Song of the Day: TV On The Radio - Second Song (2011)

TV On The Radio released their new single today, from their forthcoming November release, and it's phenomenal. But instead of writing about that song, which I still need to absorb a bit more, we'll take a look back at what I think is their best song, the opening track from their previous album. 

TV On The Radio remind me of an evolutionary version of Sly & The Family Stone: they're a mixed racial band that draws equally from the histories of white and black music, and seems to fit well into the contemporary trajectories of both. If you have to peg them, I guess they're Indie rock, but that feels pretty short-sighted a description. 

Have you ever played the game where you fantasize about what sounds could have been created if only artist X and artist Y had joined forces in year Z? While, I'm that nerd, and I do that all the time. My favorite fantasy collaboration has always been Bowie and Prince in the early 1980's, and the reason I love thinking about it so much is because it probably would have sounded like this. 

I love the way this song builds, the way it explodes into a chorus via a "Ooh ooh ooh ooh" bridge in a Prince-like falsetto, and the first lyric of said chorus, "Every lover on a mission, shift your known position into the light." I love the way the horns slowly come in so you don't even notice them at first, but then the outré of the song leaves only the horns to fend for themselves. They handle themselves quite well, leaving the perfect aftertaste for a song that you want to linger for as long as possible. 

Check out the Song of the Day Archive!!