One of the most exciting musical acts that will play at the Festival Imperial this year is TV on the Radio, a Brooklyn-based band that has been producing an interesting brand of indie rock. TV on the Radio may not be as popular as some of the other acts playing at Festival Imperial, such as Maroon Five and Bjork, but they are darlings of the finicky indie rock critic industry spearheaded by Pitchfork Media, Spin Magazine, and hard-to-please hipsters who think Arcade Fire hasn’t put out anything cool since 2004.

The band got its start as a duo in 2001. Founding members Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone first got together in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City, and by 2002 they had self-released a demo song collection that they burned into CDs. The demo, which is 18 tracks long, was titled OK Calculator, a subtle take on the multi-platinum selling album OK Computer by Radiohead.

The initial distribution method of OK Calculator followed the strict code of indie rock ethos; as it was left at cafes by Adebimpe and Malone themselves. TV on the Radio would later go on tour and began selling OK Calculator, which by now has achieved cult status. Hipsters who managed to get their hands on an original copy of OK Calculator are the coolest kids on the block, even though Adebimpe and Malone admitted that the recording was raw and experimental at best.

Things have fared much better for the Nigeria-born Adebimpe, Malone and the current lineup of TV on the Radio since OK Calculator. The 2008 album Dear Science was voted best of the year by music publications such as Rolling Stone and Spin. Music critics absolutely love the band’s singular approach to composition and instrumentation, as well as the amazing vocal work of the Nigeria-born Adebimpe and other band members.

A Unique Style

Most Ticos who know about TV on the Radio were introduced to the band thanks to their single Will Do from the 2011 album Nine Types of Light. The song has enjoyed heavy airplay at 104.7 FM HIT. Enjoying Will Do is a matter of love at first listen. The first couple of lyrical lines hooks the listeners with a masterful vocal delivery:

“It may be impractical to seek out a new romance

We won’t know the actual if we never take the chance”

The particular style of TV on the Radio is hard to pin down. The band fits into many categories and then none, and it is often labeled as an art-rock musical act. The band has cited Bad Brains, Nancy Sinatra, Wire, and even Brian Eno as influences. If there is one band that TV on the Radio can be compared to, it probably would be Suicide. The New York duo of Alan Vega and Martin Rev were revolutionary in their eclectic approach to rock, as they were the first to inject a synthesizer treatment to the nascent genre of punk music in the 1970s.  Just like Suicide, TV on the Radio is on its way to becoming a seminal band that will shape music for years to come.

You can catch TV on the Radio live at the Festival Imperial just by liking The Costa Rica Star on Facebook. The winner of two weekend passes to this amazing music event will be drawn on Sunday, March 18^th. Good luck!