TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe
Photo: MTV News

Since releasing their Dear Science album last September to much fanfare and acclaim, TV on the Radio have basically lived on the road.

They've played gigs from Brooklyn to Berlin, and, not surprisingly, they've grown a bit homesick as a result. Which is probably why, when we spoke to frontman Tunde Adebimpe backstage at last weekend's Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, he had a bit of news he was itching to announce.

"This was the last show for us, for a while," he said. "We've decided to take, well, the going theory is to take about a year off, because you have to go and live a life and change things up."

Which means, for the next year, things will be quiet in the TVOTR camp, as Adebimpe and his bandmates attempt to readjust to life at home — a process that involves disconnecting from each other, which, after a year spent traveling in a bus together, is sort of a good thing.

"We've been on tour for almost a year now, and towards the end of the year, you do end up getting things out during the show, subliminally, that you can't get out with someone on a bus," Adebimpe laughed. "Because you can say something to someone on the bus, and then after you've let it out, you realize you've got six hours sitting across from that person. Like, 'Remember when I called you a d--- a while ago? That was just, uh, caffeine and all sorts of sleep depravation talking, and I really didn't mean it, and I hope you don't take it to heart, even though I can tell that you are because you're not talking to me.' It's basic cabin fever."

If you think the last thing the guys in TVOTR would want to do is focus on music during their hiatus, you really don't know the guys in TVOTR. Guitarist/singer Kyp Malone is preparing to release a solo record under the nom de disc Rain Machine on September 22, and multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Sitek is putting the finishing touches on an album he helmed for Brooklyn-based Israeli outfit Pink Noise.

As Adebimpe puts it, they don't know any other way to operate — even if they are on hiatus.

"The funny thing about this band is that I feel like everyone's amazed that we're on tour, and that we're even a band," he said. "Because, if you'd asked all four of us six years ago if we'd want to be in a band, unanimously, it would be like, 'Well maybe for three weeks, yeah.' It's great we've been able to do it for so long, but everyone's kind of got other projects they want to tend to."

• TV On The Radio

Wale
Photo: MTV News

Up-and-coming MC Wale can already lay claim to the title of Washington, D.C.'s finest (either him or Ben's Chili Bowl). Now, he's looking to grab the title of D.C.'s busiest too.

He's already bagged cameos from Mark Ronson, Kanye West and Lily Allen (to name just a few) for his yet-untitled major-label debut, and when MTV News managed to pin him down for a few minutes on the set of his new video — for the song "Chillin'," which features Lady Gaga on the hook — he spoke about another collaboration that already has the blogs buzzing: a pair of songs he recorded with critically adored Brooklyn rock/ soul/ space-funk outfit TV on the Radio.

"I can't tell you all [the details]. We got some good stuff. You gonna hear," Wale laughed. "It feels like, if Fela Kuti was around and met Just Blaze and they had a conversation and woke up at 4 a.m., called each other simultaneously and said, 'Let's go to the studio, I have an idea.' One [song] specifically — called 'Triumph' — that's how it sounds.

"It's about breaking the barriers of music. TV on the Radio is ... if you know, you know," he continued. "It ain't like they're highly publicized, Grammy-winning, 10 million-sold rock stars ... but this is some freaky, freaked-out music. And I wanted to be one of the first hip-hop acts to really go in-depth and use them."

And for a guy who draws deeply from D.C.'s culture-melding go-go music, collaborating with acts like TVOTR or Gaga makes perfect sense. And while some in hip-hop have already come around to his way of thinking, Wale still admits that there are plenty out there who just don't get what he's doing. And he's aiming to change that. Gradually, of course.

"There's still a stubbornness, man. There's a lot of people who don't like me, don't understand. But then again, there's a lot that do. It's just gonna take some time," he said. "We're not gonna win everybody over right now. And there's a lot of people who only want to f--- with [DJ] Premier beats and the Black Milks — two very dope producers, by the way — but they're stubborn, you know? They won't be into a TV on the Radio record. They won't be into a Gaga feature. They want the boom-bap. But the boom-bap is still here, it's just evolved a little, you know what I'm saying?"

• Wale
• Lady Gaga
• TV On The Radio

Photo: MTV News

Is the album dead? I guess it depends on who you ask. Your Web-savvy nephew would probably tell you "yes." Lil Wayne, Coldplay or Britney would beg to differ. Me, I'm not sure. What I do know is that of the thousands of albums released this year, there were 25 that shone brightly, that made me think, laugh, cry and dance and sometimes even restored my faith in humanity.

And I've compiled those 25 below ... my favorite albums of 2008. Major-label blockbusters, quiet indie fare, hip-hop, electro and some that are all of the above. Hopefully, there's something for you, your nephew and the Coldplay fan in your life ... because we all lived music this year. And, to that end, if you'd like to send me your thoughts — and, of course, lists — hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com.

So without further ado, on to the list:

25. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
The year's most unlikely success story and the rare case of 1 million people getting it right. On Tha Carter III, Wayne spins tales both humorous and harrowing (sometimes at the same time), dropping mentions of Tennessee Titans QBs and retail chains and sounding very much like a guy who realizes he is probably the greatest, most unchained rapper alive (sometimes he also sounds like a stoned Yoda). It's either a minor miracle or a happy accident that he went platinum in a week or that he grabbed eight Grammy noms. With Wayne, you can never be sure — which is just another layer to the legend.

24. Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
At best, it's probably the most sonically adventurous album from a major major-label rock act since Green Day's American Idiot (or even Radiohead's Kid A), a swirling mix of massive and minimal, of cathedral guitars and glacial synthesizers, tiny tablas and tack pianos. At worst, it's still the second-best Coldplay album. So, you know, win/win.

23. She & Him, Volume One
The anti-Scarlett (or, really, the anti-any-actor-turned-musician), Zooey Deschanel defied the odds and made one of the year's most satisfying albums, a crackling, sunny listen that recalls 1960s C&W, '70s AM radio and the stylings of Carole King and Linda Thompson. Sure, M. Ward helped out a bunch, but it's Zooey D's big, brassy voice that brings the whole thing together.

22. The Walkmen, You & Me
An exercise in simplicity and sadness from one of NYC's most underappreciated acts, You & Me creaks like old floorboards and shudders like a 10-bell hangover. Over the course of 14 blurry, damp tracks, frontman Hamilton Leithauser's world-weary howl somehow gets even wearier, and the band's time-tested loud/soft dynamics start to fray at the edges. If their last album — a song-for-song piss-take on Harry Nilsson and John Lennon's Pussy Cats record — was the party, well, You & Me is most certainly the morning after. Hope it was worth it.

