I remember about a month ago seeing reports that TV On The Radio 's Gerard Smith had been struggling with lung cancer , but I didn't expect to see news of his passing this morning . A note from the rest of the band and a list of canceled show dates is on their official site , along with notice that "There will be more information as it becomes available." This is very sad news. Multiple spins of Return to Cookie Mountain and Young Liars shall commence. I found this very good and rticle via Guardian.Co.UK . Seemed like a fitting eulogy. R.I.P. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

TV On The Radio ’s Nine Types Of Light is out today (4.12) and, obviously, it’s a big deal. As a companion piece to the album, TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe directed a film which, according to YouTube’s write-up, “is meant to be a visual re-imagining of the record, and includes a music video for every song on the album.” In cynical corporatized MTV-addled post- Reagan era speak, (or, how I read it), “visual re-imagining” means grab bag for video marketers to exploit with potential for single saturation. This is sort of like their Moonwalker , though TVOTR do their best to unite art and commerce with self-important interviews, psychedelically colorful cut paper animation, amateurishly shot dance parties and band members embroiled in antiquated virtual reality apparatus. I recognize a cast member from the Parenthood TV show. The film’s pretension and potential marketability notwithstanding, Nine Types Of Light (the music version) sounds like it’s worth a listen or two. I’m enjoying...

As of yesterday, April 5th, you have one week to stream TV On The Radio ’s upcoming new album, Nine Types Of Light . The following information came courtesy of Interscope Records. Listen to NINE TYPES OF LIGHT on Rhapsody's "The Leak" For 1 week only be the first to stream the entire new TV On The Radio album, exclusively at Rhapsody on "The Leak" . Listen to the new album now! TVOTR ON TOUR - NEW SHOWS ANNOUNCED TV On The Radio are happy to announce the following intimate performances to the upcoming U.S. Tour: April 12th - Brooklyn, NY / Music Hall of Williamsburg April 29th - San Francisco, CA / The Independent April 30th - San Francisco, CA / The Independent May 3 - Los Angeles, CA / Music Box Full details/ticket info at: www.tvontheradio.com/events PRE-ORDER NINE TYPES OF LIGHT Pre-Order the Deluxe Version of the album on iTunes, featuring an exclusive track, and an immediate download of the single "Will Do" ...

As overrated and disappointing as the otherwise very well-received Dear Science was in 2008, TV On The Radio ’s new song, “Will Do,” is somewhat of a redemption. I’m happy to hear them using guitars, again. Seemed like instruments were taking a backseat to knob twisting of the kid-in-a-candystore variety, David Sitek more excited to make sounds as opposed to music. But, that’s just my opinion. Dear Science hasn’t been spoken of since it broke on through, so maybe it wasn’t the earth shattering work of genius critics thought it was. We’ll see how TVOTR’s upcoming album, Nine Types Of Light , performs. The song is posted over at 107.7 THE END . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead P.S. — Did you know that David Sitek is in Jane’s Addiction now? Can’t wait to hear him remix "Mountain Song." P.P.S. — Sarcasm. Pure sarcasm.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs It’s Blitz! Interscope Released: 3.10.09 Rating: 6.75 out of 10 In 2002, Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O was interviewed for a documentary entitled, Kill Your Idols , that focused on NYC’s No Wave movement in the late 70s and how it influenced the millennium’s crop of retro-wavers and two-car garage rockers. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were still an up and coming act whose presence was regionally felt, Fever To Tell and “Maps” yet to wrap themselves around hipster America’s cerebral cortex. Karen O, amidst an unsettling surplus of “like, like, y’know,” basically appropriates the unoriginal Noel Gallagher -ism about acting like the biggest band in the world. I can’t say it hasn’t gotten her far. Excerpt of Karen O ’s interview from Kill Your Idols. As the motored fuzz of 2003’s Fever To Tell rang in an era of noise for Karen O and her two faithful Yeahs (Yeah #2, guitarist Nick Zinner , and Yeah #3, drummer Brian Chase ), the badass fishnet anti-fashionista hol...

