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By: Jan Bunny
Date: 12th Jul 06
Release: Album
To Cure: A predictable playlist
What:
Return To Cookie Mountain
Who:
TV On The Radio
On:
4AD / Remote Control
Myspace:
myspace.com/tvotr
By mid-2004 it seemed that if a band was touted as the “next big thing from Williamsburg” it would be a sure sign to avoid them. Amongst the mass of post-punk pastiche and throw away hipsterness were a few bands worthy of the media recognition they were getting.
TV On The Radio began as an improvised jam between housemates David Sitek and Tunde Adebimpe. But a few years (and a few band members) later, they released Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, an indefinable record that referenced sounds as disparate as doo-wop and The Pixies.
TVOTR’s most recent release Return To Cookie Mountain dabbles less with genre-hopping and finds instead a consistency that the previous album lacked. The band’s greatest asset is their vocal structure, and with Tunde’s falsetto - on full flight on this album -some melodies are so strong they could be listened to as acapellas. The depth of the record comes as these voices are buried, but never lost in walls of fuzz and distorted ambience. With Return To Cookie Mountain TVOTR avoid clichés while remaining perfectly pop, inviting you to sing or hum along to each track in a way that won’t make you feel like an Idol drop out.