SOUND BITES

For their fifth album, following three and a half years after their last and first since the tragic loss of original member Gerard Smith to cancer, TV On The Radio are intent on not dwelling in the doldrums for too long. Themes of loss are present throughout Seeds , but they're tempered with love and hope; it's laid bare from the get-go in Tunde Adebimpe's first words on opener Quartz ("How much do I love you? How hard must we try to set into motion a love divine?"). There it is again in the sultry, multilingual stunner Careful You and it's simple-yet-soaring chorus ("I will care for you / oh, careful you"). For every expression of sadness and heartbreak, there's a rallying cry; admissions of hurt are countered by calls for resiliency and a challenge issued to walk proudly with open hearts and minds. Perhaps intentionally, the album's most downtrodden lyric accompanies its brightest, most thrilling song; Happy Idiot bounces along on a syn...

TV ON THE RADIO Caffeinated Consciousness From: Nine Types of Light Released: April 12 2011 will be remembered predominantly as a tragic year for TV on the Radio, with the sad passing of bassist/keyboard player Gerard Smith, who succumbed to lung cancer just eight days after the North American release of Nine Types of Light .  At least he went out on a high note; Nine Types of Light is a gorgeous, sprawling and frenetic album, sometimes all three at the same time. If a complaint must be made about Nine Types of Light , it's that its lighter content seems to be corralled into the first half of the album while keeping much of the harder material stuffed toward the back.  Hopefully, this doesn't signal a lessened desire to rock out; in my opinion, TVOTR's best moments are measured in volume, not scope.  In that respect, Caffeinated Consciousness is certainly high on the list; it's a loud declaration of perseverance, perhaps written with the knowledge th...