Turn the Radio Up

New York band, TV on the Radio, takes their act from a cramped Brooklyn loft to the stages of America

By Mitchell Peters

It all began in a small factory-converted Brooklyn loft.

Like many other New Yorkers, they were three young guys living together trying to make ends meet, each with their own unique artistic vision. It started with a few song ideas recorded on a four-track, and the next thing they knew, they were rock stars.

So what do you get when you put together a couple of painters, a music sampler, an NYU film school graduate, a cartoonist, keyboards, an afro and some other weird sounding instruments?

Throw in the guitar playing of Kyp Malone, some doo-wop style vocals, a few well-respected musicians with indie-cred to guest appear on your record and the result will be Brooklyn-based experimental rockers TV on the Radio.

With the follow-up to their successful Touch and Go Records EP “Young Liars,” TVOTR’s latest full-length release “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes” is being well-received amongst music critics and college radio.

“ The whole thing with our band is like we don’t have an allegiance or style,” said vocalist Tunde Adebimpe in an interview on Fresno State’s 90.7 KFSR-FM with DJ Bad Andy. “There’s not really a plan as far as music-making goes except to just keep playing and making something out of it, and figure it out later.”

The humble beginnings of the band started on the sidewalks of New York City where Adebimpe and multi-instrumentalist/producer David Andrew Sitek would sell paintings for extra cash. Their songwriting began almost accidentally when Adebimpe and Sitek exchanged a few song ideas they had been throwing around. The result of their brainstorming was a self-titled 24-track CD released by the label Brooklyn Milk and was distributed to a few friends and fans.

Since then, the band has recorded and played shows with fellow New York sensations Nick Zinner and Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Aaron Hemphill of the Liars.

Their latest nine-song release begins where the “Young Liars” EP left off – beautifully harmonized vocals, mysterious electronic sounds, and bittersweet lyrics. While listening, one can almost be put into a relaxing hypnotic state.

“ It was a really grueling experience,” Adebimpe said.

After being evicted from their last recording space, TVOTR recorded the atmospheric “Desperate Youth” in a studio Sitek built in New Jersey and finished in another studio located in Brooklyn where the band could be closer to home.

With a definite East Coast vibe, the band enjoys an eclectic taste of musical genres.

Their influences range from the likes of the one-man-band Jandek to the lo-fi psych-pop band The Microphones. While often being compared to the Talking Heads the and vocal stylings of Peter Gabriel, TVOTR like to keep their musical options open.

“ We listen to everything,” Adebimpe said. “The (tour) van is like this moving library of like the most ridiculous, meaningless, collection of music you’ll ever find in one place.”

After listening to their music on CD, the next question is: what do they sound like live?

Taking this question into consideration, TVOTR is one step ahead of their curious audience. After beginning their current tour with only three people on stage, the band increased the number to five in order to get a wider range.

“ It’s a more rock sound. It’s definitely more activated than a lot of aspects of the album,” Adebimpe said. “The performance is purposefully different than the albums, but not too different.”

When the band isn’t in the studio or on the road touring, they’re usually producing records for other bands or in the animation studio making a few extra bucks. Sitek produced the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Machine” EP and also their latest record “Fever to Tell,” while Adebimpe created the stop-motion animation video “Pin” for the YYYs.

With a relaxed attitude toward their soothingly eerie music, TVOTR has just finished dates in Canada and is now touring the U.S. The band is scheduled to play a few California dates at the end of April.