Experimentation, curiosity, and intention are the chromosomes that make up the band’s DNA. Along with a little alchemy, they’ve created one of the most original bands in America. From the beginning, TV On The Radio has always been difficult to categorize. Their eclecticism was intentional. A band of contradictions, their music sounds both boundless and intimate, and their songs illustrate courage and fear at once. That tension is at the heart of who TV On The Radio are, even as they’ve changed their sound over the course of five albums. Initially, the notion of a mostly black indie rock band was a novelty. But TVOTR’s identity drives them to make music, continuing the legacy of bands like Bad Brains, Death, and Funkadelic.
TV On The Radio began in 2001 as an unlikely project between vocalist Tunde Adebimpe and multi-instrumentalist Dave Sitek, who both lived in the same New York City apartment building. After discovering a shared love of musical experimentation, they created an 18-song demo, circulating it in Brooklyn coffeehouses and clubs. The title, “OK Calculator,” was a tongue-in-cheek nod to Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” but it foreshadowed the energy that would years later prompt critics to call them “the American Radiohead.” Before releasing their official debut, the band added Kyp Malone, who brought both a wild and delicate guitar style to the band, with a voice that sounded dreamlike. Their first full-length album found TV On The Radio grappling with sounds, themes, and perspectives that seemed heavier than those of their New York scene peers. The critically acclaimed Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes (2004) captured the dystopian din of post-9/11 America, giving voice to a general sense of unease. The band was joined by two new members: Gerard Smith (on keyboards and bass) and Jaleel Bunton (on drums). The breakthrough for the band was the next album “Return To Cookie Mountain” (2006), which brought the big hit “Wolf Like Me”. The influential Pitchfork rated the album 9.1, and the album hit the top of the yearly summaries. In 2008, TVOTR returned with a triumphant third album, “Dear Science”, which gained even greater acclaim. TVOTR continues the path, where each album was a bigger breakthrough than the previous one. In 2011, before the release of the fourth album “Nine Types of Light”, keyboardist and bassist Gerard Smith died. It was a deep loss for the close-knit band and really meant the end of a certain chapter in its history. Then drummer Jahphet “Roofeeo” Landis joined the band, and Jaleel moved to keyboards. The band’s last album, Seeds, was released in 2014. Over the next decade, each member of TVOTR has explored creative side projects, from studio to screen. Now, they’re back in the next phase of what has been an incredible story. This chapter centers around Tunde, Kyp, and Jaleel. From the very beginning, TV On The Radio has been on its own wavelength, heading into the unknown.
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