Spread the Social Love:
Electronic legend Dntel - aka Jimmy Tamborello – has made his new album, Aimlessness, available to stream in full. Out now through Pampa Records, he has also created an in depth track-by-track guide to this twelve-track warm electronic odyssey, which also features collaborations with Nite Jewel (on 'Santa Ana Winds') and a further cameo from Baths (under his Geotic name for the 'Jitters' remix).
You can stream Aimlessness in its entirety below.
Aimlessness Track-by-Track Guide:
'waitingfortherest II'
I have an improv band with some friends called Golden Hits. We usually practice at my house, our equipment sprawled out all over the living room. I set up the sound system and my gear before everyone else gets here, and then while I’m waiting I’ll often record a short improvised set of my own. This is one of those, edited down into an intro.
'Jitters'
This one has a slight, wimpy footwork influence to the beat and a somber, tropical vibe overall. An earlier version of the song was released on a tour-only 7” I made last fall. The name came from the jittery feeling of the rhythm and my anxiety over going on tour.
'Still'
I was playing this song as an instrumental when I went on tour with the One AM Radio and Geotic last fall. About halfway through the tour, Will (Geotic/Baths) told me he had some vocal ideas for it so for the rest of the shows he would come up and sing. It developed over the course of tour and then when we got back he refined it a little more.
'My Orphaned Son'
I sing a little on this one. It’s inspired by that documentary 'Collapse' and my impending sense of doom. It’s a dad singing from the grave to his son about the land he’s left him. When everything falls apart we’ll need land to plant food on in order to survive.
'Bright Night'
This one’s based around some cut up orchestral samples. The beat was heavily inspired by Shed, even if in the end you can’t really tell. I was listening to 'The Traveller' a lot at the time and there’s this tense, off-kilter feel to a lot of the beats on it that I wanted to recreate.
'Retracer'
This song started out based around a big sample of a Dif Juz song. It was such a big part of the song that I felt like I needed to get permission from the band to use it and unfortunately I was never able to get it sorted out. I removed the sample and replaced it with a slightly altered synth line. I heard this song so many times with the Dif Juz sample that it’s still hard for me to tell if it works without it.
'Puma'
There’s a Steve Reich influence here, but I was mostly thinking about the weird orchestral stuff that µ-ziq or Aphex Twin used to inject into their albums. I went to Chile just recently where one of the only dangerous animals they have are pumas. They’re incredibly shy and hard to find but I still felt like I might get attacked by one while hiking.
'Santa Ana Winds'
There’s an early instrumental version of this under the name “Roxy” floating around on a Dublab comp. I sent Ramona from Nite Jewel a bunch of songs from the album to see if she wanted to try adding vocals to any and this is the one she picked. Something about her vocals on this remind me of His Name Is Alive, which is a good thing.
'Trudge'
This song was made in one day and I never changed it or reworked anything. Even the title never changed- it sounded like a trudge so I saved it as that. I remember when I sat down to work that day I was planning on making a melodic, trancey track and this is what I ended up with, kind of the opposite.
'Jitters' (Geotic remix)
Will did this remix of Jitters for a digital tour ep but I liked it so much I thought it could work on the album. It works as a reprise.
'Doc' (Dntel mix)
This was a rework I did of a Golden Hits improv recording. Doing Dntel stuff can be such a solitary experience, it’s nice having the band where I can interact and get inspired by actual humans being spontaneous and having fun.
'Paper Landscape'
Originally I made this song for a live set that was centered around the music of Popol Vuh. I cut up their song 'Engel Der Luft' and then added some modular synth melodies that were created by a random pattern generator. I like that there are moments where the synth melodies really work perfectly and then parts where they clash. I’m very thankful that I got permission to use the Popol Vuh samples, the song wouldn’t have worked without them.
You can stream Aimlessness in its entirety below.
Aimlessness Track-by-Track Guide:
'waitingfortherest II'
I have an improv band with some friends called Golden Hits. We usually practice at my house, our equipment sprawled out all over the living room. I set up the sound system and my gear before everyone else gets here, and then while I’m waiting I’ll often record a short improvised set of my own. This is one of those, edited down into an intro.
'Jitters'
This one has a slight, wimpy footwork influence to the beat and a somber, tropical vibe overall. An earlier version of the song was released on a tour-only 7” I made last fall. The name came from the jittery feeling of the rhythm and my anxiety over going on tour.
'Still'
I was playing this song as an instrumental when I went on tour with the One AM Radio and Geotic last fall. About halfway through the tour, Will (Geotic/Baths) told me he had some vocal ideas for it so for the rest of the shows he would come up and sing. It developed over the course of tour and then when we got back he refined it a little more.
'My Orphaned Son'
I sing a little on this one. It’s inspired by that documentary 'Collapse' and my impending sense of doom. It’s a dad singing from the grave to his son about the land he’s left him. When everything falls apart we’ll need land to plant food on in order to survive.
'Bright Night'
This one’s based around some cut up orchestral samples. The beat was heavily inspired by Shed, even if in the end you can’t really tell. I was listening to 'The Traveller' a lot at the time and there’s this tense, off-kilter feel to a lot of the beats on it that I wanted to recreate.
'Retracer'
This song started out based around a big sample of a Dif Juz song. It was such a big part of the song that I felt like I needed to get permission from the band to use it and unfortunately I was never able to get it sorted out. I removed the sample and replaced it with a slightly altered synth line. I heard this song so many times with the Dif Juz sample that it’s still hard for me to tell if it works without it.
'Puma'
There’s a Steve Reich influence here, but I was mostly thinking about the weird orchestral stuff that µ-ziq or Aphex Twin used to inject into their albums. I went to Chile just recently where one of the only dangerous animals they have are pumas. They’re incredibly shy and hard to find but I still felt like I might get attacked by one while hiking.
'Santa Ana Winds'
There’s an early instrumental version of this under the name “Roxy” floating around on a Dublab comp. I sent Ramona from Nite Jewel a bunch of songs from the album to see if she wanted to try adding vocals to any and this is the one she picked. Something about her vocals on this remind me of His Name Is Alive, which is a good thing.
'Trudge'
This song was made in one day and I never changed it or reworked anything. Even the title never changed- it sounded like a trudge so I saved it as that. I remember when I sat down to work that day I was planning on making a melodic, trancey track and this is what I ended up with, kind of the opposite.
'Jitters' (Geotic remix)
Will did this remix of Jitters for a digital tour ep but I liked it so much I thought it could work on the album. It works as a reprise.
'Doc' (Dntel mix)
This was a rework I did of a Golden Hits improv recording. Doing Dntel stuff can be such a solitary experience, it’s nice having the band where I can interact and get inspired by actual humans being spontaneous and having fun.
'Paper Landscape'
Originally I made this song for a live set that was centered around the music of Popol Vuh. I cut up their song 'Engel Der Luft' and then added some modular synth melodies that were created by a random pattern generator. I like that there are moments where the synth melodies really work perfectly and then parts where they clash. I’m very thankful that I got permission to use the Popol Vuh samples, the song wouldn’t have worked without them.
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