TV on the Radio - Dear Science

TV on the Radio is more than just a band — it is a generational phenomenon. Just as The Beatles spearheaded the free-wheeling hippie spirit of the 1960s and Nirvana embodied the apathy of the early 1990s, TV on the Radio articulates the claustrophobia of the new millennium. Its music doesn’t offer any answers or sound any alarms, but it expresses what many of us feel in the Information Age — overstimulation. Technology has made the world smaller, more complex and more volatile. TV on the Radio is a band borne of these circumstances — politically aware, brazenly emotional, confused and restless. The group is an invaluable artifact of our generation, and one of the most important bands going today.

One would be forgiven for harboring unreasonably high expectations for the band’s new album, Dear Science. Its last, Return to Cookie Mountain, was not only one of the finest records of the new millennium, but also one of the most original. Notoriously difficult to pigeon-hole into a specific genre, TV on the Radio’s sound lies somewhere at the impossible junction of art rock, post-punk, jazz, funk and trip-hop. Return to Cookie Mountain brought those myriad influences together in a way that, for the first time in the group’s history, sounded complete and organic.

Dear Science is drastically different from its predecessor — it’s funkier and angrier, more direct and much catchier — but it’s just as good. Guitarist/producer David Sitek has peeled away much of the sonic sludge that characterized the band’s earlier work, producing a record that sounds squeaky clean in comparison to its siblings. Songwriting duties are evenly split between co-frontmen Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, distinct personalities with some of the most expressive, versatile voices in rock music. They make for great counterpoints — Adebimpe’s songs are overt and impassioned, while Malone’s are subtle and contemplative.

“Dancing Choose” is an excellent snapshot of the nervous tension underlying Adebimpe’s work. The song, a fierce indictment of our unconscious media consumption, is both charmingly awkward and seething with vitriolic anger. Adebimpe is barely able to contain his frustration, half-rapping his forceful verses before hitting a relatively subdued, melodic chorus.

"Dancing Choose" on the Late Show With David Letterman; 9/26/2008
Malone’s music, on the other hand, is best exemplified by “Golden Age”. Musically, the song is the polar opposite of “Dancing Choose” — a sexy dance track complete with a slinky Michael Jackson bass line and soaring disco strings. Malone has little of Adebimpe’s intensity but he compensates with a keen sense of melody and fantastic vocal work.

These two songs (both of which have been released as singles) may serve as Dear Science’s most immediate highlights, but in truth, there isn’t a weak point to be found on the record. It’s all aces, from the headlong opener “Halfway Home” to the perversely celebratory closer “Lover’s Day.”

In light of the presidential race that seems to grow more urgent with each passing day and a critically wounded financial structure hovering at the precipice of collapse, Dear Science’s message of uncertainty and ambiguity couldn’t have been better synchronized with the zeitgeist. We may not know what direction the world is headed in, but at least we’ve got the perfect soundtrack to accompany our rapid descent into chaos.

Originally written for the Cavalier Daily:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/news/2008/oct/02/science-enhances-tv/