TV On The Radio video - Mercy

With the new videos for "Mercy" and "Million Miles," you'd figure we'd here something concrete on a new album from TV On The Radio. While it's pretty evident that the band will be releasing a new LP on guitarist Dave Sitek's Federal Prism imprint pretty soon, there hasn't been much in the way of total confirmation. Until then, watch the brand new stop-motion animated video for "Mercy" from director Dawn Garcia.

TV On The Radio - Millions

After releasing "Mercy," the first new single from TV On The Radio since the Brooklyn band's 2011 LP Nine Types Of Light, the band is back again with a brand new song/video for "Millions."

The track serves as a bright contrast to the frenetic "Mercy," offering a more sedated ballad that doesn't come up short. The video starts as garden show, serving as an ironic post for what garden shows tend to do - ignore the actual plights of the environment. Eventually it evolves into something of a statement of preservation and resilience. Watch below.

FYF Fest reveals 2013 lineup

One of the country's more continually underrated music festivals, FYF Fest, has announced the stellar 2013 lineup - marking the event's 10th anniversary.

Leading the way are the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio, My Bloody Valentine, and MGMT, with a strong line of notable mid-tier and undercard inclusions. Included are: Deerhunter, The Breeders, Death Grips, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Dan Deacon, Nosaj Thing, METZ, Yo La Tengo, Washed Out, Les Savy Fav, Shlohmo, Kurt Vile, and plenty more (plus comedians).

Click the poster above to see the full lineup, as of today. Passes for the two day event, which takes place August 24-25 at the L.A. State Historic Park in Los Angeles, start at a reasonable $99. Sales will begin at 12 p.m. pst, Thursday, May 16. Single day tickets will be available at the same time for $65.

New El-P video - Stay Down

The video prequel to El-P's "Full Retard" is basically a three-minute plus jab at MTV's ravenous pop culture. El-P raps his newest single "Stay Down" to a frustrated and furiously disinterested crowd while TV On The Radio's Jaleel Bunton (who sings the chorus on the track) plays the role of pop icon. In the end, the fans get the better of the situation, exercising their passion on Mr. Killums (the puppet you'll recognize) before El-P can save him. Check it out below.

Lollapalooza Chile 2012 lineup announced

It's been over three months since the 20th annual Lollapalooza commenced and the Perry Farrell brand continues its new tradition of expansion. Last April, the festival launched it's first non-Chicago venue since its mid-2000s hiatus in Santiago, Chile, and luckily enough is making its way back.

Lollapalooza Chile 2011 saw previous Lolla performers Kanye West, Jane's Addiction, and The Killers headline alongside acts like The National and Flaming Lips. And while those acts have performed at multiple Lolla's in recent past, of the 57 artists who performed there last year, only four were also found on the next Chicago billing (roughly .07 percent turnover rate). So those looking for early clues to the August 3-5 lineup may not find much.

Regardless, the 2012 lineup was released just a few moments ago, and the model is similar to last year. Several artists from the last Chicago event are on the billing, including; headlining act Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Cage The Elephant, Skrillex and more. Alongside Dave Grohl and Co., Bjork will be Santiago's other headliner, marking the very first Lolla-anything that Bjork will be performing. If that's worth any clue, you can expect her to make the billing on at least one other major concert festival next summer.

You can read the entire lineup and look for tickets here.

New TV on the Radio video - Second Song

It's been a while since TV on the Radio have put anything new from their March studio album Nine Types of Light out, with the group's rigorous tour schedule and tragedy. But a few days ago the group released their newest video for "Second Song," which is at the very least another video gem in the band's catalog. It may not be the best song from the album, but the video's worth something on its own.

TV on the Radio - Second Song

Wednesday Bears: TV on the Radio, Death Cab, and Strokes do late night

Last night, TV on the Radio, Death Cab, and The Strokes all made another stop in the ongoing series of their rampant late-night performances.

TV on the Radio, making their first national television appearance since the death of bassist Gerard Smith - a noticeable absence - in late April, performed "Will Do," one of Nine Types of Light's lighter selections on The Tonight Show.

TV on the Radio - Will Do (Live on Leno)



Over at Fallon, Death Cab performed one of the newer singles from Codes and Keys, "You Are a Tourist," as well as a special bonus rendition of "Title Track" from 2000's We Have the Fact and We're Voting Yes.