21. Portishead, Third
An exercise in simplicity and sadness from one of Bristol's greatest acts, Third took the Portishead sound as we knew it — foggy, film-noir beats (your parents called it "trip-hop") floating beneath Beth Gibbons' harrowing voice — and rebooted it. What we got this time around was spooky synthesizers curling around simple drum patterns, acoustic guitars that disappeared into dense electronic plumes — a sound that was equal parts human ("The Rip") and machine ("Machine Gun"). Expect the next album sometime around 2030.

20. Beck, Modern Guilt
My favorite thing about Beck's eighth studio album (and something like 12th overall) isn't the hazy sheen applied by Danger Mouse, the singularity of its theme or the straightforwardness of the lyrics. It's the fact that, if viewed in the context of Beck's entire career, Guilt makes total and complete sense. Here is a former Golden Child edging gracefully (if not exactly willingly) into his 40s, still not sure where he fits in. Like I wrote last week, "Obsolescence has never sounded so good."

19. Panic at the Disco, Pretty. Odd.
An album unfairly skipped by fans and critics alike, Pretty. Odd. is what happens when a bunch of kids in their early 20s get together in a cabin, get baked (or, for legality's sake, don't), listen to a ton of Beatles records and think, "Why don't we do that?!?" because they don't know any better. In other words, it's exactly the kind of record I would've made when I was 21, except replace "a cabin" with "an apartment in Gainesville, Florida."

18. The Breeders, Mountain Battles
When you're really drunk in a really shady bar, looking at the yellowed jukebox in one corner and a bunch of Korean War vets in the other, and the bartender — who's been giving you the stink eye since the moment you first came in — finally decides you're OK and slides you a glass of Michelob on the house, and the air is dense because they don't give a sh-- about the smoking ordinance, and there are tiles on the ceiling and peanuts in a bucket and a picture of an old boat called "The Wild Rose" or something tacked to the wall behind the bar, and it's Christmas, that's basically what this record sounds like. That probably doesn't make sense.

17. Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
Lead singer Alice Glass' whole "drinking blood/ playing with knives/ I am the undead" shtick might get a little tiresome, but there's no denying that the best moments on the Crystal Castles' self-titled debut come when she opens her mouth and just roars. Actually, the chippy, blippy instrumentals dreamed up by mastermind Ethan Kath are pretty great too. Part cyber-punk skuzz, part minimalist perfection, Crystal Castles might be the future, or no one might give a crap by this time next year, but there were few albums released in '08 more invigorating than this one.

16. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
Take everything I said in that last sentence and apply it here too, except replace "cyber-punk skuzz" with "hippie-dippie noodling" and "minimalist perfection" with "burbling synthesizer overkill." Everything about these guys leads me to believe that we'll never hear a note from them again, but it's not as if that matters. For 12 glorious months (OK, more like 14, since the album was released digitally last year), MGMT were the shining poster boys for a Brooklyn scene that never was and the world's leading purveyors of wide-eyed electro optimism. Though that just might be the drugs talking.

15. Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair
Sumptuous, sprawling neo-disco/post-house (as if I can tell the difference) from New York-based DJ Andy Butler, Hercules isn't so much a band as a "musical project," one unafraid to blur genders and genres and genealogy, which is about the only way to explain gems like "Blind" and "Hercules Theme." It's probably why Antony Hegarty got involved too. Gay, straight, man, woman or something else entirely, this album is guaranteed to make you feel funny in your special place(s).

14. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
The year's most interesting backstory — bearded dude gets dumped, ditches band, nearly dies, moves to cabin in northern Wisconsin to recuperate, gets even more bearded, is utterly and completely alone — also made for one of the year's best albums. (OK, OK, Justin Vernon, a.k.a. Bon Iver, actually released this by himself in 2007, but who's counting?) Emma is a creaky, delicate and deliberately lo-fi take on love and loss, played wonderfully and sung in Vernon's husky, hushed tones. In other words, it sounds exactly like an album recorded by a bearded guy in a cabin in Wisconsin in the middle of winter is supposed to sound. Also, my wife really likes this one a lot.

13. M83, Saturdays = Youth
Anthony Gonzalez pens a loving ode to his faded youth, an album full of gauzy fantasy pop, starbursting synthesizers and gull-wing guitars (he grew up in the '80s, if you couldn't guess). Saturdays = Youth sounds like every single John Hughes film ever made, not to mention the rush of hormones that come with "Enchantment Under the Sea" dances or holding hands with a girl in a graveyard or drinking your first bottle of Boone's Farm in a parking lot. The sensations of being invincible, indestructible and, most of all, free ... and being too young to know any better. So basically, it's the soundtrack to universal youth — but, of course, some of us are old enough to realize that fact.

12. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
The boat shoes. The pique polo shirts. The musicology classes. The Ivy League diplomas. These are the things great bands are made of, no? Regardless of what you might think about VW — that they are snobs, that they are overrated, that they are kind of wieners — you cannot deny their ear for pitch-perfect indie pop. Their self-titled debut packed more hooks into a scant 34 minutes than any other album released this year. And perhaps, in doing so, it also gives us reason to reconsider the very idea of what a rock act should be these days. If a dude named Ezra can rock, well, then certainly anyone can. Also, this was the whitest album of the year, at least until Kanye dropped 808s & Heartbreak, that is.

11. Constantines, Kensington Heights
It's perhaps a testament to the growl of frontman Bryan Webb that even when he rumbles, "You can tell by the way I walk/ I've got hard feelings," you get the sense that he's somehow holding back. If anything, that's a pretty good way to sum up the fourth album from the Cons, a slab of blue-collar rage that tries very hard to keep it all stuffed up inside. The end result is songs like "I Will Not Sing a Hateful Song," "New King" and "Do What You Can Do," which bristle with anger as much as they do with, well, restraint. Webb might be drowning in debt, crushed by the expectations of previous generations, jobless, shiftless and generally helpless, but he's somehow managed to swallow all the rage that comes along with that, and only after letting it ferment for a while does he finally let the venom fly. There might not be a more happily angry album released this decade. Which means, in a way, the anger is a gift.

10. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs
There are so many moments on Stairs where something seems to be teetering on the brink of collapse — the reverb-drenched middle of "Bixby Canyon Bridge," the wobbling bass and guitars in the intro of "I Will Possess Your Heart," the tablas (!) in "Pity and Fear," Ben Gibbard's psyche on "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" — that it's a testament to Death Cab's skill that they're able to pull it off. It's a testament to their dedication that they let things get that far in the first place. From the beginning, they claimed Stairs would be "bloody" and "loose" — a conscious step away from the polish of their Plans album — and it most certainly is both of those things, and then some. It's a perfectly imperfect album, which is to say that it sounds very much like a band, setting up in a room and just letting it rip, and that makes it perhaps more compelling than 90 percent of the rock albums released this year.

9. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Part One (Fourth World War)
Time isn't really important in Badu's New Amerykah, which is why she jumps from the smoke-filled streets of the 1970s to the darkened and desperate projects of the present day to the post (pre?) apocalyptic future without much concern for the narrative arc. What is important is the message she conveys throughout those travels: that no matter how hard we try, things keep falling apart. They have been and they are and they will continue to do so, unless we wake up, stand up and — most of all — fight. So she puts the gun to our backs, orders us to march headlong into the darkness. She might not tell us where we're going — or what we'll see when we get there — but no one ever said revolutions were easy. This is a story told through stony beats, crackling samples and smoky voices, and rather terrifyingly so. Welcome to post-millennial tension.

8. No Age, Nouns
If someday, an archeologist uncovers the ruins of L.A. club the Smell, they will undoubtedly also uncover copies of Nouns, the best album by the best band to be birthed from the scene (maybe the discs are in a supply closet or something). And when they finally figure out how to play the things on their 3-D holographic decks (these will be like giant laserdisc players or something, only with holograms) what will they think? Probably something to the effect of "Wow, these dudes can't play their instruments," at which point, some nerdy rock historian/ architect guy will turn to them and say something like, "Oh yeah? Well neither did the Ramones." And everyone will sort of nod in agreement and then move on to uncovering Pink's Hot Dogs or giant statues of Kobe Bryant from the rubble.

7. The Plastic Constellations, We Appreciate You
For something like 13 years, TPC were mythic warriors of rock ... writing songs about slaying mighty beasts and brotherhood and drinking on front stoops, playing legendarily boozy live shows, partying — and playing — harder than mere mortals ought to. Of course, this eventually caught up with them (they never made a dime doing any of it), so they were forced to tackle decidedly un-mythic tasks like fixing cars or selling real estate to make ends meet. They managed to keep the balance between rock and responsibility going for a few years, but in the end, guess which side won? So, in early '08, when they announced they were calling it quits, I was saddened, but certainly understanding. One cannot rock forever. That their farewell album, We Appreciate You, is so awesome — full of big dumb hooks and even dumber lyrics — makes me reconsider that sentiment. Their riffs will most certainly be missed, though it's good to know they were buried with their swords and shields. We'll meet up again someday in the afterlife, dudes.

6. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
In theory, this is just dance music, except you really can't dance to it. It's probably also illegal, only it just might be protected under the concept of "fair use." It could be art, but most art I'm familiar with doesn't contain samples from Too Short's "B---job Betty" and Dr. Dre's "Bi---es Ain't Sh--." So why don't we just call it all of the above? I don't think anyone involved with Feed the Animals — not Gregg Gillis, not the folks at Illegal Art, not anyone who's work is sampled on the album — intended it to become the lightning rod for 21st-century discourse that it somehow did ("Who owns music?" "What is intellectual property?" etc., etc., etc.), so perhaps it's just best to agree that everyone's right. Perhaps Animals will become the bedrock for a landmark Supreme Court decision ... perhaps Gillis will be sued within an inch of his life ... or perhaps he's the greatest media artist currently working, and we should all be grateful for that. Or maybe not. Because, really, f--- art, let's dance. Or at least attempt to.

5. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
I don't think I can ever sum this one up any better than I did back in July. Why even bother trying: "The best band in America makes the best album of their career, a sprawling, profane opus that takes the singular world frontman Craig Finn has created over the course of four albums — dead-end kids doing dead-end things, usually down by the banks of the Mississippi River — and folds it in on itself, creating something entirely new in the process. There is still plenty of drinking (on water towers, in the woods, in Memphis) and drugging (in hotel rooms, at laser-light shows, in "cute little cars") and dance floors, but things have somehow gotten darker this time around, as if Finn himself knows that the party can't last forever and Sunday morning's gotta come someday. So accordingly, kids are crucified, canonized and catch spears in the side, while VFW halls and 7 Seconds cassettes are revered like Bethlehem or the Old Testament. Bar bands aren't supposed to be this God-fearing, unless they're drinking the sacramental wine, which, knowing the Hold Steady, doesn't seem all that improbable at this point."

4. Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak
Kanye has spent the past 12 months being wronged. Wronged by life. Wronged in love. And wronged by his contemporaries (especially those at the Recording Academy). So is there any wonder why, on Heartbreak, he's eternally the victim? Then again, it takes an artist of his skill — and one possessing his ego — to make an album so one-sided, let alone one that's this great. His detractors might say that the Auto-Tune thing is played out, or that he made a mighty mistake by ditching the rapping, but that's only because they're probably put off by everything he's accomplished here, if not made a little uncomfortable. Unflinchingly honest (even when he's probably bending the truth a bit), emotionally unbalanced, this is West as we've never seen — or heard — him before. He's alone on an island (Would 50 ever consider making an album like this? Could he?) establishing himself as one of the few great artists of the 21st century. And on Heartbreak — an album of singular focus and purpose — he's created a great piece of art.

3. The Gaslight Anthem, The '59 Sound
If Brian Fallon is sincere — and given his snarl, his growly voice and his leather jacket, there's no reason to believe he isn't — then he's perhaps the most hopelessly romantic kid to ever have been raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey. And I don't mean that in the "flowers and candy" sense of the term. Rather, he's in love with romantic ideals: of rock-and-roll Saturday nights, of magical drive-in theaters, of the fins on the back of an old Cadillac. On The '59 Sound, he's created a world where all of those things coexist — where a punk act from Jersey can move crowds like the Boss, or share the stage with Tom Petty, where rockabilly chicks leave you stranded in all-night diners, where salvation can be found at the turn of a radio dial. And to that end, there's an unmistakable nostalgic streak through his lyrics and the band's go-go-go guitars, but it's nostalgia in the sweet, straightforward, black-and-white sense ... the kind you see projected on screens. Because life can be a movie, but only if you believe it so.

