NY residents Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Kyp Malone from TV on The Radio have a lot in common. Not merely the gritty city of their birth, but also their mutual ability to craft beautifully haunting tracks which linger long after the LP is finished. With Miles’ eponymous LP about to drop and Kyp Malone’s solo project Rain Machine dropping in Autumn, we thought we’d get them to speak about their first meeting, musical tastes and, according to Miles, their similar tastes in women.
 
Dazed Digital: How did you guys meet?
Miles: I was getting stoned in the back of the store my girlfriend worked at. When I came out Kyp was hitting on her at the counter. It turned out we were both going to the Grizzly Bear record release show for Horn of Plenty that night. I hadn't heard it yet, so he lent me that and like five other CDs on the spot. He probably felt guilty for hitting on my girlfriend.

DD: What do you like about each other’s sound?
Kyp: Miles writes classic songs, which sometimes means rewriting someone else's classic song. Not by any means a plagarist, he just wears his influences on his sleeve. He is in my opinion without a contemporary rival when it comes to story telling. Creating nuanced, breathing character portraits inside of pop structures.
Miles: Kyp writes epic dirty surreal lyrics, shares my penchant for early nineties guitar-indie and has pioneered a unique and impressive vocal style that people are already imitating (Bon Iver, I'm looking at you dude). Now that he has harnessed the awesome power of rhythm he is practically a force of fucking nature. There's also an old solo song of his where there's a repeated whistling hook that's, like, my favorite ever.

DD: NYC or LA?
Miles: NY in the fall and spring. LA in the winter. Portland in the summer.
Kyp: I'm not a regionalist. Both places have their pros and cons. And the cultural differences are slighter than they are made out to be. LA riots, NY shops. Both are good for stress relief.

DD: What’s the NY vibe bubbling up right now?
Kyp: Urban farming, landlords dropping acid and relinquishing control, drum circles, potlucks, radical puppetry, and house shows.
Miles: I don't know. I got mad at New York and left for the summer.