I don't usually condone going out and paying outrageous import prices for albums that will eventually be released domestically, but I have to say you should make an exception for TV On The Radio's sophomore release Return To Cookie Mountain. After finding out that these Brooklyn-ites and winners of the 2004 Shortlist award for best album for their Desperate Youth & Bloodthursty Babes wouldn't get around to releasing their CD in the U.S. until mid-September, I rushed right out and bought the European release that came out at the beginning of July. To put it simply, I'm ecstatic that I did. Bands that strive for this kind of ingenius originality don't come around all that often. I still remember the first time I heard their debut EP Young Liars, I thought I was listening to a band from another realm and not of this world. I mean, how many other bands out there would have the guts to do a slowed down doo-wop version of The Pixies' "Mr. Grieves" with no instruments to help them along besides their voices?

Return To Cookie Mountain finds TV On The Radio moving from independent Touch & Go to major label Interscope, but don't fret hipster Indie kids, this band did not sell out their integrity for the all mighty dollar. In all actuality, this band has finely tuned their rock sensibilities and production style to create something that is seemingly other-worldly, but still easy for the ears to cotton to. Credit this to lead guitarist and producer Dave Sitek, who may just be the brightest beacon of originality in this decade in any genre. Every blip, every drum loop, every guitar lick, every vocal harmony and horn arrangement all seem to be perfectly sequenced, but there's so much going on that it's pretty difficult to appreciate all of it without multiple listens. Headphones the size of cantaloupe were meant for albums like Return To Cookie Mountain.

Vocalists Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone still harmonize just as good or better than anyone in music right now. Sounding somewhat like early Peter Gabriel, they coo together so fine that sometimes the guitars and such are alomst lost in the background; I'm just too focused into listening to how fucking amazing the two of them sound. "I Was A Lover" may be the best opening track from an album in a while and "Wolf Like Me" will certainly challenge for the best all out Rock tune this year. Tracks like "Province" (which features David Bowie on harmonies) and "A Method" though are probably the best representation of what this band does best. The vocals are so sincere and emotionally charged; I dare anyone to say that another band does it better. With all the out and out praise, it may come as a shock that Return To Cookie Mountain didn't receive my first handout of a five this year. To be honest, there is actually a few songs here that I didn't care for at the end of the day. But I will say this much, at least TV On The Radio take chances and it always feels like they're trying to create something new. That garners more respect from me than anything in this watered-down copycat music world we find ourselves wallowing amid in the 21st Century. Even with the few tracks that didn't work for me, Return To Cookie Mountain will certainly land very high on my own personal best-of list of 2006.