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Album Review: TV on the Radio, "Return to Cookie Mountain" (Interscope)
Brooklyn's TV On The Radio tore out of the gate in 2003 with their "Young Liars" EP, unleashing their chaotic blend of fuzzed-out, post-rock on the indie-rock masses. Effortlessly combining an organic blend of gospel, free-jazz, punk and drum loops, TVOTR sounded like nothing else on the contemporary music scene.
That claim can still be made in 2006. Riffing on the same atmospheric paranoia as its predecessor, 2004's "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes," yet expanding on both the sound and the songwriting, "Return to Cookie Mountain" defies convention.
While clearly not an "easy listen," TVOTR's brand of 21st-century art-rock offers plenty of aural rewards for those patient enough to let the album unfurl itself in its own time. Beginning with the first track, "I Was a Lover," "Cookie Mountain" swims through an electronic wash of brilliantly crafted, brainy rock.
