Thursday, June 16th 2011

News:  TV On The Radio

Watch Tinariwen And TV On The Radio Join Forces

By Morad Moazami

The desert-rock African blues group Tinariwen have been around for over three decades now, and in the past several years they have received great international fame for their beautiful blend of traditional African music, Arabic pop music and more Western-inspired electric-guitar based tunes. This internationally admired band of Tuareg musicians (which mostly consists of Saharan inhabitants of North Africa) has also caught the attention of many noteworthy musicians such as Trent Reznor, Robert Plant, Thom Yorke, Henry Rollins, Brian Eno, and fellow rising stars, TV on the Radio.

Most members of the band have been children of war and military conflict in their areas of inhabitance and thus their music has a passion and vigor that cannot be duplicated in a European or North American setting. Thankfully, through years of touring, their music and their voice has gained the attention of many around the world, and the consistently-growing band has been able to recruit some of the most talented musicians of our time for the release of their newest studio album, Tassili, due out on August 30^th. This list of musician includes: long-time Wilco member Nels Cline on guitar, contributions by New Orleans’ The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and what some would call the backbone of TV on the Radio, the pair of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone.

The video has been unveiled for Tenere Taqqim Tossam, a song beautiful in both sound and sight (including the aforementioned contrabass from TVOTR) off Tinariwen’s most recent effort. It most certainly is worth your time and your ears.

If you like what you hear, be sure to catch the band on the road, as they will be touring Europe and North America throughout the summer and fall of 2011. You can see the dates on the band’s official website.