2. Deerhunter, Microcastle/ Weird Era Cont. It's difficult to commend a band on their restraint when it released two albums in 2008, but over the course of a pair of discs — and 25 songs — Deerhunter managed to show nothing but restraint, reeling in the sonic terrorism and just writing knee-buckling tunes. "Nothing Ever Happened," "Saved by Old Times" and "Operation" were plenty good — swoony, scary, driving stuff — that delivered on the promise of their 2007 output (particularly "After Class," the song they released on the Rare Book Room Records comp) and showcased a band quickly turning into one of indie rock's best. Frontman Bradford Cox's lyrics were still open-wound raw, and there were still moments on both albums of hissy, misty experimentation, but Microcastle and Weird Era sharpened the focus, and because of that, they're both massively great, not to mention welcome additions to the legendary list of albums released by the 4AD label. Legacies are tough to figure — especially when you're talking about Deerhunter, a band that seems determined to destroy whatever good will it's built up — but I have the feeling that in 10 years' time, we'll look back at both of these albums as being landmark indie. There's magic here. You've just got to sift through a bit of detritus to find it. That's the Deerhunter way.

1. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
An album that wrestles with big questions: How does humanity survive in the era of technology? How do we find beauty in an increasingly ugly world? Why do we continue when the odds are stacked against us? There might be no answer to any of those things — and TVOTR are smart enough to realize that — so instead, they can only offer up unflinching optimism and a steadfast resolve to never give up searching for those slippery solutions. Dear Science is, on the surface, a very mechanical beast — full of shimmery synths, pulsing electronics, otherworldly falsettos — and it's an album about the 21st century, to be sure, but there's also a very human heart beating beneath it all, because it's mainly an album about love, family, life, happiness and the kind of things that have buoyed man since the very beginning of time. Is love all we really need? It sounds vaguely ridiculous, but then again — who knows? Perhaps a little faith in the timeless is all we really need. At least, I hope so.

This is just our opinion — what's yours? Share your lists by uploading a video to YouRHere.MTV.com or leaving a comment below.

• Lil Wayne
• Kanye West
• Death Cab For Cutie
• Panic at the Disco
• Erykah Badu

Afro-Punk band Blood Sugar
Photo: www.bashirawebb.com

James Spooner, like a lot of kids growing up in Southern California in the 1990s, was into punk rock.

But unlike most of the kids in the scene, he's black. Sometimes, this posed a problem.

"I was in this tiny desert town that was pretty much all white, and the punk scene was very racist," he recalled. "You would go to shows and it was blatantly white power, swastikas, all of that."

But when he moved to New York during high school, Spooner found "a gang of black kids" just like him. For the first time in his life, "I could be who I wanted to be," he said. "[They] made it OK for me, you know?"

The fundamental contradiction of black kids feeling left out of rock — which from its very beginning was based on black music — has played a large role in the creation of Afro-Punk. And while there have been many black artists who have been embraced by white rock fans, from Little Richard to Sly and the Family Stone to the Bad Brains, the Afro-Punk movement has found fans bonding and creating communities, organizing shows and shooting films in a whole new way.

Afro-Punk has gone from the name of a message board to a movement in less than five years — and the scene just keeps growing.

Before the 2000s, Spooner said, "there were no black bands in the mainstream doing anything alternative." Sure, bands like the Bad Brains, Fishbone and Living Colour had set an example for the younger generation — and the Black Rock Coalition was formed during the 1980s — but the success of the mostly black group TV on the Radio has crashed the door open for the movement.

Now, British rockers the Noisettes and singers Santogold and Janelle Monáe are poster children for the movement, even though the artists in the scene sound completely different.

When we checked in with Afro-Punk promoters Kaos Blac and Rape Whistle, they rattled off a mind-spinningly diverse list of bands. It includes:

Game Rebellion
Brooklyn rockers who meld punk, metal and hip-hop with a rudeboy 'tude.

The Apes
A Washington, D.C., psych-rock foursome who masters a balance between goofiness and raw power.

Ebony Bones
This former UK TV star makes truly danceable post-punk electro-pop and loves comics as much as we do.

Whole Wheat Bread
An old-school-style punk band that has worked with Rancid and Lil Jon.

VV Brown
A British songstress who mixes doo-wop and pop, and whose latest video is for her song "Crying Blood."

Tamar Kali
A hardcore-tinged rocker who's become a favorite on New York's downtown music scene, her debut LP, Black Bottom, will be released next summer.

So how did this thriving movement become a scene in the first place? T-Kali knows from joining Spooner on the road, when he was shooting his "Afro-Punk" documentary in 2001. (She's on the cover of the DVD — check her out in our photo gallery, along with some of our favorite Afro-Punk moments here.)

"To this day, I always get messages on MySpace from people saying, 'I saw you!' " she said. "That's a wonderful thing."

Spooner's doc, which debuted in 2003 at the Toronto Film Festival, also featured TV on the Radio as well as bands such as Cipher, in his attempt to document "the other black experience." It continues, five years later, to screen at festivals.

"The film surprisingly has legs that a lot of other films don't," Spooner said. "I just did two screenings last month. The film continues to reach new people."

Part of that reach extends online. "Afro-Punk" the documentary inspired the messageboard AfroPunk.com, and from the fan discussion there, Spooner realized that they could turn the desire for Afro-Punk shows into a music festival, which now happens annually.

One of the first shows Spooner did was an afterparty for one of the documentary screenings, so he reached out to the band Stiffed (the band formerly led by Santi White, who is now known as Santogold) via manager Matthew Morgan, "and he was like, 'No problem — we'll do it for free,' " Spooner said.

As the popularity of Santogold and other artists loosely associated with the scene has grown, Afro-Punk has exploded beyond its musical definition, even including Grammy-nominated Bad Boy recording artist Janelle Monáe, whose music can hardly be considered traditionally punk (she's opened for Nas and has been called "the female version of Prince" by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz).

"I felt it was my duty as an artist and as a young African-American woman to support Afro-Punk," Monáe told us at the Afro-Punk Festival last summer.

"I think it's very important to let people know that we're not all the same. Diversity needs to be promoted more ... I love being in that environment, and that is something I am trying to promote."

Some of the bands associated with Afro-Punk — like Santogold — helped support the scene and increase its visibility simply by showing up. Others who aren't associated, like Lupe Fiasco, helped out just by singing about subjects like skateboarding.

"Lupe was able to, in one song, propel the idea of black kids skateboarding into a whole new generation," Spooner said. "That's all out of 'Kick, Push.' "

Spooner's since handed off the Afro-Punk torch to Morgan, who has taken the lead in managing the bands, running the Web site and promoting the annual festival. "He had a big vision," Spooner said.

