TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light (Will Do)

Well I’m not too good at keeping my word on here. Everything below I wrote on Sunday afternoon, before the rain came...no editing necessary but some preface is decent, ha.

Energy is one thing but lack of drive is another. I’m not entirely sure where my head and heart are at the moment. But haha, this blog needs more writing if it’s gonna sustain much more.

2011 is long over. Like a week ago over. It feels like a shift in time, into a further progression. As in, the last year was a challenging and rewarding one, here’s to making the new one even better.

This album has to be one of my personal faves at the moment. It’s adoring with touches of art rock in the best possible way: genuine, melodic and all-around exceptional. I remember digging TV on the Radio back in the day (’04) but it’s been a love affair with them ever since. This new one is one of my favorites because of the love theme of course but how it’s all so earnest and endearing, instead of boring. It’s intelligent rock music with modes of pop, electronic and jazz and more. Such an awesome album. Hopefully more to come soon. It has started to rain here.

The most immediate thing I remember about “Will Do” is the beat-driven pulse of the music. It lulls you in with its pensive feel and then the atmosphere clashes for a chugging, charming love song about how anytime will do. It’s true that I used to be a sucker for love songs and it’s true I haven’t found some as beautiful as the ones on Nine Types of Light. Maybe it’s that they’re all bunched together in a different format for ten stunning styles of awesome music (probably) or that I just might be getting that loving feeling back in my soft… blah blah. Either way, when Tunde Adebimpe sings “how your fire grows Hermosa caldera, glistening” before it all washes away into a repetitive drive of “anytime will do…my love…” always leaves me with goose bumps. Well, more so suddenly than always but I’m glad this album was in my top 20 because it’s really amazing. This song being just one slice example. – Bryan