Nine Types of Light

Nine Types of Light is the fourth studio album by American art rock band TV on the Radio, released on April 11, 2011 through Interscope Records.

The album's lead single "Will Do" was released on February 23, 2011. Its closing track, "Caffeinated Consciousness", was made available on the band's website as a free download on March 10, 2011.

Nine Types of Light was very well received by critics and has a "Universal Acclaim" rating of 82 at review aggregating website Metacritic.

It is the final TV on the Radio album to feature bassist Gerard Smith, who died of lung cancer nine days after it was released.

Film

The band created an accompanying film to go with the album, an hourlong visual companion that offers music videos for all of Nine Types of Light's tracks. Packaged with a deluxe version of the CD, the film also exists on YouTube in its entirety. Characterized by eclectic visual style and thematic content as well as TV on the Radio's diverse, unique sound, the film allows for a different interpretation and method of experiencing the album. Directed by singer Tunde Adebimpe (with different directors helming the individual clips, see below for list), the film also features interviews with a variety of New Yorkers discussing topics including dreams, love, fame, and the future. A humorous epilogue, set to the song "You" and featuring the band members meeting for lunch ten years after a fictional breakup, concludes the film. Overall, the work can be seen as Afrofuturistic, particularly the video for "Will Do," which incorporates virtual-reality technology to tell a unique love story starring Adebimpe and Joy Bryant.

Future Shock

Future Shock is a book written by the futurist Alvin Toffler in 1970. In the book, Toffler defines the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. His shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of "too much change in too short a period of time". The book, which became an international bestseller, grew out of an article "The Future as a Way of Life" in Horizon magazine, Summer 1965 issue. The book has sold over 6 million copies and has been widely translated.

A documentary film based on the book was released in 1972 with Orson Welles as on-screen narrator.

Term

Toffler argued that society is undergoing an enormous structural change, a revolution from an industrial society to a "super-industrial society". This change overwhelms people. He believed the accelerated rate of technological and social change left people disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation"—future shocked. Toffler stated that the majority of social problems are symptoms of future shock. In his discussion of the components of such shock, he popularized the term "information overload."

Future Shock (film)

Future Shock is a 1972 American short documentary film directed by Alex Grasshoff and narrated by Orson Welles. It was screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition. It is based on the book of the same name.

See also

References

External links

Future Shock (TV series)

Future Shock is a television variety show produced and hosted by James Brown in the mid-1970s. Shot in Augusta and Atlanta, Georgia and broadcast late on Friday nights on the Ted Turner-owned UHF station WTCG, it featured local amateurs performing a variety of popular and emerging dance styles, including disco, locking and popping, and early breakdancing, to prerecorded music. Brown and his musical guests also performed briefly. Other regular features included dance contests, interviews, and segments on African-American history. "Future Shock (Dance Your Pants Off)", a song written by Brown and recorded by Maceo Parker with The J.B.'s, served as the show's nominal theme music, though it was not consistently used.

Following the example of Soul Train, Future Shock was syndicated nationwide in the United States, but it failed to attract sponsors and ceased production within three years. It has not been officially released on recorded media, and with the exception of a handful of episodes recordings of the show have long been presumed lost.