The Afro-Punk brand now plays a key role in events like CMJ and South by Southwest, partnering with those larger festivals with the goal of introducing a lineup of bands to a diverse audience who might not have discovered them otherwise. Morgan plans to make the festival a national one next year, and to tour Africa in 2010.

"A festival in Africa is a really important step for us," he said. "We want to spread that sense of freedom."

Technology has helped, Spooner pointed out. "iPods change the way we listen to music," he said. "[With shuffling,] genre after genre, they all start blending together."

Still, that blending doesn't erase all racial boundaries. Spooner said part of the reason the scene is growing is because the issues addressed in the film are still affecting young people. Punk shows are still mostly white, and black rock fans may not always get the most positive reaction in the black community.

And even with Afro-Punk's growing popularity, some of the bands associated with it don't like to talk about it publicly for fear of losing their white audience, Spooner said. Could that be due to the scene's growing pains as it wavers between DIY and the mainstream? Or does it make Afro-Punk more needed than ever before?

"We will have succeeded when Afro-Punk is no longer relevant," Spooner said. "Clearly we are not there yet, but I'd like to believe that we are on our way. When that day comes, there will no doubt be a 14-year-old kid who flips off Afro-Punk and says, 'I'm starting my own thing,' and that's what they should do. I think that's the nature of scenes, and I wouldn't be mad at them. I would be like, 'Can I come to your show?' "

Photographers Bashira Webb, Richard Louissant and Ed Marshall Photography NYC contributed to this gallery and their sites are great sources for more Afro-Punk photography.

• How Afro-Punk Turned Into A Movement

• Afro-Punk: Five Years Of Rebellion

• Santigold
• TV On The Radio
• Janelle Monae

Tunde Adebimpe, Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt in "Rachel Getting Married"
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics

"Rachel Getting Married" isn't like any other Jonathan Demme movie. It's not like any other movie I can think of at all. This one is truly something wild.

The story begins with a black-sheep daughter named Kym (Anne Hathaway) checking out of her latest drug rehab and heading back to her family's country estate in Connecticut, where elaborate preparations are under way for the marriage of her white-sheep sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt). I don't know what alternative Nutmeg State this is supposed to be, but the notion of a wealthy white Connecticut family happily gathering to celebrate the nuptials of their daughter (a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, I believe) and her fiancé, an elegant black musician named Sidney (TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe), with an all-night multicultural rave on the vast back lawn struck me as, well, more likely to occur in a better world than the one in which we live. Characteristically, Demme, working from a lively script by first-time screenwriter Jenny Lumet, places no emphasis whatsoever on the movie's many racial and ethnic intertwinings, which suggests that he may already be living in that better world.

The most inventive aspect of the movie is that it's shot exactly like a wedding video, with handheld cameras careening in and out of focus and elbowing their way through sprawling groups of celebrants (the picture has a very large cast). Sometimes this narrative strategy can become a little too verissimo — when one after another of the rehearsal-dinner guests stands to hoist a glass and deliver a rambling salute to the happy couple, wedding-phobic viewers may feel like crawling out on the porch for a smoke. But as the story takes shape from the dialogue, much of which seems almost overheard, and from the characters' relationships, which are in many cases implied more than specified, Demme builds a vibrant portrayal of familial devotion, with all of its bitter little conflicts and buried sorrows. One can only marvel at the off-hand manner in which he's accomplished this.

The picture is distinguished by a number of fine performances, especially by Bill Irwin as the girls' nervously ebullient father and Debra Winger as their remarried mom, still emotionally absent even in her presence at the wedding. There are also several returning faces from past Demme films, among them "Sister" Carol East ("Something Wild"), Fab 5 Freddy ("The Manchurian Candidate"), Paul Lazar (the bobble-eyed bug guy in "The Silence of the Lambs") and lovable eccentric Robyn Hitchcock, who gets to sing two good songs. (The movie almost overflows with music, ranging from melancholy balalaika motifs to a romping Brazilian samba troupe.)

But the picture belongs to Hathaway. Burying her lush beauty under a raggedy hang of hair that looks as if it were styled with a bayonet, she's all raw nerves and inappropriate outbursts, the family bad girl who once did something so bad that Rachel, at least, has yet to forgive her. Could this be the night?

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Flash of Genius" and "Blindness," also new in theaters this week.

Check out everything we've got on "Rachel Getting Married."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

• "Rachel Getting Married"

• TV On The Radio

TV On The Radio
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — When word got out earlier this year that the switch would be flipped on the world's largest proton supercollider along the French-Swiss border, it triggered all sorts of mystified reactions. Trying to study the big-bang theory by re-creating the big bang seemed to be, well, misguided. What would happen if they actually succeeded? Would a black hole swallow the galaxy? Would another big bang eat everything in its path?

The development also triggered a reaction from TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek that, like others, lay somewhere between anger and absurdity. So he wrote a letter — not to a particular scientist or institution, but to the field of science itself. "Dear Science," it began.

"If I see something that ticks me off, I have a tendency to just really ... find the most absurd aspect of it so I can start laughing at it, and science was a pretty easy target," the scruffy guitarist and noisemaker said recently from a Brooklyn photo studio. "I mean, five really careless guys can wipe out the whole friggin' operation in, like, five seconds."

Sitek's letter, written on a yellow legal pad and tacked to the wall of the band's Brooklyn recording studio, subsequently became the impetus for the new TV on the Radio album Dear Science. It's the band's third full-length album and the follow-up to 2006's Return to Cookie Mountain, which saw the band grow out of the New York art-rock underground. (Sitek's entire letter serves as the liner notes to the new album, to be released Tuesday.)

While much of the band's music has dealt with the relationship between people — as lovers, as friends, as members of a community — Sitek's diatribe is part of the subtle rage against the machine that also serves as an undercurrent to TV on the Radio's contained musical chaos. The song "Crying," for example, is about "dismantling civilization, about taking responsibility for the world that we live in and figuring out a way to tear it down," according to guitarist and songwriter Kyp Malone. Meanwhile, "Red Dress" is the band's reaction to the last eight years of a George W. Bush presidency, because, as Sitek said, "There's no way in hell that we're ever going to get the opportunity to punch Dick Cheney in the face."

Dear Science plays more with upbeat dance rhythms and beats than TV on the Radio have ever explored before. The group's other singer and songwriter, Tunde Adebimpe, explained that the guys took that approach because they realized "it was more fun to have a dance party every night than a séance."