By itself, TV On The Radio ’s Dear Science wasn’t worth the hype it received. Now, it’s been remixed. Read Silence EP 1. “Shout Me Out” (Willie Isz Remix by Jneiro Jarel ) 2. “Stork & Owl” ( Gang Gang Dance Remix) 3. “Red Dress” (Remixed by THE GLITCH MOB ) I can’t imagine that this will improve anything, but what price mileage? Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Foals Antidotes Sub Pop Released: 4.8.08 Rating: 7.5 out of 10 French Miami s/t Dinner Party Records Released: 11.18.08 Rating: 8 out of 10 When the fists stopped flying around the mid-eighties, allowing for some of the crooked noses to set and the flowing blood to scab over after the turbulence of the hardcore days, a wave of desired artistic growth and possible boredom with the scene led to the formation of post-hardcore. Post-hardcore groups, mostly those of late-80s Dischord era ( Rites Of Spring , Fugazi ) or mid-80s SST ( Hüsker Dü , Meat Puppets , later evolutions of Black Flag via the enlightenment of Greg Ginn ), were noise-allegiant but turned on to melody which, in most cases, was avoided when it was all about yelling, screaming and going really fucking fast. The sounds of post-punk has seemed the basis for inspiration within the indie rock scene these days, evoking Joy Division s a-many, with Public Image disco beats aplenty. Oxford, England’s Foals , debuting in early ...

TV On The Radio Dear Science Interscope Released: 9.23.08 Rating: 8 out of 10 So, I’m apparently in the minority. Having read the mostly unanimous wave of acclaim Dear Science , latest album from TV On The Radio , has received since the album hit American shelves Tuesday, I’m wondering why I’m the only one that’s a little disappointed. I’ve either lost my taste, or my copy of Dear Science is damaged. Or, I’m just not one for sugarcoated follow-ups to veritable masterpieces . When I’d first listened to Return To Cookie Mountain , TVOTR appealed to me as more of an Art band, an updated encapsulation of a vision shared by the likes of Eno , Byrne or Bowie . Their melodies recaptured Motown better than modern-day R&B has in the last twenty years while also employing some of Brian Wilson ’s brilliant vocal arrangements and they seemed to perfectly sum up the last fifty years in Pop music, but in a very contemporary and distinguishing way. They grabbed genres, mixed them t...

Over the last couple years that I've been busily pounding keys and madly spewing my point-of-view for others to read and, hopefully, appreciate, I've been on an exhausting rampage for anything new that I can discuss. It's not easy staying on top of many genres, which I try to incorporate throughout this blog in the hopes that people, music fans especially, will never corral themselves into any corner of appreciation regarding genre. That being said, Letters From A Tapehead has awarded me the opportunity to find and fall in love with two albums in particular: TV On The Radio 's Return To Cookie Mountain and Marnie Stern 's In Advance of the Broken Arm . Over the next few weeks, both Stern and TV On The Radio will have new albums out. Be on the lookout for: TV On The Radio Dear Science Releasing: 9.23.08 Unfortunately, I don't have much information on Dear Science and I haven't heard any released singles or leaked goodies. But, I've heard t...

Singers are a dime-a-dozen: I’m aware of this. At times, usually when I’m in some sort of self-flagellating mood, I’ll watch MTV and see how low the bar is set. And I’ll know, when I see Lindsay Lohan pouring her heart out, that everyone thinks they’re a fucking singer. And, it seems like it’s mostly actresses. Without boring you, because it really is a long list, and you know who most of them are anyway, these “singers,” and in a lot of instances, “actresses,” are so bad, so trite, so thoroughly laughable… … Scarlett Johansson decided that she was going to add herself to this immense list. But, and I don’t know if this was a strategic move on her part, HER album is a standout: A collection of Tom Waits covers called, Anywhere I Lay My Head . I’ve heard some the tracks and I find her efforts largely unnecessary. However, interest in this album is going to cancel out its quality because, and ultimately this is really all that matters, she benefits from esoteric tastes. Aside ...

TV On The Radio Return to Cookie Mountain Interscope Released 9.12.06 Rating: 4 out of 4 Media is one thread of humanity that we all share. As much as we may love or hate television, we’ve all seen the same shows, watched the same news program, caught the same commercials. We all buy advertised goods, believe paranoia-inducing news spots on the potential dangers of cell phone radiation, and somehow get involved in celebrity break-ups. Television’s glowing realities are viral, nesting into brain cells and creating legions of channel surfers that always, ALWAYS, have something to discuss the next day over stationary water coolers and coffee makers. The same can be said for radio, whose monotonous and unimaginative playlists only accent the DJ’s morning banter which, a lot of times, is about what they saw on TV. Not to say that television and radio rarely inform, but their rafts of often mind-numbing programming are sought and uploaded with gusto, overtaking a large percentage of the...