The E-mail Service: Figurine

Posted by: steve | From: June 17, 2004

BOO YO! The Greatest Band Of All Time is proud to present our first animated gif! This first animated gif is a beaut featuring digital representations of the three members of Figurine along with some floating hearts. This animated gif is the first, but I can solemnly promise you, it will not be the last.

Figurine, as a band, apparently, has never been photgraphed together, which is quite fishy since the members were high school friends. That just doesn't make sense, I have pictures of myself with my high school friends. I have some nice pictures from before prom wearing my cool alternative plaid tuxedo, which surprisingly still looks pretty awesome. I have pictures of us hamming it up, doing bad stuff, being cool dudes, your regular high school tom foolery. Well, Figurine didn't start as a band till all three members (Meredith Figurine, James Figurine, and David Figurine) were away at different colleges and they would get together on breaks from school and dream about being Depeche Mode. Couldn't they have taken some pictures then?!?!?! I understand that the project has mostly occurred over email and the internet with the three members of the group sending their parts and collaborating from their residences in LA, SF, and Cambridge.

I guess having no actual pictures of the band only digital representations makes sense with Figurine's vibe. Their albums focus on technology, the future, and the combining of those with human emotion and love. So, maybe there are pictures of the three members of Figurine but they have intentionally kept these pictures under wraps. These digital images of the members of Figurine first appeared on the album cover to their 1999 LP Transportation + Communication = Love, a great debut album showing a focus in their conceptual themes and a knack for writing great simple pop songs using really enjoyable male/female call and response style vocals mixed with slightly kitschy electronic backing with thin in the best way beats and well used noises like the sounds of a 28k modem and an Apple Computer turning on. With many stand out tracks Transportation + Communication = Love features more mixtape fodder than most band's whole careers.

In 2001 Figurine displayed those digital faces again on the cover for the LP The Heartfelt. This second full length for Figurine shows the band leaving behind some of the kitsch from the great first album, but they don't leave behind the fun. The instrumentation is expanded a little bit with an occasional guitar and the electronics become a little more complex, atmospheric, and experimental. The Heartfelt is a growth, but this doesn't mean it is superior to Transportation + Communication = Love. The Heartfelt is probably equally as solid, but there is something to be said for the goofy focus of their debut.

One important thing I have not told you yet about Figurine is that "James Figurine," is actually Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service, Dntel, and Strictly Ballroom or at least it is that's what we are told, but without any actual photographs I guess we will never know. It is this humble reporters opinion that Figurine is the better of Tamborello's two band by mail (snail/e). Unfotunately, Figurine doesn't get a whole lot of attention, and I don't think they have ever toured as a band. They have released two great albums, a very good remix album (Reconfigurine), a couple of solid eps. Clearly, any band into animated gifs, love songs about e-mail and instant messaging have to be The Greatest Band Of All Time, even if they refuse to have a band photo.

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