As co-leader of festival favorite avant-rockers TV on The Radio, Kyp Malone is known for both a bushy beard and a strident songwriting style that is filled with washes of guitar noise and soul-power singing – equal parts Radiohead, David Bowie and Sam Cooke. So it’s something of a disappointment that his first solo record (under the band name Rain Machine) focuses on the least-tangible qualities of his musicianship: following a couple of songs that could be TVOTR’s Return to Cookie Mountain outtakes (the roaring “Give Blood” and the harmony-laden “New Last Name” ), the album devolves into a raft of melody-less wondering, the most offensive of which is the nearly 11-minute “Winter Song,” which meanders through acoustic strumming, unlistenable caterwauling and needless jingle-belling before thankfully coming to a close.