MOG

This hasn't ever happened to me before. I mean, normally, you find out about a band, artist, or whatever, you check them out, and you decide whether you like them, and how really interested you are in them. Normally, it's easy - just a question of listening to your own impulses.

Now, with TV On The Radio, it's different. Honestly, it is. When first finding out about them in the local music press, my interest wasn't just awakened - it had ten gallons of water splashed on its face, was dragged out of bed and slapped silly... I mean, an indie, experimental band which combined influences and trends as distant (or as close, if you're in my frame of mind) as free jazz, indie, experimental rock, soul - "Gosh!", I thought, "I've gotta check that out!!".

And check it out I did. The thing is, my first real exposure to TV On The Radio's music was "Wolf Like Me", a track included in a promotional CD in a local music magazine. "Gee, this rawks", I thought. Indeed, it does. But when actually checking out their albums and EPs, I was faced with a totally different musical reality. The immediacy of tracks like "Wolf Like Me", "Staring at the Sun", or even "New Health Rock" appeared to be totally anhilitated by most of their other production - tracks like "Satellite", "The Wrong Way", or "Playhouses". Here, gentlemen, is a band that can "rawk" you to death, but that seems to much rather "swing" you to ecstasy...

And this is the conundrum I find myself in, with TVOTR. I adore the eclectic, muscular feel of their debut EP, "Young Liars". I love their debut album, "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Chicks". I find myself overwhelmed by the baroque arrangements of that weird beast, their latest album, "Retutn to Cookie Mountain".

And, you know what? I am still unable to state, clearly, that I love TV On The Radio. I still find myself lost among their mood swings, their diverse facets, their different, and often colliding, capabilities.

This is especially true if we consider the (pardon me), "girlfriend test". Normally, I would stick on any other TVOTR album at home. If anything like "Satellite", or "The Wrong Way" pops up, my partner would go, "Oh! That's cool"... And I would be left wondering - where exactly are they aiming at? Is it the complex arrangement of their latter album, or the sheer intensity of their most accessible tracks? How come I always play TVOTR expecting an inmediate gratification, while the real best musical experiences come from listening carefully to their full albums (with headphones on, especially)?

The truth of the matter is that TVOTR in fact insist in not allowing their music to go in any single direction, something which you can sometimes notice even in the same track. And that must have a lot to do with the complex mood swings and mind-states of David Sitek and Co.

So, while I can't resolutely say I'm in love with TVOTR, I have to admit I'm extremely partial to them - and I hope I can check them out live at their gig next month in Madrid. Maybe experiencing live will make me understand exactly what it is that I love about them, and what it is that keeps me from admitting to it.

In the meantime, they keep cropping out in my playlist, as a strange, phantasmagorical presence. And I think the reaon I'm writing this post is that I've never felt the same about any other musician, ever.

So more power to them.