Track Listing

1. I Was A Lover
2. Hours
3. Province
4. Playhouses
5. Wolf Like Me
6. A Method
7. Let The Devil In
8. Dirty Whirl
9. Blues From Down Here
10. Tonight
11. Wash The Day Away
12. [ambient audio]
13. Snakes and Martyrs
14. Hours (El-P Remix)
15. Things You Can Do

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7303 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-12
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Their second album and first for Interscope is almost wholly brilliant. Like Mogwai, Sigur Ros and a dozen others, TVOTR excels at making slowly-evolving tunes with vaguely anthemic choruses and lots of loud-soft dynamics. Unlike virtually any of those other bands, TV on the Radio mix a genuine and actual songwriting ability with their knack for finding sounds that appear to be "new." This record is crisper-sounding and incorporates more dance-based elements, but it's essentially a pop album. While the lack of the free web-released "Dry Drunk Emperor, a tribute to President Bush, is initially a bummer, the album percolates with enough pre-apocalyptic tension to satisfy anyone. In a Prince-pitched falsetto, the group sings "I was a lover/ Before this war," While throughout, the combination of melody and invention is always pitch-perfect (well, except on "Province" and "Let the Devil In," those songs sort of suck.) People of Earth: please make this band into total superstars and buy several copies of their album: one for the car, another for the office, etc. What we really need in our popular music is more weirdness, and more truth. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Bowie meets Tv on The Radio
just as it is stated . Good sounds from Bowies finest students to date ... Keep it up ...

an aquired taste that's fully refreshing
TV On The Radio's Return to Cookie Mountian is the perfect blend of indie rock, pop sensibility, a bit of electronics and a whole lot of weirdness that truly, truly appeals to me.

First and foremost, these guys are terrible singers. However, they're excellent musicians and that's the appeal to me. It's refreshing they focus more so on crafting some of the most original and weirdly experimental music than on creating harmonious and palatable vocals. The sometimes grating vocals is another sonic layer to the overall sound. Bad singers in the indie rock arena isn't new. Heck, Tom Waits has been doing it for years with his grating offkey whiskey soaked cigarette damaged voice. So if you're expecting a Ben Gibbard or a David Bowie you will be disappointed. Although Bowie does lend his vocal talents on Province.

I Was A Lover, Hours and Wolf Like Me are some of the best tracks but the overall disc is awesome. It's very dark and creates a feeling of dread and sadness but in a good way. It reminds of a slight cross between My Bloody Valentine sonics, a.r.kane vocal stylings and cocteau twins Garland era rock sound. I love it and it's refreshing to see a primarily African-American band rock out in such a experimental and awesome way instead of resorting to mind numbing rap or r&b.

Certianly not for everyone.

And I do hate the gimmick of about ten 17 seconds long tracks of silence to separate the album from the extra tracks. It's pointless and frustrating. Just give me the music!

Worthy of all of its praise
It seems that a common belief to many is that most "indie" music is esoteric and hard to get into, especially if it is rooted in experimentation. But in the case of TVOTR's second LP, I'd say that it shows that bands could play the style and make it very commercial but not in a way that overshadows its creativity. It's already been well established that they aren't your average Joes, but on this release the band's ideas seem more fruitful and realized than previous.

This is living proof that even on a major label, they have incredible music. A lot of my favorites tend to be the ones that lean toward more the percussion and the vocal bits are pretty awesome. There's just really so much to this album that I am probably not going to do a good job of it. But these songs are all fairly catchy, and in its middle it may be the best part. "Wolf Like Me" and "A Method" for some reason happen to be my favorite songs on this album. The bass-heavy former is just so straight ahead and forceful that it's almost really impossible not to like. The former at one point sounds like it's about to end until more of the percussion sinks in. It also matches pretty much every quality to the album that I just mentioned.

And many of the tracks are pretty easy to get into, like the single "Hours" and several others. Maybe even the whole thing. Even in its slower more melancholic moments like "Tonight" it is a completely enthralling listen. It sounds like the songs were a lot of fun to make without being overly self-indulgent, and then the songs work in spades for that reason. I'm sure people will try to dispute the band's creativity but they are morons and I refuse to listen to them. Unless it's backed up with something valid, that is. The three "bonus" songs toward the end don't let down the album, either.

I recommend this to anyone who's tired of what's popular and wants a taste of something else. I'm sure plenty of those people already have and enjoy this work of genius. I think it'll be remembered as a great album of the decade, and I can only wonder where they'll go from here.