Death Cab for Cutie - You Are a Tourist (Live on Fallon)



Death Cab for Cutie - Title Track (Web Exclusive on Fallon)



Not to be outdone, The Strokes played the same songs they've been doing from Angles for a few months now on Later ... With Jools Holland. Can you guess what they are?

The Strokes - Under Cover of Darkness (Live on Jools Holland)



The Strokes - Taken for a Fool (Live on Jools Holland)

Thursday Bears: New TV on the Radio - Caffeinated Consciousness

One week after it was announced that TV on the Radio were one of the headliners at this year's Pitchfork Music Festival, the band released their upcoming album's second track "Caffeinated Consciousness."

So far, the more we've heard from Nine Types of Light (set for release April 12), the better and better it seems to get. You can download the track below the stream simply by entering your e-mail address and date of birth.

TV On The Radio - Caffeinated Consciousness by Bears and Bullets

Friday Bears: Pitchfork Music Festival lineup released, Lollapalooza rumors

Earlier today, Pitchfork announced the first official part of their annual Chicago music festival lineup (there are usually add-ons later). Filling out the top of the billing are Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, and TV on the Radio, with a slew of quality undercard performers, such as: Deerhunter, Destroyer, Cut Copy, and James Blake, among others. You can check out the full official lineup and schedule here.

What this all means, for those who may not follow regularly, is that any artist that plays the Pitchfork Music Festival cannot perform at Lollapalooza - per the festival's radius clause. And as a regular, I'm okay with this. TV on the Radio, Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes and Cut Copy, the festival's bigger names, all played Lollapalooza in the past two years. This opens up more room for artists that may not be considered regulars.

In related news, Titus Andronicus are now expected to perform at Lollapalooza per Consequence of Sound.

Pitchfork Music Festival will take place July 15-17. Tickets are now on sale.

New TV on the Radio - Will Do

A day after TV on the Radio released their updated spring and summer tour dates to prep the release of their upcoming album Nine Types of Light, the band released the album's first single "Will Do." Listeners should be relieved and excited, cause it totally sounds all TV on the Radio-ey.

TV on the Radio - Will Do

Bears and Bullets Top Ten Albums of the Decade - Dear Science

#9: Dear Science - TV On The Radio

Dear Science took TV On The Radio to place that struck people familiar at first, but was platooned beneath an expansive exterior. Many people look at 2006's awe-inspiring Return to Cookie Mountain as the band's crowning achievement for the decade, citing its biting experimentalist nature, tight production and white-knuckle ideals. All well and good, of course, as Return to Cookie Mountain is the direct link to Dear Science. The elements (as with the band's 2004 release Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes) are all apparent -- fuzzy bass-lines, political touches, pounding percussion, electro-fusion blends and funky interludes -- but for the first time the band achievement, without much question, an accessible pop presence that shadows over the band's previous work.

The albums opening tracks, "Halfway Home," "Crying" and "Dancing Choose" are as big and boisterous as the Brooklyn band has ever sounded. Dave Sitek's pristine production and minimal progressions are fuel behind Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone's wrenching and reeling harmonies. Still, behind the glorious sounds, Adebimpe and Malone have found a profound comfort zone. For all of Return to Cookie Mountain's glory, several of the tracks are admittingly polarizing and rigid. Many of the songs surpassed six minutes a piece, and much of those six minutes were, as experimenting goes, a tad jolty. With Dear Science the band rid of most of those awkward fringes and created a body of work that still borders on primal and beautiful.

But it's the album's most fragile moments, "Family Tree" and "Love Dog," that echo stronger than the bands previous work. Never has the band felt or sounded more solemn than in "Family Tree," accompanied by a string section and a dark, dissonant bleakness that plays like a star fading out on the horizon. In "Love Dog," Adebimpe's tale of loneliness and desperation, sounds almost heroic, but never lets the listener go. The rest of album, in many ways, has the same feeling.

TV On The Radio - Love Dog (Live at Le Live De La Sema)

#10: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon

Lollapalooza 2009 Review (Day Two)

While day one of Lollapalooza 2009 proved to be very disappointing for the most part, day two more than made up for it

Day Two:

The weather was perfect, contrary to Friday, with a steady stream of sunlight cascading on Grant Park throughout the day. Along with the much welcomed weather, the line-up picked up the slack significantly with much anticipated acts like Animal Collective, TV on the Radio, Lykke Li, Santigold, and headliners Tool and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, among dozens of other notable acts set to round out the night.

