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On its first studio outing since 2008's lauded "Dear Science," TV on the Radio is "on optimistic" and "on overdrive"-a bit of new and old, if you will. The album, "Nine Types of Light," the band's first recorded away from Brooklyn, is actually the most restrained and craft-conscious of its releases, introducing a slower, soulful element that makes it sound like Memphis meeting New York's Lower East Side. As usual in TVOTR land, nothing is particularly straightforward but the songs tend to build more than they shift, a different kind of dynamic approach that yields a more focused intensity. The songs "Killer Crane," "You" and the gorgeous "Will Do" are skewed slow jams, while "Second Song" is mutated Stax soul. Elsewhere, the track "New Cannonball Blues" is propelled by an industrial-flavored throb. And TVOTR still knows how to kick up a rash of righteous (and melodic) noise, evidenced this time on "No Future Shock," "Repetition" and "Caffeinated Consciousness." Once again, TVOTR channels something unique and forward-thinking.
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