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Watch TV on the Radio’s Meteoric, Mixed-Medium ‘Mercy’ Video

TV on the Radio, TVOTR, "Mercy," video

TV on the Radio continue to offer their own instructive take on what Jay Z dubbed “the new rules.” At a time when album sales aren’t what they once were, the Brooklyn art-rock masters have yet to announce a proper follow-up to 2011’s Nine Types of Light, their last album with late bassist Gerard Smith. But TVOTR have been steadily sharing new songs and videos in recent weeks, and their involved, impressive clip for hard-charging new-wave blast “Mercy” (via MySpace) further suggests the guys might be onto something with their current approach.

The video begins and ends in deep space, visiting cities and a beach in the meantime. The wide range of visuals — and their expert execution — would be intriguing enough in its own right, but the meteor-chasing images also make for a neat sort of complement to the earthly acid trip of last week’s “Million Miles” video. As Rolling Stone reports, Dawn Garcia directed the video, using a mix of digital animation, stop-motion, scale models, and live action. “Have mercy,” TVOTR’s Kyp Malone pleads, and though he obviously doesn’t mean it in a Jesse Katsopolis sense, well — the clip is pretty good-lookin’.