The album's first single, "Golden Age," is a good example of that. "It's just not wanting to write a song about complaint, basically," Malone said. "About these things that are sh--ty in the world and trying to present something optimistic ... taking some actual responsibility to make the world someplace we want it to be.

"And we can do it with dance!"

The band recently finished up a three-week West Coast tour and will soon begin a trek along the East Coast in October. Adebimpe can also be seen in the upcoming Jonathan Demme-directed movie "Rachel Getting Married" (which inspired the song "Family Tree" from the new album). The film opens September 26.

• TV On The Radio's Dear Science, Track By Track

• TV On The Radio

Photo: MTV News

• TV On The Radio

Lupe Fiasco
Photo: MTV News

• Lupe Fiasco
• Ben Harper
• Amy Winehouse
• Juliette & the Licks
• Kings Of Leon

Good Charlotte's <i>Good Morning Revival</i>
Photo: Sony Music

This year's Billboard albums charts have been shocker after shocker, with Daughtry, Lloyd and even potential "Where Ya Been?" candidate Musiq Soulchild claiming the crown in recent months. This week's slate of new releases is full of powerhouses, which might make next week's chart even tougher to predict.

Here are 10 top-tier candidates and why each one has a shot at making a dent on this week's chart.

Good Charlotte's Good Morning Revival: For their fourth album, the Madden brothers took their posse back to where it started by enlisting producer Don Gilmore, who worked on their self-titled debut in 2000. But unlike before, the band collaborated with another artist for the first time ever on one of their albums: Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows and Synyster Gates, who appear on the first single, "The River."

Advantage: The band's 2004 effort, The Chronicles of Life and Death, reached #3 on the chart and went platinum.

Jennifer Lopez's Como Ama Una Mujer: ¡Por fin! Fans of the pop singer have been waiting forever for a Spanish-language album, and she delivers with an assist from producer/hubby Marc Anthony. Estefano and Julio Reyes also sit behind the boards, trying to figure out just exactly how a woman loves. Songs include: "Me Haces Falta," "Qué Hiciste" and "Te Voy a Querer."

Advantage: Like Good Charlotte, the singer's most recent album — 2005's Rebirth — landed in the top three (#2, in fact) and sold more than a million copies.

Various artists' Now That's What I Call Music! 24: The hit series of hit collections encompasses 20 pipin'-hot singles this time around, including "Irreplaceable" (Beyoncé), "My Love" (Justin Timberlake), "Promise" (Ciara), "Fergalicious" (Fergie), Daughtry ("It's Not Over") and the All-American Rejects ("It Ends Tonight").

Advantage: This series is all about the numbers, and the numbers tell it all: last year's 23 was the 10th Now installment to hit #1 and was the second-fastest album to go double-platinum last year.

Young Buck's Buck the World: Could a guest list get much more seismic than this? For the rapper's second effort, Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent produce; Young Jeezy, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, Snoop, T.I., 8Ball and MJG, Jazze Pha, Pimp C, Bun B and 50 guest. Talk about universal appeal.

Advantage: The G-Unit member has been unintentionally in the limelight after becoming tangentially involved in the 50 Cent/ Cam'ron feud, which could wind up helping sales. Buck's debut, Straight Outta Cashville, opened at #3 and has sold a million and a half copies.

Lil' Flip's I Need Mine: The freestyle king piles a staggering 35 tracks onto his new two-disc set. His guest lineup doesn't quite measure up to Buck's, but it's not one to brush off, either: Chamillionaire, Lyfe Jennings, Three 6 Mafia, Mannie Fresh, Nate Dogg and Bun B pay visits.

Advantage: This Houston duder moved more than 100,000 copies of his Leprechaun debut before even getting signed to a major — with this Warner Bros. release, he'll certainly eclipse that number.

Macy Gray's Big: Macy who? The singer may have slid down the ladder in recent years, but a bevy of her friends haven't lost faith in her: The Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am is delivering this LP through his Will.I.Am Music Group partnership with Geffen, and Justin Timberlake, Nas, Fergie, Natalie Cole and Will himself hopped onboard.

Advantage: Big numbers probably aren't on the horizon for the singer — her last studio LP, 2003's The Trouble With Being Myself, opened at a flimsy #44. Now that she's signed to Will's label, she might see some slightly stronger numbers this time around.

Tha Dogg Pound's Dogg Ch--: The group just issued a comeback LP in July, but they're back with more doggie treats this week. This set features the Game ("Anybody Killa"), Snoop (first single, "Vibe With a Pimp"), Too Short ("Can't Get Enuff") and more top West Coast talent.

Advantage: This is the Pound's first self-produced album since their 1995 debut, Dogg Food. That effort went double-platinum ... could this one too?

Prodigy's Return of the Mac: Not to be confused with the rock band of the same name, one-half of Mobb Deep steps up this week with a new effort. The Alchemist-produced release is littered with samples of '70s soul songs, and is being classified as a mixtape for that reason — even though 50 Cent was reportedly so enthusiastic about the set that he wanted to issue it as a proper release. The Circuit City edition has three extra slices: "My Priorities," "That's That" (featuring Havoc) and "Last Words" (featuring Kokane).

Advantage: People seem to buy CDs that involve this guy "50 Cent."

Redman's Red Gone Wild: Thee Album: It's one thing for an album to bump, but for it to be postponed for nearly two years? Leave that to Red, who'll probably blame his partying ways. This is yet another LP heavy with guest spots — incorrigible cohort Method Man, plus Snoop, Erick Sermon, Keith Murray, Nate Dogg and Biz Markie all pay 'em. Scott Storch, Timbaland and Rockwilder produce to boot.

Advantage: The "H.R. Pufnstuf"-esque album cover is one of the more colorful illustrations to grace a rap release in recent memory. Maybe it'll distract consumers from the zillion other rap releases this week.

Kaiser Chiefs' Yours Truly, Angry Mob: Make room for the rock! Two years ago, the new wavers' Employment debut opened in the top 100 — not bad for a Brit-pop band in the U.S. Songs include "Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)," "Learnt My Lesson Well" and "Everything Is Average Nowadays."

Advantage: The beefy deluxe edition is hard to say no to: It features a bonus DVD featuring six songs performed in Berlin last year and a 10-minute documentary, 24-page booklet and comes in digipak form.

