>where are the white antecedents for the vocals and the vocal
>harmonies?

imo, the middle eight and chorus of dancing choose come in, sound pretty white. i cant think of many R&B/soul guys doing melodies like that. thats almost like some keane/coldplay thing. even when they do harmonising, like on that pixies cover, i dunno, i dont hear it and think 'oh thats like some new doo wop', i think 'oh its some guys whove been singing rock music all their lives trying to do some doo wop type harmonies' lol. doo-rock if you will (ho ho).

>and their sound?
>
>which to me, while certainly rock, is also a mixture of soul
>and funk and electronic shit

but theres a ton of rock that has soul/funk/electronic influence! doesnt mean its not rock. its about the sum of the parts, rather than just looking at the parts on their own. otherwise wed be playing 'trace the roots' all day. personally, i find tvotrs vocals about as 'soul' as mick from the dirtbombs (ie not very). they can do tender but theres always a 'coldness' (though this might be to do with how they seem to like that peter gabriel-y 'boxy' effect too).

>but who do they sound like?

well not many people. thats one good thing about them. i still maintain they sounded 'funkier' back before they became a band, when they were more electronic (ie young liars, ok calculator). when they started to sound more live, they got more cluttered sounding imo, and more rock.