Return to Cookie Mountain – T.V. on the Radio

        Today I’m reviewing T.V. on the Radio’s Return to Cookie Mountain.  This is a fairly recent work (2006), especially by my standards.  I decided to listen to their sophomore album not only because of its positive reviews, but because of my tendency to not listen to current music.  In my effort to expand my listening horizon, here is what I discovered…


        Track one stars out with an electric drum machine.  From there, the sounds become both unique and unexpected.  Indeed it is difficult, at least at this point, to classify the band’s sound.  The second track, Hours, continues their propensity for experimentation with different sounds.  I have a hard time believing that this band is very radio friendly, which is probably why they haven’t attracted more of a public buzz.  Next is a song called Province.  Like the two tracks before it, the sound of this track is distinctly different.  I am intrigued by the variety that I have heard so far, but realize that this album will take me many listens before I can truly appreciate it (assuming that there is something there to be appreciated).  Track four is Playhouses.  This is my least favorite so far, primarily because of its repetitive nature.  Also, it seems to have a sound that is quite unsettling by nature.  Following that is a song titled Wolf Like Me.  This is most likely one of the album’s singles as it is one of the more accessible tracks.  While the song itself is just okay, I do like the transition that leads into it from the previous track.  Track six is called A Method.  The song starts off with a creepy whistle and builds from there.  The overall sound of this track was not as ‘loud’ as the others so far on the album.  In fact, throughout most of the piece, the texture consists of nothing but layered, polyphonic vocals and percussion.  Of course, given my background, this is one of my favorite tracks!  


        Song number seven sees the band returning to a more raucous sound.  The only drawback to this style (not just with this band, but in general) is that it makes the lyrics almost intelligible.  This can be frustrating to someone like me who is almost as interested in the words as the music.  Song eight, Dirtywhirl, has the band once again using layered vocals.  This is an excellent technique and I’m grateful for them using it as it is employed far to seldom in modern rock music.  Track nine, Blues from Down Here, provides a prime example of what I consider to be one of this bands chief drawbacks.  While the music itself is good, the vocals in the foreground (at least for me personally) leave much to be desired.  As a result, it becomes difficult to truly appreciate this band as listening to them can be a challenge.  I realize that I write this when two of my favorite bands are fronted by vocalists that are pleasing to only a specific audience.  I feel that the primary difference however, is that the bands make up for the lack of their vocal “perfection” with music and lyrics that are not only authentic and genuine, but carry emotional weight as well.  Next on the album is Tonight.  This rhythm driven track is by far, the longest song up to this point, on the album.  I thoroughly enjoy this one from the wind chime intro through the build up of the multilayered climax.  The final song on the album is titled Wash the Day Away.  This is perhaps the hardest sounding song on the album complete with heavy percussion and distorted guitars.  Again I wish that I could appreciate the vocals better.  Still what the band lacks in vocal talent, they nearly make up for in the rest of their sound.  At one point the piece almost sounds like purely orchestrated chaos.  An oxymoron to be sure, but really the only way to describe it.  As the piece nears the end, the guitars and percussion continue a especially slow fade out almost as if they are struggling to hang on.  Finally, the track completely dwindles away leaving the listener to contemplate what, exactly, they have just heard.


        Is this album genius?  Complete crap?  I don’t entirely know to be honest.  It’s hard to tell exactly with an album like this one.  This ambiguity is one of the most intriguing things about it.  The greatest albums are never fully appreciated with in a week of the first listen.  That doesn’t mean that every album that isn’t immediately catchy is pure genius either.  With Return to Cookie Mountain, T.V. on the Radio have, if nothing else, provided the listener with something to think about.  The tracks vary in their style and the band has a unique sound, both of which are positive things.  I don’t yet know if I will love this album one day or if I will rant at how highly overrated the critics seem to find it.  And that is precisely what makes it, at the very least, a decent album.     

