It’s TV on the Radio producer and musician David Sitek’s solo project Maximum Balloon and I’m listening to the most recently released track, “Groove Me” on a loop. What a way to live. I realize that, when inspired by music, I find myself thinking of LA’s freeways. You ever watch people roller skate to music? How happy and in the groove they are? That’s what this song is doing to me. Dancing is great, but in order to fully realize a beat as gorgeous as this, I think being on wheels would be best. If you cannot dance, if you cannot move, sometimes going for a drive is the thing. The swoop of an on-ramp, the tricky smooth transition to the fast lane: these are things that can emulate music. I am also beginning to think that certain keys and chords can actually induce happiness because I was in a bad mood half an hour ago. In the way discordant tones can cause visceral discomfort, I’d say “Groove Me” (featuring Theophilus London in one of Maximum Balloon’s many collaborations – see also Karen O, David Byrne and Tunde Adebimpe, among others) is an example of something completely concordant. It’s so good; each note hits me with a little ping of joy.
Previously released Maximum Balloon: “Tiger”: bouncy with a background kink.
Maximum Balloon¹s eponymous debut album drops August 24 with new tracks being intermittently released in these weeks prior.
-Serena Hedison
