Related Articles

2 users responded in this post

Subscribe to this post comment rss or trackback url
User Gravatar
B16 said in Ottobre 30th, 2010 at 18:48

Con tutto il rispetto per Danger Mouse che mi piace molto in veste di produttore sarei stato curioso di vedere incrociare gli U2 con Sitek dei TV On The Radio, autore da poco di un album che mi piace molto Maximum Balloon. Di seguito una lista dei pezzi commentata dallo stesso Sitek, dal Guardian:

Track by track: Maximum Balloon – Dave Sitek

The TV On the Radio man talks us through his solo debut, which features enough collaborations to rival Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach

Dave Sitek maximum ballooon Inflation rate … Dave Sitek’s Maximum Balloon lifts off

TV On the Radio guitarist and Yeah Yeah Yeahs producer Dave Sitek never intended to make a solo record. However, once he started playing his elastic electro-funk workouts to enthused buddies during parties at his new LA studio, Sitek soon found himself with a sassy ensemble pop album to rival Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach. Maximum Balloon also contains David Byrne’s finest vocal performance in years. Here’s how it all came about, track by track.

Groove Me (featuring Theophilus London)

“Theophilus is a rapper and musician from Brooklyn. I got hired by his label to do some sessions with him and we hit it off really well. I played him some Maximum Balloon stuff and he was like, ‘I love that!’ so I said, ‘Well you can be on it!’ He just threw down some verses. His intuition is flawless – the guy can jump on anything. I don’t hear the Neptunes comparisons myself, but I definitely take them as a compliment.

It’s a little bit easier to make sex songs outside of the magnitude of TV On the Radio. I’m glad I was able to get visceral sex energy on to this record. If there was a way I could get barbecue on to a record too, I would. A scented record! Because food and sex … well, there you go. The immediacy of this record was liberating – there’s no shroud of secrecy behind the music. I want people to hear it when they’re in their cars, at a cheque-cashing place, making out with their girlfriend, wherever. Initially there was no intention for Maximum Balloon to be anything beyond my own selfish experiment so I was a little bit shocked that a major label wanted to put it out. But it was a release to be able to do whatever I wanted and not have to worry.”

Young Love (featuring Katrina Ford)

“Katrina is in the band Celebration and she’s sung on a bunch of TV On the Radio records too. To all intents and purposes, she’s my sister, so I drag her into almost everything I do. And, of course, I absolutely love her voice – it’s vdistinct and expansive – so I’m really lucky I can boss her around. We bully each other into shit all the time. In this case it was, ‘You made me eat eggplant, so I’m going to make you do this song’. We were hanging out at my studio in LA, cooking food, shooting BB guns and riding scooters, and the song evolved over a couple of days.

I moved to LA after my landlord in Brooklyn tripled my rent. I spent months looking for other places to move to in New York, then one day I was in California eating a grapefruit and I was like, ‘This is what they taste like?’ So I decided to move to LA and build a studio in my house. I’ve economised my whole operation – I got rid of the mixing board and I haven’t miked a guitar amp since the Bush administration. I just have a small space packed with synthesisers. Being in LA has definitely given me the opportunity to experience how my music sounds in real life because I can drive around and listen to the mixes, which I couldn’t do in New York. I get to feel how a song works in combination with a sunset and a drive through the mountains. That pushes me for more clarity, and to make music that sounds good with the windows down.”

Absence of Light (featuring Tunde Adebimpe)

“The first TV On the Radio album was basically just Tunde and I in our New York apartment, so it was fun to revisit those days. When the two of us are on the same frequency it works really easily. Our chemistry is reflected in this song, although with every year that goes by I get more and more pissed that I’m not him. For someone who never intended to be a singer, that guy kills it, man. He’s an instant classic-maker. You hear one of his songs and it feels like you’ve heard it your whole life. He’s got a superpower.”

If You Return (featuring Little Dragon)

“I’ve been friends with Little Dragon since they toured with TV On the Radio. They’re the sweetest people I know. They came to stay with me in LA during a break from their last tour, and they started twisting this song around. When Yukimi added her vocals it became this magical thing. Like the rest of the sessions on this record, it was an unplanned event. You know how when people start a band they’ve usually designed their T-shirts before their first practice? I still haven’t designed the Maximum Balloon T-shirt.”