That Lucky Old Sun

Since he’s been doing a couple of recent sessions at the studio I work at, I decided to listen to a Brian Wilson album.  I wanted to do a more recent one however and decided on 2008’s That Lucky Old Sun.  The work (I would go as far as to say concept album) revolves around life in southern California, particularly Los Angeles.  This is not surprising given the fact that Wilson grew up and has spent his entire life here.  I wanted to see if this album lived up to it’s fairly positive reviews.  Has Brian Wilson recovered enough from years of drug abuse and mental illness to be able to put something decent together?  Does he really have a few good songs left?  I was going to find out.  

Track one is the title track.  Immediately the listener is greeted by layered vocal harmonies that sound like they’re right off of a Beach Boys album (surprise, surprise!).  As Wilson starts to sing however, his vocals sound almost jarring.  He sounds not like a youthful teenager singing about fun in the sun, but an old man conspicuously out of place.  This awkward dichotomy continues through the next track.  The music sounds like a boogie woogie straight of a Beach Boys record.  Unfortunately, it isn’t the sixties anymore.  Times, and musical tastes for that matter, have changed significantly.  It’s hard to keep the attention of a significant audience or write material that is interesting if it all still sounds like it’s completely from the early sixties.  Most people (even the older ones) have moved on through a darker era of disillusionment in the seventies (Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath) all the way through the post grunge movement of the nineties (Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead).  The third track is the first of several narratives, which appear throughout the album.  The interludes are written by lyricist Van Dyke Parks and spoken by Wilson.  While I appreciate the underlying concept in terms of cohesiveness for the concept album, Wilson comes off as awkward, his rendition akin to a poor impersonation of Burl Ives narrating Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  Following that is a Randy Newman-type number titled Good Kind of Love.  I found this song to be irresistible primarily due it’s feel good nature. Next is a piece titled Forever She’ll Be My Surfer Girl.  At this point, I couldn’t entirely shake the feeling of bittersweet nostalgia that seems to permeate the entire album.  Wilson comes off as the type of guy you might find at a bar.  He can’t help but talk only of the glory days, which are years behind him.  I found this thought to actually be quite depressing.  Following a spoken track about Venice Beach, is a song called Live Let Live which is beautifully orchestrated.  I should mention here that all of the songs lead right into each other to the point where track endings and beginnings can become difficult to discern.  I love this effect as it truly makes the work feel like on whole, cohesive piece.  This is, in essence, what a concept album is with tracks merely acting as movements of a larger work.  Next, is a song called Mexican Girl.  As one might imagine, it’s a piece describing the love the protagonist has for a Mexican woman complete with authentic instrumentation and stylistic hand clapping.  Continuing this theme, the following narration involves Cinco de Mayo. 

 Track one is the title track.  Immediately the listener is greeted by layered vocal harmonies that sound like they’re right off of a Beach Boys album (surprise, surprise!).  As Wilson starts to sing however, his vocals sound almost jarring.  He sounds not like a youthful teenager singing about fun in the sun, but an old man conspicuously out of place.  This awkward dichotomy continues through the next track.  The music sounds like a boogie woogie straight of a Beach Boys record.  Unfortunately, it isn’t the sixties anymore.  Times, and musical tastes for that matter, have changed significantly.  It’s hard to keep the attention of a significant audience or write material that is interesting if it all still sounds like it’s completely from the early sixties.  Most people (even the older ones) have moved on through a darker era of disillusionment in the seventies (Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath) all the way through the post grunge movement of the nineties (Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead).  The third track is the first of several narratives, which appear throughout the album.  The interludes are written by lyricist Van Dyke Parks and spoken by Wilson.  While I appreciate the underlying concept in terms of cohesiveness for the concept album, Wilson comes off as awkward, his rendition akin to a poor impersonation of Burl Ives narrating Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  Following that is a Randy Newman-type number titled Good Kind of Love.  I found this song to be irresistible primarily due it’s feel good nature. Next is a piece titled Forever She’ll Be My Surfer Girl.  At this point, I couldn’t entirely shake the feeling of bittersweet nostalgia that seems to permeate the entire album.  Wilson comes off as the type of guy you might find at a bar.  He can’t help but talk only of the glory days, which are years behind him.  I found this thought to actually be quite depressing.  Following a spoken track about Venice Beach, is a song called Live Let Live which is beautifully orchestrated.  I should mention here that all of the songs lead right into each other to the point where track endings and beginnings can become difficult to discern.  I love this effect as it truly makes the work feel like on whole, cohesive piece.  This is, in essence, what a concept album is with tracks merely acting as movements of a larger work.  Next, is a song called Mexican Girl.  As one might imagine, it’s a piece describing the love the protagonist has for a Mexican woman complete with authentic instrumentation and stylistic hand clapping.  Continuing this theme, the following narration involves Cinco de Mayo. 

