SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: TV ON THE RADIO – DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES (20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

TV ON THE RADIO
DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES (20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
TOUCH AND GO RECORDS

Looking back on the release of their 2004 debut album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, Brooklyn art-rockers TV On The Radio commemorate the 20th anniversary of the work that started their career. With this album, the band bridged the gap between themselves and their influences ­(forebears such as Funkadelic, and Bad Brains). In the process, they re-wrote the book on what an independent, mostly-black rock band could be.

Right off the top, listeners’ ears are met with the sonic chaos of the song “The Wrong Way”, with its commentary on the Black American experience and its attendant realities of class struggle and systemic racism. Using lyrical strength and musicality as a metric, one may draw a line between this song and work by a modern artist such as Childish Gambino.

The lyrics on this album are strong throughout. Even a song of love like “Ambulance” demonstrates a visceral emotive energy:

“Because I will be you ambulance if you will be my accident/And I will be your screech and crash if you will be my crutch and cast.” The bass vocal is performed, doo-wop style, while other vocal parts are stacked, below a two-part lead vocal. It is intense and beautiful.

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is full of such stylistic diversity. Politically poignant and aware lyrics and repeated mantras live with time signature changes and musical dissonance. Instruments and effects fly in, bringing elements of surprise, suggesting peace or danger. Layered vocal and contrapuntal melodies present chaos with the tiniest promise of order. In short, this album personifies our modern age.

It is interesting to reflect on the timing of the album’s 2004 release, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and with heightened feelings of xenophobia, and U.S. nationalism at the fore. As many of these issues are still prevalent today, it is interesting to revisit the music, and look at today’s world through TV On The Radio’s 2004 lens. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is a great album that deserves to be celebrated again. If you are among the initiated, you will love re-discovering these sounds. If this music is new to you, prepare for an amazing listening experience.

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