Tv On The Radio
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

THE REVIEW

a trumpet
assorted noises
other wind instruments
a trembling voice
the drums enter, the rhythm grows, and the sound stew begins to take shape. This is how this CD begins.

But let's take a step back, to when, in search of musical inspiration, I read (and discover) the existence of this Manhattan trio. I immediately understand that they are special from the few things I learn about them: 2  Black members and one white, one of the three "dabbles in visual arts" (taken directly from the article), another is the producer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (and it reminds me of their "Maps", beautiful and hypnotic). I take a look at their website (www.tvontheradio.com) and see a picture of them: they are quite the characters.

Ok, I need to get this CD. And I end up getting it (ahem...).

So, how is it? Well, calling it original is an understatement! The singer's voice is very similar to Peter Gabriel's, here and there they use falsetto backing vocals, but it’s especially what I previously described as a stew that baffles: there's
new wave, blues, jazz, gospel, electronics. It’s incredible how everything can mix so well, but it does! Imagine a song ("Ambulance") sung entirely "a capella", like "Neri per caso", fitting perfectly between the electronics underlying "King Eternal" and the rock guitar of "Poppy".

But the masterpiece of the album is titled "Staring at the Sun": don't make easy jokes thinking of the similarly named syrupy U2 song, this one is dirty, ugly, and mean, in a good way, of course! Incidentally, it's also the only track that survived from the EP (titled "Young Liars") that preceded this album by a few months.

Is anyone still skeptical? Ok, I'll add that the record label is Touch & Go (where they have a knack for what's going to be successful) and that in the inspiring article, they were compared to Interpol.

To those in the know...