to Stephen Merrit of The Magnetic Fields’ morose poetry but more earnest, maybe even more honest.