TV ON THE RADIO | METRO 3/12-13
The appeal of TVOTR is hard to pin down. Image-wise, they completely suck. Onstage they look like a graphic-design team on a weekend outing, rocking a half-assed indie-casual style that involves khakis. Except for vocalist/guitarist Kyp Malone–who sports maybe the second most famous Afro in popular music after ?uestlove’s–any member of the band could’ve probably watched the opening act from the club’s main floor without being recognized. And if they don’t really look like the kind of band that can fill a place like the Metro, they definitely don’t sound like one. Their songs are based more on unrefined emotion and abstract atmospherics than melody. They write the occasional brain-sticky tune, but even their most anthemic songs avoid big hooks in favor of a slow buildup.
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Night two opened with an unexpected surge of energy. Malone shuffled about the stage; Sitek stood splay-legged and howled backup vocals; Adebimpe did his usual thing, but with a little more oomph. “Young Liars” had been moved to the front of the set, and this time it was much more aggressive, emphasizing the band’s straight-up rock ‘n’ roll tendencies. TVOTR began as an improv group, and they still tend to reinvent their songs from night to night. It’s something of a necessity, since their records are generally too complicated to simply re-create onstage without the addition of another five members or so.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jim Newberry.