At around 11:45 AM, roughly an hour earlier than the day before, I entered the park with a much more attentive smile on my face. The mud had all but disappeared from the park grounds while lines for concessions and bathrooms were completely absent. In those first few moments it was almost as if I had already had a better time than the day before.

My first venture took me back to the Playstation stage - where Andrew Bird finished the previous night - to check out the quirky New England four-piece Ezra Furman & The Harpoons. The group proved to be one of the best pre-noon acts of the festival as Furman enchanted the crowd in a suggested ironic raincoat as he spouted clever stories with his Gordon Gano-esque voice.

Ezra Furman & The Harpoons

As 12:15 drew near, I made my short walk to the Budweiser stage where I was asked by a grey-bearded older gentlemen for the time. In yet another lapse of deluded ignorance, I had no idea I was talking to Chicago rock poet-laureate Thax Douglas, who introduced the next act on my schedule, Delta Spirit.

The poem (from Thax's Myspace), entitled "Delta Spirit No. 3" went:

"like caramel drizzlings on the skin the brands glow dully whenever the body needs to cook a new version of itself- the fresh new body is vain of the brands which its fingers read as birthmarks tattooed by God, the brands taking a much needed vacation by riding the new body's vanity until their services are needed." -8/7/09 Schuba's.

My bewildered face was quickly erased once Matt Vasquez and the rest of the San Diego rock/blues group took the stage. Although they addressed the fact that they never played such a large crowd before, the group thoroughly impressed. Vasquez stands out as one of those rare true rock frontmen that has such a foregoing attitude that the outstanding music being played behind him almost seems to fulfill his true nature as a traveling bluesman.

Delta Spirit

The set closed with an amazing rendition of "People, Turn Around" as Chicago Cubs super-fan Ronnie Woo Woo (apparently, he's a big Delta Spirit fan) made his way through the crowd. At this time, Lollapalooza promoters sent me a text informing that rock & roll legend Buddy Guy was set to appear at the Kidzapalooza stage to perform alongside child guitar-prodigy Quinn Sullivan at 1:30.

A chance to see Guy enticed me enough to run to the stage, which seemed to be a mistake considering the heat. However, Guy didn't make the appearance on time and I was (almost) forced to listen to Sullivan, a child who's talents are more than admirable, but is still a 12 year-old kid. Needless to say, the child's songs about his guitar, how much he likes guitar, and about how he wishes it was 1973 again, tested my patience.

After an angry departure I decided to get a good spot for Minneapolis rap group Atmosphere at the Chicago 2016 stage. For those familiar with the schedule at this time I elected to pass up Animal Collective's DJ Set at Perry's and British indie-pop group Los Campesinos! on the opposite end of the park. Still, as I may regret missing Campesinos! a little, Atmosphere put on a spectacular show. Slug's rhyme's are chaotically intrinsic, full of challenging imagery and skill that would more than likely put any other MC at this year's festival (mostly Asher Roth) to shame.

Atmosphere

After Atmosphere's extra long 16 song set, I grabbed my first (and last) food of the day, a bratwurst with grilled onions, which proved to be the only good food I bought during the whole festival. I made my way to the Citi stage to catch Ipod friendly group Chairlift as my friends and I accidentally met up. They shortly departed to catch Coheed & Cambria while I waded through the spacey twee of the Brooklyn trio. The short, sweet set was clouded by enormous feedback and tiny technical disturbances that made making out anything Caroline Polachek said a bit of a struggle. Still, fans seemed to enjoy themselves enough, especially during "Bruises," one of the better songs of the day.

Chairlift

Soon after, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall of No Age made their way to the Citi stage, with Randall sitting in a chair for the entire show as the result of a dislocated shoulder from the night before. The Southern California noise-rock duo brought with them a following of musicians including Deerhunter's Bradford Cox and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and Dave Sitek listening on the sidelines, not to mention a group of avid fans (one so avid that he ran on stage, danced, gave Spunt a note, and dove back into the crowd nearly untouched by security). The show, despite Randall's handicap, was vibrant and loud, full of jumpy singles from the band's 2008 album Nouns and 2007's Weirdo Rippers.

No Age

Exhausted and my ears ringing, I filled my water bottles and moved to the opposite side of the park to grab a spot for TV on the Radio. The north side of the park at this time was immensely packed from people seeing Santigold at the Playstation stage and the Arctic Monkeys at the Budweiser stage. Trudging through was difficult, but my efforts were rewarded as I squeezed into a spot on the right side of the stage (same method I use every time).

