Picture shows: Tim Exile performing live at Festival Les Transmusicales 2008 Rennes France

Picture shows: Tim Exile performing live at Festival Les Transmusicales 2008 Rennes France

Picture shows: Tim Exile performing live at Festival Les Transmusicales 2008 Rennes France

Picture shows: Tim Exile performing live at Festival Les Transmusicales 2008 Rennes France

Picture shows: Tim Exile performing live at Festival Les Transmusicales 2008 Rennes France

Picture shows: Tim Exile performing live at Festival Les Transmusicales 2008 Rennes France

Picture shows: TV on the Radio performing live at the festival "Les Vieilles Charrues" on 17 july 2009

One of most innovative bands of the 2000s, this Brooklyn-based quintet blends a slew of disparate elements —electronics, indie guitar rock, free jazz, funk, soul and a cappella doo-wop vocals —into a vibrant and arty sound that recalls Funkadelic, the Beach Boys, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Otis Redding and even Aphex Twin. It isn’t exactly pop music, but TV on the Radio earned loads of praise from critics and fans alike with its major-label debut, Return to Cookie Mountain in 2006, and its 2008 follow-up Dear Science.

Tunde Adebimpe, who grew up in Nigeria surrounded by Indian and African musical styles, and his roommate David Andrew Sitek, producer of underground rock acts such as the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Liars, formed TV on the Radio in 2001. Adebimpe and Sitek were both visual artists: Adebimpe had worked as an animator on MTV’s "Celebrity Death Match," and Sitek painted. As TVOTR, the pair self-released a bizarre, lo-fi collection of songs called OK Calculator, a Zappa-esque album whose title parodied Radiohead's OK Computer. A buzz grew around the duo, which expanded into a full band with the arrival of guitarist Kyp Malone, drummer Jaleel Bunton and bassist Gerard Smith.

Picture shows: TV on the Radio performing live at the festival "Les Vieilles Charrues" on 17 july 2009

Picture shows: TV on the Radio performing live at the festival "Les Vieilles Charrues" on 17 july 2009