TV on the Radiohead

I'm sorry to disappoint, but this post is not a mash up. Or maybe it is of sorts, a mash up of feelings and thoughts, this and that, and all the pertains to life in our modern society. The intersection of music and what generates stronger feelings in our selves is the mash up in which I speak. The other day i found myself at such a fork in the road except this was no road, it was a a tube, a series of tubes. Certainly it should have occurred to you it is not the tubes themselves which so impressed me as much as what I found there. An album, a bootleg album.

TV on the Radio's Ok Calculator is truly a stunning record. The manifesto of a band with no disc burner, the child of an bootleggers, the father of a band. In the bastardization of what we call a society, the pace of life has become to fast, we do not simply enjoy or partake, but we indulge. Never appreciating our $5 mocha, but just consuming, depleting, destroying. Disposable is our culture just as our lives and who can really be bothered to listen to albums anymore. Well certainly not I. I guess you could say I've never actually listened to Ok Calculator, or any other TvotR album, but that is hardly a situation that will prevent me from commenting on them.

What tells us that TvotR had struck gold with Ok Calculator is that it is not just a mere album but a tribute, a tribute amoung tributes, a tribute to the tribute, a tribute to Radiohead. Hardly is a group lucky enough to be worthy of tributing such a band; TvotR's Ok Calculator proves this point. Symbolism has embedded itself in our psyches and we shall embrace it. The Calculator, a humble machine of computing, is TvotR's way of humbling themselves to Radiohead. When we think of the simplicity of a calculator compared to the greatness of the computer ( referring to Radiohead's Ok Computer you simpleton) is outstanding. Computers are every where, we are both in front of a computer at this very moment, yet our calculators have been shunned to the dark drawers and the compact pouches of our satchels. The computer has the power of a calculator many several times over and so does its importance. In fact, it is the same as comparing TvotR or any band for that matter to Radiohead and it is this acknowledgment that informs TvotR's listeners that in their ineptitude, they are worthy and have created something brilliant.

It is only a shame that the band has taken such a down turn since the semi-formal release of Ok Calculator. Their sophomore attempt Journey to Cookie Mound seemingly does not even have a Radiohead reference in it. Could it be referring to Thom Yorke's struggle to release his second album, The Bends, with the knowledge that the public will only pervert his genius into another one song pony of an album? I doubt it. And there most recent release Dear Science? Who do they think they are? It seems as though they are going about writing a love letter to the very root of the mainstream media. Is it not science that has delivered us the auto pitch voice correction box and the studio magic that is the bane of decency in a modern studio? Maybe Dear Science was simply meant to recreate the satire in Radiohead's Ok Computer. At any rate, who do they think they are, Radiohead?

Final word
Ok Calculator:7.8
Who Stole the Cookie Mountain: 5
Dear Science: 4.5
Ok Computer: 10