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((un)) believable 

Do all alt-rockers secretly want to be pop stars? Ben Gibbons of Death Cab for Cutie got some radio love with The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” Jenny Lewis has turned Rilo Kiley into Fleetwood Mac while saving odder excursions for her solo work.

We've touted Dan Black before — he's the former vocalist of the so-indie-no-one-outside-of-the-U.K.-knows-who-they-are The Servant — but now that his ambiguously punctuated solo debut ((un)) (on iTunes now; on CD February 23), is finally for sale in the States, we have to shout about him again. Black wants to be the Notorious B.I.G. of laptop hip-hop pop (laptronica?). It’s no random comparison: Black laid B.I.G.’s "Hypnotize" over Rihanna’s "Umbrella" beats on a track called "HYPNTZ."

Black’s a solo artist in every sense of the word now. After The Servant split in 2007, he relocated to Paris and pieced together every note of ((un)) on his laptop. It’s such a perfect debut we doubt anyone will be holding his breath for The Servant’s reunion.


((un)) is available on iTunes now, and will be released on CD February 23 from The Hours Records.