Tracklist:

1. Wolf Like Me
2. I Was A Lover
3. Province
4. Hours
5. Playhouses
6. Tonight
7. Dirty Whirlwind
8. A Method
9. Let The Devil In
10. Blues From Down Here
11. Wash The Day Away

After a flawless EP and an adventurous full length that received split opinions—some adored it, some were disappointed—TV On The Radio’s sophomore LP comes out of the gate strong with what is an amazing effort. The strength of this album is that while many of the tracks are genuinely amazing and keep the listener on the edge of their seat for what is next, no other band sounds anything like this, nor could they if they tried. TV On The Radio has produced an album that has soul and rhythm as well as musical beauty, all the while dancing between boundaries most other bands would be constrained by. This is a combination of musical talents not often paralleled.

The addition of members can be heard throughout this album and the songs benefit tremendously from that fact.

While TV On The Radio have already produced a number of amazing tracks in their brief career, the fifth (originally listed as the first) on this album should immediately stand out as one of their best. The pace never lets up on “Wolf Like Me” as the unmistakable dirge of David Andrew Sitek’s production is paralleled by Tunde Adebimpe’s voice, one of the best in music today. The quality of this track is raised by the complete drop and flawless return in tempo that occurs between the start and end of the 2-minute mark. In peak form creatively, this track finds TVOTR traveling all across the map, thereby setting the tone for the rest of the album.

A number of tracks veer far from typical TVOTR palette, but once you hear them you’ll surely wonder why you never thought of the band as capable of these sounds before. Amongst these ventures include the Prince-level funk of “I Was A Lover”, the Bowie-laden “Province” or the murky “Wolf Like Me,” which the band pulls off with a mighty grace that suggests there’s nothing they’re not capable of. While these songs do have hints of other artists, “I Was A Lover” and “Wolf Like Me” are so unique that it is hard to believe any other band coming up with them.

For all the new ground covered by the band, a number of tracks solidify the fact that TVOTR is a genre unto itself; tracks like “Tonight” and album highlight “Let The Devil In” employ choral doo-wop and even echoed clapping and whistling. The closing segment of this album is amazingly strong, and songs like “Blues From Here” show the value of keeping some soul and genuine emotion in your songs as gospel elements (in the vocal sense) add a lot to the general rock formula.

As the unforgettable album highlight “Let The Devil In” incessantly repeats “there is hardly a method you know.” Given the case of TV on the Radio, one is hard-pressed to find an argument to contradict that fact. This band, which continues to push the general constructs of their chosen genre while creating amazingly catchy songs, is one of the best in America. It seems the members enter the studio with no method in mind, yet they create rhythms and harmonies that work beautifully.

Trying to explain the sound of this band, much less this record, to anyone is a feat to be taken on by only the strongest of characters, but put this disc on and you’ll surely inspire a few new fans. They’ll be equally hard-pressed to explain it themselves, but they’ll love it just the same.

MP3 Samples
Snakes and Martyrs
Dirty Whirlwind
Let the Devil In

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 10:00 am and is filed under Record Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.