So last night, while getting ready for my wife to come home from work and getting ready to watch the Yankee game, I decided to listen to some TV on the Radio. TV on the Radio is a band I initially detested upon first listen. I had read so many reviews about their most recent album "Dear Science" being the "best" album of 2009. I had checked it out and didn't really understand what the big deal was. The songs seemed to be overproduced and the lead singer (Tunde Adebimpe) sounded like he was trying to merge (force) the styles of David Byrne and Prince. I thought the music was grating and unpleasant, and I swore to myself to never listen to TVOTR again. I admit, this was a rather strong response, but nonetheless, a response I thought was justified at the time.
However, about a month later, I decided to scope out the reviews for the "Albums of the Decade" in several music magazines. To my surprise, I found another TVOTR album making it to the top of every list ("Return to Cookie Mountain"), being cited as one of the best album of not the week, not the month, not even the year, but the freaking DECADE! I thought to myself, there must be something wrong with me or there must be something wrong with every music editor in every major music magazine in the world. Being the rational person that I am, I realized it must be me, so I decided to download "Return to Cookie Mountain, stick it on my iPod and listen to the entire album in full before bed one night. As you can all probably guess, the album soon rose to the top of my greatest albums EVER list, and the rest is history.
So going back to the main focus of this post (yes, there is a focus to it), I had been following the production and progress of David Sitek's solo album since mid-April 2010. David Sitek is a brilliant brilliant man - he is the guitarist and producer of TVOTR and produced all of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's albums, including one of my favorite albums, "Fever to Tell." At the time, I was in my third-year of law school and in the throes of some heavy duty wedding planning with my wife. But classes gave me the opportunity to procrastinate, surf the web, and continue my following of Mr. Sitek's upcoming album. However, my life soon became miserable and overwhelming during my preparation for the New York State bar examination. Then immediately following the bar exam, more wedding planning ensued, coupled with my rampant search to find a nice apartment for my soon-to-be wife and I in New York City. Then came the wedding (which was unbelievable by the way), soon to be followed by a honeymoon (once again, unbelievable - Sheraton Los Cabos). In between all of these activities I was looking for a job and attempting to maintain my other hobbies. Thus, I lost site of Mr. Sitek's album.
Then last night, while listening to TVOTR, I thought, "Wait a mother-f'ing freaking second...is it possible that David Sitek's album was released?!" I thought, "It must have been released, the release date was for the middle of September!" With an out-of-control madness I rushed to the computer, accessed iTunes, looked up the album title "Maximum Balloon," and HOLY COW, there it was, the album I had been anticipating for almost five months now. In a moment of sheer ecstasy I downloaded the album, plugged my headphones into my computer, and let the heavenly sounds flow into my eardrums.
Ultimately, the album is sheer genius, and I will not go through the trouble of reviewing every song. However, several standout tracks are "Young Love," "Absence of Light" and "The Lesson." For TVOTR fans, the album is more similar to "Dear Science" then "Return to Cookie Mountain," but nonetheless it is an album EVERYONE should check out. And if you are anything like me, listen to it at least two times - one time so you can hate it, and a second time so you can fall in love with it.
Here is the music video for "Tiger" - Maximum Balloon - Tiger
Another point of enthusiasm for me is the New York Yankee's potential playoff clinching game this evening. I think it would be an understatement for me to say that the Yankee's performance in September has been sub-par. Mo has a career high 4 blown saves, A.J. is sucking, and even CC's last outing was disappointing. Additionally, the race in the AL East is close, which makes it all the more frustrating that the Tampa Bay Rays are playing three of the worst teams in baseball for their last three series, and the Yankee's have two series against the Sox and one series against the Blue Jays, a team that has surprised most people with their batting this season. I am optimistic that CC will dominate on the mound tonight, and my fears of the Yankee's blowing their playoff shot, which is nearly impossible at this point, will finally disappear.
That is all for today. Jusqu'à demain.
Prepstarr.
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