TV On The Radio
Mar 21, 2011
TV On The Radio, the experimental Brooklyn indie rock band will release their latest album, 'Nine Types of Light' on April 12th via Interscope Records. It will be their first release since 2008's 'Dear Science. The first single "Will Do" impacts Alternative on March 22nd and has an understated confidence as it bounces forward with an easy, soulful sway.
TV on the Radio is composed of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals/loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars/keyboards/loops), Kyp Malone (vocals/guitars/bass/loops) along with Jaleel Bunton (drums/vocals/loops/guitars), and Gerard Smith (bass/keyboards).
Smith was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and will be absent from the band's Spring tour while undergoing treatment.
A statement on the band's website reads, "Upon the completion of Nine Types Of Light, Gerard was diagnosed with lung cancer. As a result, he has been undergoing treatment and will be unable to participate in the upcoming tour. Gerard is fortunate enough to have health insurance and is receiving excellent medical care. Already we have seen dramatic results. Combine that with Gerard's legendarily willful disposition and it might just be cancer that has the problem. We appreciate your concern and support for Gerard and his family."
To celebrate the release of their fifth studio album, TV On The Radio will play two great stages that week: the band headlines Radio City Music Hall on April 13th, followed by an April 14th appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. The band will also support the release by embarking on a spring tour of North America. Set to launch April 8th in Philadelphia, the trek will then see the Brooklyn-based outfit travel up the east coast and into Canada before turning west.
TV On The Radio's loose approach to songwriting, recording and performing leaves an incredible amount of room for instrument-swapping and role reversals. Rather than rely on a stringent and stale guitars/bass/drums/vocals setup, the quintet often brings home-demoed sketches to the studio along with the attitude that a track needs to go through everyone's filter before it becomes a fully formed song.
"Music is the most flexible medium in the world for me," explains Sitek, the beat conductor responsible for distilling the band's tracks down to a living, breathing composition that's never cloying or cumbersome. "There is no shortage of ideas; the hard part is not following each whim."
And that's ultimately what TV On The Radio still hopes to do with its music, they're still looking to connect, to make people feel something, anything no matter how up or down a song's arrangement is.
"I grew up listening to Joy Division, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Cure, the Smiths and the Swans," says Malone. "Some of that qualifies as 'goth' but it didn't make me depressed to listen to that music and it didn't add to my 'angst'. I simply identitfied with something in the music. It made me feel less alone, you know?" If I could be that for someone else, that would make me happy. It'd be a real form of success for me."
Upcoming U.S. Tour Dates:
- 04/08 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
- 04/09 - Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theatre
- 04/10 - Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live
- 04/13 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
- 04/16 - Boston, MA @ House of Blues
- 04/17 - Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
- 04/18 - Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
- 04/20 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew Hall
- 04/23 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
- 04/24 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
- 04/26 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
- 05/02 - San Diego, CA @ 4th and B