Song Title of the Week:

"When Vegans Attack" from Clutch's From Beale Street to Oblivion

Other Notables:

TV on the Radio's Live at Amoeba: TV on the Radio not in the top 10, even though their Return to Cookie Mountain debuted at #41 and made it to virtually every best-of list last year? Well, that's because even hard-core fans might have a little trouble getting their hands on this limited-edition concert EP, which is only available at Amoeba Music stores. It features four Cookie cuts recorded at Amoeba's Hollywood location in September: "Blues From Down Here," "Wolf Like Me," "Province" and "Wash the Day." Hurry up — the CD is only available for 30 days but comes with a rare poster (and it only costs six bucks).

Various artists' Interpretations: Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire: With Musiq Soulchild all the rage all over again right now, his cover of EW&F's "Reasons" should give the tribute compendium an extra boost. The long-in-the-works salute — part of the Stax label's 50th anniversary festivities — also features Angie Stone ("Be Ever Wonderful"), Chaka Khan ("Shining Star") and more.

The Fall's Reformation Post-T.L.C.: After tireless frontman Mark E. Smith's guitarists and drummer bailed on him and keyboardist/wife Eleni Poulou mid-tour in the summer, he enlisted a new backing band to take over. After the stint, the new configuration then recorded this 14-track opus, which comes with enhanced video capturing concert clips, extended songs and more.

New Releases:

· Alabama - Songs of Inspiration II (RCA)
· Antelope - Reflector (Dischord)
· Che Arthur - Iron (Sickroom)
· The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Ekranoplan (Tee Pee)
· David Ball - Heartaches by the Number (Shanachie)
· The John Butler Trio - Grand National (Atlantic) [Buy Now]
· Todd Carey - Watching Waiting (High Wire)
· Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion (DRT)
· Daphne Loves Derby - Good Night, Witness Light (Outlook)
· The Fall - Reformation Post-T.L.C. (enhanced; Narnack)
· Filthy Thieving Bastards - I'm a Son of a Gun (digipak; BYO)
· Good Charlotte - Good Morning Revival (Epic) [Buy Now]
Read: "Good Charlotte Don Their Dance Shoes For Feel-Good Revival"
· Macy Gray - Big (Geffen) [Buy Now]
Read: "Justin, Will.I.Am, Outkast Give Big Love To Macy Gray"
· Kate Havnevik - Melankton (Republic)
· Hot Rod Circuit - The Underground Is a Dying Breed (Immortal)
· Jack Ingram - This Is It (Big Machine)
· Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob (deluxe edition comes with DVD; Universal) [Buy Now]
· Drew Kennedy - Dollar Theater Movie (Sustain)
· Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future (Geffen)
· Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - More Behind the Picture Than the Wall (Rounder)
· Lesbian - Power Hör (Holy Mountain)
· Lil' Flip - I Need Mine (two CDs; Warner Bros./ Asylum) [Buy Now]
Read: "Lil' Flip 'Back In The Zone' With New Label, LP, Reality Show"
· Jennifer Lopez - Como Ama Una Mujer (Epic) [Buy Now]
Read: "Jennifer Lopez Says New Single Came From Marc Anthony's Dream"
· Machine Head - The Blackening (Roadrunner) [Buy Now]
· Madina Lake - From Them, Through Us, To You (Roadrunner)
· Moses Mayfield - The Inside (Columbia)
· Tim McGraw - Let It Go (Curb) [Buy Now]
· Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion (Casablanca) [Buy Now]
· MIMS - Music Is My Savior (Capitol) [Buy Now]
· Grant-Lee Phillips - Strangelet (Zoë/Rounder)
· Prodigy - Return of the Mac (Koch) [Buy Now]
· Redman - Red Gone Wild: Thee Album (Def Jam) [Buy Now]
· David Russell - Art of the Guitar (Telarc)
· Peggy Seeger - Three Score and Ten (live; two CDs; Appleseed)
· Tha Dogg Pound - Dogg Ch-- (Koch) [Buy Now]
· Thes One - Lifestyle Marketing (two CDs; Wax Orchard)
· Turtle Island Quartet - A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane (Telarc)
· TV on the Radio - Live at Amoeba (limited-edition EP available at Amoeba Music stores and online only)
· Kim Waters - You Are My Lady (Shanachhe)
· Mary Weiss - Dangerous Game (Norton)
· Mare Winningham - Refuge Rock Sublime (digipak; Craig N' Co.)
· Young Buck - Buck the World (Interscope) [Buy Now]
Read: "Track By Track: Young Buck Says G-Unit Are Alive And Well On World"
· Various artists - Cielo: Seventh Heaven (two CDs; Kinkysweet)
· Various artists - Disney Mania 5 (Disney)
· Various artists - Interpretations: Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire (Stax)
· Various artists - Now That's What I Call Music! 24 (EMI/ Sony BMG/ Universal/ Zomba)
· Various artists - "Meet the Robinsons" soundtrack (Disney)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· Alabama - 16 Biggest Hits (RCA)
· Bobby Bare - 16 Biggest Hits (RCA)
· James Brown - 1's (Polydor/UMe)
· The Cannonball Adderley Quartet - The Cannonball Adderley Quartet in San Francisco (Blue Note)
· Guy Clark - The South Coast of Texas (DBK Works)
· The Doors - The Doors, L.A. Woman, Morrison Hotel, The Soft Parade, Strange Days and Waiting for the Sun (Rhino)
· Kenny Dorham - Jazz Contrasts (Blue Note)
· Joe Henderson - Power to the People (Blue Note)
· Elton John - Rocket Man: Number Ones (limited edition comes with DVD; Island/UMe)
· Katrina & the Waves - Premium Gold Collection (Caroline)
· Patty Loveless - 16 Biggest Hits (RCA)
· Ronnie Milsap - 16 Biggest Hits (RCA)
· Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington (Blue Note)
· Wes Montgomery - Full House (Blue Note)
· Stevie Nicks - Crystal Visions: The Very Best of Stevie Nicks (also available with DVD; Reprise)
· Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Junk Culture (Caroline)
· Diana Ross & the Supremes - 1's (Polydor/UMe)
· Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter - Live at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival (Image)
· Feargal Sharkey - Feargal Sharkey (Caroline)
· Bonnie Tyler - Heart Strings (Caroline)
· Ultravox - Vienna (Caroline)
· Warren Zevon - Envoy, Excitable Boy and Stand in the Fire (Rhino)
· Various artists - Putumayu Presents: Gypsy Groove (Putumayu)
· Various artists - "Pokémon X: 10 Years of Pokémon" soundtrack (Koch)

Music DVDs:

