Nine Types of Light by TV on the Radio

Nine Types of Light, TV on the Radio's fourth album, arrived on April 11, 2011, through Interscope, and it's the Brooklyn band at its warmest and most unguarded. Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone share the vocals, Dave Sitek layers guitars, keyboards and loops, Jaleel Bunton holds down the drums, and bassist Gerard Smith anchors the bottom end.

This one glows: slow-burning grooves and songs that take their time. "Will Do", the lead single, came out that February, a tender, swaying slow jam that's among the loveliest things they ever cut, and the closing "Caffeinated Consciousness" was handed out as a free download on the band's website in March. The album carries a sad footnote: it was Smith's last with the band, and he lost his fight with lung cancer just nine days after its release.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.