Shakedown (featuring Kyp Malone)

“I remember the day I started this track. For some weird reason I woke up at 7am and the sun was coming up. I went into my studio and started messing around with all these horn sounds and crazy little guitar parts. Before long it became really intricate and complex. I thought, ‘Oh shit, I’m going to have to give this to Kyp because who the hell else can do this?’ And, man, did he reach for it.

The key change at the end comes from a time when Kyp and I stayed up all night at the Columbia Hotel in London getting drunk with an English guy who made a really convincing argument for the most important song in the history of music being Living On a Prayer by Bon Jovi. Ever since then we’ve been wanting to put a key change on a song. It’s hilarious: Kyp’s already in this high falsetto range and then he just steps up even higher. It’s a crazy vocal performance.”

Communion (featuring Karen O)

“Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the first band I produced that people outside my neighbourhood knew about. That’s when I really had to get my chops together because I knew they were amazing and I didn’t want to fuck it up. I love working with Karen – she’s one of the main reasons why I continue to try to push myself and stay creative. Also she’s like family and I can confide in her. Anyone who thinks Karen is just some crazy woman is wildly underestimating her talents. She is extremely complex. She’s nurturing and encouraging. When you hear a song such as Maps, her sincerity is audible – it sounds like she’s singing to you personally, which is astonishing. Every time I record her, I ask myself ‘How do I even know this person?’ This song is a victory because it has the best of both worlds – her gentle side and her hype side.”

Tiger (featuring Aku)

“This was the song that started the whole thing, the flame that burned the forest. I was in the studio waiting for something to upload so I just started making a beat, then I added bass and a guitar part and some crazy Parliament shit. Out of boredom I even added some vocals of my own. It started as a joke but I figured that if I could get Aku to sing on it he could make it a real thing, so I begged him to come to the studio and fix my vocal parts.

Aku is explosive. He’s an original. His band Dragons of Zynth bring a sense of magic and psychedelia that you don’t find much any more. The double entendre in the lyrics [“you let your tiger out”] was intentional, although we didn’t plan on it coming out during the whole Tiger Woods thing. It could be the best Nike commercial ever! Or the best condom commercial.”

The Lesson (featuring Holly Miranda)

“I first heard Holly singing in a hallway and insisted on recording a full-length record with her. She is the real deal. She’s constantly pushing herself. You can be like, ‘Hey, do a cover of a GG Allin song’ and the next day you’ll get the MP3 in your mailbox. She’s hilarious. Her vocals on The Lesson are so focused I was able to strip the music down around them while retaining a cinematic quality. I love this track, it’s a heavyweight.”

Apartment Wrestling (featuring David Byrne)

“I was playing some of the instrumental tracks to a mutual friend of ours. He was like, ‘Man, you know who’d kill this? David Byrne’. I was like, ‘Yeah right, and then I’ll get Jimi Hendrix to play guitar’. But he called David, who said he’d do it and then I crapped my pants … And then I changed my pants and we recorded the song. It’s amazing, David’s been a huge influence on not just me but everyone else on this record. When I first heard what he’d done it blew my mind. Then it blew my mind all over again two weeks later when I realised what the lyrics are about. The song is fucking twisted. There’s actually an old porno magazine from the 70s called Apartment Wrestling – it featured scantily-clad girls grappling and having pillow fights with each other. Pretty far out.”

Pink Bricks (featuring Ambrosia Parsley)

“Ambrosia sang for this band called Shivaree, and she’s married to one of my best friends. It’s always been in the back of my mind to use her on something because her voice just grips you. It makes you feel like you’re inside of some crazy movie. She can sing without any music and you’re like ‘What the hell?’ There was a lot of unmixing going on after I got the vocal tracks. I was able to take all my shit out and just let her voice hang there. That’s the sign of a great performance.”

Rispondi

User Gravatar
buzzandmusic said in Ottobre 31st, 2010 at 21:55

STAREMO A SENTIRE B16!!!!!!

Rispondi

Leave A Reply

 Username (Required)

 Email Address (Remains Private)

 Website (Optional)