As Santi's set ended (with a invigorating version of "Creator") TV on the Radio opened up with Dear Science's "Love Dog." The atmosphere surrounding the collective sound was lush with Dave Sitek's acutely organized feedback and backing rhythm section while Adebimpe and Kyp (the beard) Mylone took control of center stage. Adebimpe seemed to fall into his own, commanding stage as a modern Mick Jagger, effortlessly shifting from Dear Science and Return to Cookie Mountain, to the band's earlier work from the group's 2003 Young Liars EP. If I were to be brash I'd say in another couple years there's almost no doubt that TV on the Radio could achieve headline status.

TV on the Radio

The group closed out with a perfect "Staring at the Sun," that still remains possibly the best song of the festival. With the group sending off and Ben Harper and The Relentless 7 starting off close by the hardest decision of my weekend came; do I wait and get a great spot for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the only headline act I anticipated) or do I venture across the park and get a little of Animal Collective's show (who, for those that regularly read my posts, will note was my most anticipated act of the festival)? I elected the former, passing up what many regarded as a good show from Animal Collective in order to save my spot.

My patience once again was justly rewarded, as I witnessed arguably the best show of the festival with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O., possibly the best frontwoman in music today, graced the stage in an obscure yet fitting Native American headdress, starting the show with "Runaway" from this year's It's Blitz! LP. The show only got better as the group scattered gems from It's Blitz!, 2006's Show Your Bones, and their spectacular 2003 debut Fever to Tell.

Karen frequently addressed the band replacing the originally scheduled Beastie Boys (guitarist Nick Zinner even played a riff from "So What'cha Want" from the Beastie's 1992 album Check Your Head) and how shocked they were to be there. None the less, the show was extraordinary. The trio filled the headline spot easily as jubilation from the fans filled the air when the group performed their hits "Heads Will Roll," "Zero," and a very special "Maps" in which Karen O. cheerily forgot the words to her most famous song.

In all, day two embarrassingly surpassed day one. The music was nearly perfect along with the weather and fans, creating an unforgettable atmosphere in the park. And with my luck still prevailing that trend would continue to day three.

Best Performances: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Delta Spirit

Worst Performances: Quinn Sullivan

Highlight: "Staring at the Sun" by TV on the Radio

Lowlight: Skipping Animal Collective.

Day Three Review Tomorrow

Official Lollapalooza 2009 Countdown (Pt. IV)

Continuing the countdown of my Top Ten Must-See Lollapalooza Acts we take a look at Brooklyn's TV on The Radio.

#4: TV on The Radio

Since the release of TV on The Radio's Young Liars EP back in 2003 it has been considerably difficult to pinpoint exactly what the band sounds like. Alternative is too easy; it's a solid collaboration of indie rock and electronic fusion, with influences of punk, funk, and jazz to round the sound out.

The band's 2006 landmark release Return to Cookie Mountain (named album of the year by Pitchfork and Spin Magazine) and the single "Wolf Like Me" (a must-see performance here on Letterman) continued to launch the band's name in the music stratosphere. Their 2008 album Dear Science (named album of the year by Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine, again) solidified the band's position in music today.

The band will be performing Saturday, August 8 (Day Two) on the Budweiser Stage at 6:30. The band will also be performing a sold out aftershow with Chairlift at the Double Door August 7 at 10:00.

TV on The Radio - Dancing Choose


#3: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were a late addition to the Lollapalooza bill as a desperate last-second measure taken by the festival's organizers to replace fellow NYC act Beastie Boys after the group had to cancel all of their remaining summer tour dates. Yet, as it stands, Yeah Yeah Yeahs still standout as one of the can't miss acts of the weekend.

The group's recent album release, It's Blitz!, was a maturation from the band's previous efforts. Although while Karen O and Co. sound has definitely changed since the group's astounding 2003 debut Fever to Tell, and 2006's Show Your Bones, the band remains one of the biggest staples in indie and alternative music.

The band (as one of the six headliners) will be performing Saturday, August 8 (Day Two) on the Budweiser Stage at 8:30.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

TV on the Radio on Leno

TV on The Radio hit Los Angeles to perform "Crying," the second single from their 2008 album Dear Science on Leno a couple nights ago.

Side-Note: Kyp's beard is becoming more dynamic every appearence the band has. Plus, I wonder what Sir Charles had to say about them. I guessing "Turrable." Love that guy.

TV on The Radio - Cryin' (Live on Leno)