I think of Natalie Portman telling Zach Braff in the movie Garden State, as she hands over her headphones to the main character. As ultra-idealistic to borderline hoaky as that one line may sound for the too-cool-to-be-genuine hipster crew out there in Blog-land, that line happened to me. It was 2001 and I'm surfing (haven't heard that phrase for a few years) the web, and I happened upon a new band that just released their first LP on Hefty Records. I found Telefon Tel Aviv's title track "Fahrenheit Fair Enough" on some ancient new music blog-thing. It quickly engulfed me, and was overwhelmed by the intricacies of this melancholy lullaby. It literally moved me to tears. And yes, it did change my life: Changed my perspective about down tempo (that its not just fodder for hip-hop), it changed how I approach my own music and it radically encouraged me as to what electronic music could be and it's potential to emotionally move people. I was moved to tears again when I found out that Chris Cooper, one the the two guys behind the TTA sound, took his own life earlier this year. There needs to be a greater understanding for what the weight of genius mingled with fame and demand can do to someone's heart. After four albums these guys are still inspiring me and I hope they do the same for you.
This is perfect cold weather music, and i've been hibernating with my headphones. FFE is one of my favorite albums ever, and has not yet been far away in my playlists.
I would suggest you begin by purchasing their debut release Fahrenheit Fair Enough.
Here's the title track:
TTA_FFE
I happened upon this video project a kid produced for one of his classes. Using TTA's track FFE with clips from the video Baraka as the backdrop, the video fades through our perspectives of liberty and freedom with tenerness and conviction. Hope he got an A.
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