TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

I stopped liking them nearly as much when they stopped understanding how to make the bass sound awesome.

my main reservation about 'dear science' was always how trebly it is, but i figured that was just kind of a side-effect of whatever they had to do to pull off the arranging and production.

but lately i've been playing it again because of this thread, on two different sound sources than in the past, and i'm hearing all kinds of bass parts that i never ever noticed before. they're not very deep or loud, but they're a lot more active than i thought—and they add some motion to parts that seem otherwise superficially monotonous, the opening track especially. (the switch-up at the end of the track makes more sense that way, somehow.)

One of the key things you do to make a record seem louder is turn down the bass.

well that's just barbaric

I think so.

I just can't get along with this band...they remind me of the famous Eric Morcambe quote
"I'm playing all the write notes...just not necessarily in the right order"

I stopped liking them nearly as much when they stopped understandinghow to make the bass sound awesome. that being electronic on record was the best thing for them

Caffeinated Consciousness reminds me of INXS's Guns in the Sky a little bit, which isn't at all a bad thing.

OH YES

It only took three plays for me to fall head over heels in love with this song.

song title "caffeinated consciousness" annoys me to no end (havent heard the song)

Leaked

Got it yesterday. I like "Repetition" and "You"; the rest seemed rather scattered.

Likewise, got it yesterday, but I haven't listened to it yet.

Yeah i was surprised no one had bumped the thread. I only listened once but it seemed to have sort of a ramshackle (even vaguely countryish) air that i was kind of digging.

on 1st listen i wasnt really feelin it, it's def mostly in a diff direction than dear science

yeah i haven't listened to it much so i don't have a real picture of it yet. i haven't heard that inxs song, but i'll check it out now. "caffinated consciousness" reminds me of 90s funk-rock or something.

Seeing them in Phully next Friday... Hope to hear some of it.

First listen through was a bit underwhelming but I'm on my second time around and it's growing on me. It's certainly a more intimate listen than Dear Science, and a less enveloping one, but it has its charms.

'Second Song' is nice. Not so sure about 'Keep Your Heart'. Let's see the 3rd track.

"Will Do" -- a love song! -- and "You" are for me the keepers.

Definitely better than Dear Science for me

I read the first couple half-assed one-line reactions and I vowed not to listen to it or read anything more until I have the CD in my hands next week. It deserves better, I hope.

"caffeinated consciousness" is my fucking jam right now -- just so, so good

i want to wake up to this song every day

I kind of find it amusing (and damning, maybe?) that no one is talking about this album at all.

these guys have become strangely boring

I like it a lot - I just haven't had a lot to say about it, really. It doesn't hit my buttons as strongly as Dear Science, and while Will Do is a gorgeous song and approaches 'Ambulance' in terms of knee-wobbling gorgeous romanticism, it hasn't settled in yet.

It's growing on me, though. They alternate between albums that ingratiate themselves with me immediately (desperate youth, Dear Science) and growers (Return to Cookie Mountain, Nine Types), at least for me. YMMV.

This is the first TVotR album that to me feels like it goes, well, one album beyond what this band had to say. I mean, I've been reading that it ends a band hiatus, and I was all, huh, TV on the Radio was on hiatus? I had no idea. I like this band well enough, but I think an even longer break would have done them well.

i need to spend more time with it before i really have a strong sense of how i feel about it. i've been a big fan over the years, so they really deserve more from me than just the few listens i've had a chance to partake in so far. at this point, i find it somewhat unremarkable, with songs like "second song" "forgotten" and "caffeinated consciousness" coming out on top as the standouts. overall, this album seems to be a combination of the cleaner sound the band debuted with dear science and the moodiness and atmospherics heard on desperate youth.

Ok I got three songs into this and realized I'm going to have to try it again when I'm in a lower mood.

i've basically just mostly been listening to the first and last songs, both of which are outstanding. i loved dear science a lot and hope this'll be as good

Always had a love/hate relationship with their production. Like a dog on a leash.

RIP Gerard Smith
http://www.tvontheradio.com/splash/

):

Gerard Smith (TV On The Radio bassist) RIP

Dammmn, that's sad. He couldn't have been more than 40?

Am I the only one who thinks the single kinda takes its whole vibe from "Pretty Wings"?

haha

this album seems to be a combination of the cleaner sound the band debuted with dear science and the moodiness and atmospherics heard on desperate youth.

good definition. maybe that's why I'm so into this album

Some of the material, especially in the first third, is the dirgiest stuff the act's ever done.

not really feeling this one, like 'cookie mountain' it seems to just not stick with me. shame that it is forever going to be shadowed now with the bassist's death.

"Caffeinated Consciousness reminds me of INXS's Guns in the Sky a little bit, which isn't at all a bad thing."

I was thinking Pixies "U-Mass" but INXS is actually closer.

I like "you" a lot but this album seems kind of unremarkable considering how much I like their other stuff

"You" and "Will Do" I kept before dumping the rest.

I liked it when I first got it, but rarely have the urge to listen to it much anymore. The first song is excellent.

i only played it once.

entire revive p otm so far

they feel very unessential now

i predict a breakup in the near future

unless they somehow relocate their muse (or just remember what made them half interesting in the first place)

i think sitek has gotten far too into 80s production and a dense kind of gloss though to really be that interesting anymore

i mean, second light sounds like bad 80s/90s bowie (actually more like bowie in his comeback phase, around reality/heathen maybe)

Everyone in the revive pretty much otm, I think part of the problem is that there are so many bands milking this same sort of 80s vibe that they don't really stand out as much as they used to and, as a result, feel a lot less essential than they used to. Its still a nice enough album and I like it whenever I put it on, but I rarely feel compelled to do so.

This is the greatest late summer / Fall album. Probably their best and prettiest writing on this (soul) record. So in love.