My feelings towards this album are actually quite mixed.  It tends to be tragically nostalgic while offering nothing new or innovative either musically or lyrically.  That being said, it does have a few songs, which are not only decently written but well produced.  In addition, when I think back to all of the Beach Boys’ work, none of it was particularly earth shattering.  What they were known for is making well-crafted pop songs.  To this end, that is mostly what this album is.  The problem is, Wilson seems stuck on constantly revisiting the past.  To quote my one friend “It’s like he never left the beach”.  Part of what makes a musical group or artist interesting is their ability to evolve and develop their sound.  Sometimes this takes place over a shorter period of time than others but it always occurs in a highly regarded artist’s career.  Unfortunately, Brian seems stuck more than forty years in the past.  Nevertheless, within the style that he’s trapped, he proves that at sixty-five years old and after years of drug abuse and mental anguish, he still has a few good songs left in him.                                        

Modern Guilt

Album number nine is Beck’s Modern Guilt from 2008.  I had heard good reviews for this album, Beck’s eleventh, so I decided to give it a listen.  The first track starts off with a deep, pulsing beat, which soon gives way to a sound that is quite retro in nature.  This 60’s throwback theme continues throughout the song, reminding me of a summer day from yesteryear.  Titled Orphans, it provides a decent start to the album.  The next song, Gamma Ray, continues in this retro vein.  Like with Brian Wilson, Beck’s Los Angeles roots can be easily heard, shining through the music.  While track three sounds like it’s from an earlier era as well, it has a slower, more experimental feel making it my favorite on the album so far.  The fourth song is the title track.  While it’s the first to predominantly sound like it’s from a more modern era, I found it to be quite simple and uninteresting.  The next song, Youthless, continues this trend.  It sounds like the kind of song played in an H&M store.  Fashionable, sleek production, and little substance. 

            The second half of the album starts off with a song titled Walls.  While I’m not sure that I like the track, I can at least commend Beck on his choice of diversity.  Next, is Replica.  It is here where Danger Mouse’s production style is most evident.  The intro sounds pretty bland and homogonous however towards the end, the track becomes more interesting (particularly as the Beatlesque string line enters in).  Following that is a song titled Soul of a Man.  While the track is funkier (apropos of it’s title), Beck doesn’t evolve or develop the initial groove and as a result it fails to go anywhere.  Track nine is Profanity Prayers.  I actually liked this track better then the last several songs.  It’s distorted guitars sound reminiscent of Radiohead and there is some more experimentation towards the end of the track (two things I’m a sucker for).  The final number on the album is Volcano.  I liked this one as well.  Like most songs on the album, Beck ends this one abruptly leaving the work just short of 34 minutes.  I found this to be surprisingly short for a modern rock album (especially for Beck!).  Unfortunately, despite his one two punch at the end of the album, Beck fails to deliver a set of material worthy of much praise.  In the end (literally), the few decent tracks do not justify buying an entire album filled with mediocrity.