· Stanley Clarke - "Night School: An Evening of Stanley Clarke & Friends" (Heads Up)
· Engelbert Humperdinck - "Live in Concert" (Kultur)
· Cledus T. Judd - "The Essenshul Video Collection" (Razor & Tie)
· John Prine - "Live on Soundstage 1980" (Shout! Factory)
· Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter - "Live at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival" (Image)
· Joan Sutherland - "The Reluctant Prima Donna" (Kultur)
· John Williams - "The Seville Concert" (Kultur)

Coming Attractions:

April 3:

· The Academy Is ... - Santi (Atlantic) Read: "The Academy Is ... Say New Album Sounds Nothing Like Fall Out Boy"
· Beyoncé - B-Day - Deluxe Edition (with bonus CD; Columbia)
Read: "Beyonce Turns Heads With Sports Illustrated Cover, Shakira Duet"
· Hilary Duff - Dignity (Hollywood)
· Paul Wall - Get Money - Stay True (Atlantic)
Read: " 'Mature' Paul Wall Still Raps About Girls, Grills With Mariah, T.I."
· Shadows Fall - Threads of Life (Atlantic)
Read: "Dave Grohl's Party Calls Can't Distract Shadows Fall From Recording LP"

April 10:

· Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (Saddle Creek)
Read: "Bright Eyes Slim Down With Single LP, Fatten Up With Loads Of Collabos"
· Hellyeah - Hellyeah (Epic)
Read: "Vinnie Paul Returns To Make 'Hellacious' Magic With Hellyeah"
· Various artists - Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack (William Street)

April 17:

· Bones Thugs-N-Harmony - Strength and Loyalty (Full Surface/ Interscope)
Read: "Bone Thugs Dropping Two New LPs; Second Disc To Feature Dre, Kanye, Mariah"
· Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing (deluxe limited edition with DVD due same day; RCA)
Read: "Don't Know How To Spell 'Avril Lavigne'? Prepare To Be Scolded"
· Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (Nothing)
Read: "Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero Preview: Beginning To Solve The Mystery"

• MTV News RAW: Good Charlotte

• Good Charlotte
• Jennifer Lopez
• Young Buck
• Lil' Flip
• Macy Gray

TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe
Photo: Mark Mainz/Getty Images

TV on the Radio began 2007 perched atop many critics' top-10 lists for their second full-length album, Return to Cookie Mountain. But while the Brooklyn, New York, band was being anointed one of the most original rock outfits to emerge in years, its five members were taking a self-imposed break from promoting the lauded disc.

That vacation is now coming to its end as the group kicked off a six-week North American headlining tour Thursday night in Providence.

"It's incredibly important to [step away] for a while, because I think it's the things we do outside the band that makes time in the band that much richer," singer Tunde Adebimpe said. "I've been sleeping a lot more, drawing a bunch."

"I've been cooking, reading, hanging out with my daughter," added guitarist Kyp Malone. "Everyone is active and doing creative work still, and that's part of the process of taking a break. You need to live some life so you don't end up writing a record that's only about the Village Voice or being on tour."

TV on the Radio have no immediate plans to record a follow-up to the disc, which generated the werewolf-laden video for single "Wolf Like Me" (see "TV On The Radio Cast Werewolves, 'America's Next Top Model' In New Video"), though Adebimpe has begun sketching out several songs. "The plan now is to take a bit of a break after this tour and do something next year," he said. "I've been writing like I always do, but I don't think to myself, 'This will make a good TV on the Radio song.' But if at the end of a couple of months I have a bunch of songs, [Malone] is the first person I'll bring it to and see if it works."

Guitarist Dave Sitek spent his time off producing new music from Massive Attack and remixing artists like the Knife and Beck; both Adebimpe and Malone have performed solo shows in the last month around New York. It's a good way, they say, to keep the accolades for their band in perspective.

"It's incredibly flattering and encouraging," Adebimpe said. "But it's also easily the weirdest thing in the world. Sometimes people will put an immediate and final stamp on what you're doing, something you made a long time ago, and it's not even a conversation you've had with yourself yet."

"We're fortunate that it didn't happen overnight and that we have a really strong community of friends we've been fostering for 10-years-plus," Malone added. "Those people are still there, and they know who we are outside of whatever media persona is being projected on us or that we're projecting outwardly."

TV on the Radio tour dates, according to the band's publicist:

· 3/2 - Boston, MA @ Avalon
· 3/3 - Montreal, QC @ Olympia de Montreal
· 3/4 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
· 3/6 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
· 3/7 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
· 3/8 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
· 3/9 - Louisville, KY @ W.L. Lyons Brown Theatre
· 3/10 - Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
· 3/12 - Chicago, IL @ Metro/ Smart Bar
· 3/13 - Chicago, IL @ Metro/ Smart Bar
· 3/15 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
· 3/17 - Kansas City, MO @ Voodoo Lounge
· 3/20 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
· 3/21 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
· 3/23 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
· 3/24 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
· 3/25 - Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
· 3/28 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
· 3/29 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
· 3/30 - Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box @ Fonda
· 3/31 - Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box @ Fonda
· 4/1 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
· 4/4 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
· 4/5 - Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
· 4/6 - Houston, TX @ Meridian
· 4/7 - New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
· 4/9 - Orlando, FL @ The Club at Firestone
· 4/10 - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
· 4/12 - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
· 4/13 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
· 4/14 - Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
· 4/15 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
· 4/17 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
· 4/18 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
· 4/20 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero & Balcony Bar
· 4/21 - Poughkeepsie, NY @ Vassar College

• TV On The Radio

Woodie Awards 2006 Performers

• Imogen Heap
• Beck
• Gym Class Heroes
• TV On The Radio

Inside San Fran's Outside Lands Festival

• Silversun Pickups
• The Duke Spirit
• Q-Tip
• Thievery Corporation
• Incubus

Nine Inch Nails, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Many More At Bonnaroo 2009

• Nine Inch Nails
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Erykah Badu
• Snoop Dogg
• MGMT

Discover And Download:TV On The Radio

• TV On The Radio

Beck, 30 Seconds To Mars, Lupe Fiasco, More At The 2006 mtvU Woodie Awards

• Beck
• The Subways
• 30 Seconds To Mars
• Lupe Fiasco
• Lady Sovereign

2004 Shortlist Music Prize concert, 11.15.2004

• TV On The Radio
• Dizzee Rascal
• Nellie McKay

CMJ Music Marathon 2004 in NYC October 13-16

• The Faint
• TV On The Radio
• Har Mar Superstar
• The Concretes
• The Dears

Siren Music Festival in Coney Island, NYC 07.17.2004

• Death Cab For Cutie
• Blonde Redhead
• ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
• TV On The Radio
• Har Mar Superstar