Dear Science, | TV on the Radio | What good music is all about.

Dear Science, | TV on the Radio | Arty and accessible!

popular music:

Dear Science,

	Dear Science, TV on the Radio DGC/Interscope, 2008 average customer review:based on 44 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

What good music is all about.

There was something about 'Return To Cookie Mountain' that intrigued me and I tried repeatedly to get into that record. Ultimately, I came away liking only a couple of the songs but also with great respect for the band's creativity. It was an unusual combination of feelings.

For me, 'Dear Science' resolves that conflict. There is no sacrifice in imagination or creativity and the songs have a more accessible style which peaks in track two, 'Crying'. However, there is no lack of dark sentiment here, both musically and lyrically. In particular, 'Halfway Home' and 'Family Tree' two of the record's highlights, generate a feeling of weird dread and disturbance due to the ideas and pictures they suggest but never fully reveal.

While all the lyrics are interesting and fit very well with the music, vocalist Tunde Adebimpe's lyrics are are nothing short of poetry. His narrative sketches are, at times, almost hypnotic.

Guitarist David Sitek's production is noticeable for the intelligent balance it strikes between the Jaleel Bunton's multi-level drumming styles and nice touches of horns here and there amongst the synths and vocals.

As for the deluxe edition? There are actually sixteen tracks, with track twelve being exactly four minutes of silence. The four extra tracks are worth the extra cash. 'Make Love All Night Long' is a good song but not quite as good as the album tracks. 'Heroic Dose' clocks in at about seven minutes and has a spoken french vocal over electronics and horns - also pretty good. 'Dancing Choose' is the only song I don't like on the record and so the remix leaves me cold too. The remix of 'Crying' is a little longer than the original at 4.29 and stays faithful to the original version with the addition of extra synths and some cutting and pasting of the vocals.

Album of the year? Well, what does that mean anyway? That said, for me, 'Dear Science' is one of the top three records of the year, along with 'Consolers Of The Lonely' by The Raconteurs and 'The Seldom Seen Kid' by Elbow.

for more information click here

Arty and accessible!

I had never heard of New Yorkers TV on the Radio until I read a glowing review of their new CD in my favourite music magazine, Q. Now Q are notoriously stingy about handing out even four stars to albums, so I was really interested when I saw they gave this CD five stars.

TV on the Radio are a 5 man band led by Nigerian-born Tunde Adebimpe. Adebimpe is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and besides being a musician is also an actor and director. All this artiness carries over to their sound which is a hybrid of Rock, Electronica, Jazz, and even Afrobeat. Having never heard anything else by them, I can't be snooty like some reviewers and say this is less experimental or more commercial or whatever. What it is, to my ears at least, is edgy and interesting.

The sunny horn-peppered "Red dress" is Afrobeat-tinged, as is the groovy "Golden age" (the latter with creepy electronic effects). Opening cut "Halfway home" is a shimmery dreamy rocker with handclaps and a staccato of beats with Adebimpe alternating between lower vocal register and falsetto. The bouncy "Dancing choose" features a buzzing riff and spit fire vocal delivery. "Love dog" is a tender piano sprinkled ballad with skittery beats. "DLZ" is an interesting droning song (nice "La la la" refrain).

Standout, in my opinion, is the sprawling Arcade Fire-style ballad "Family tree".

A very interesting album which doesn't yield up all its secrets after only a few listens. Albums this arty are usually easier to admire than listen to, but this is a winner!

for more information click here

Don't listen to these reviews

Are you kidding me? This is album of the year as of november, 10 2008. I believe this to be the first flawless TV On The Radio album. It is a masterpiece in production and musicianship and may be the greatest lyrical work the band has recorded. No other band/musician in any genre this year has recorded anything this monumental. Dear Science remains progressive and interesting without being pretentious or sacrificing talents in order to be trendy or cool. This is grade A art-rock.

Serious fun

I'll admit right away to feeling a little out of my depth as I sit down to write this review. I'm a latecomer to the whole TVOTR thing. I don't currently own a copy of Return To Cookie Mountain (soon to be corrected, however), despite its apparent esteemed status in the post-2000 indie canon. I'm in my 30s and am feeling increasingly distanced from the plethora of new indie bands that appear on the scene every year. Maybe that's not a bad thing, maybe it's inevitable, but I guess I am just having a harder time separating the wheat from the chaff. I'll admit to having bought this CD on a whim, largely because it's a step outside what I typically listen to and I am trying to branch out some more. All that to say, this is not the review of someone who is intimately familiar with the band's prior recorded output.

I believe that this band is in the same general age category as myself (I recall reading that somewhere, at least) and that doesn't surprise me when I hear this CD. I recall reading in the same article that the band member being interviewed referenced the Cure and other 80s alt-rock bands as touchstones in his musical development. I hear a lot of that here and I like it, since that is the music I listened to back in high school as well. But the key is, this band doesn't just stop there. I hear Prince influences, the Antibalas horn section, and a lot of digital sounds in the mix too. Yes it does seem very produced but for some reason this doesn't bother me that much because there is so much else to pay attention to. Then there's the matter of the lyrics. In "Red Dress," probably the emotional core of this album, Adebimpe lays it all on the table - I urge anyone considering whether or not to buy this album to look up these lyrics online and read them. They are pure poetry, plain and simple, describing with empathy and sympathy the confusion of the world we live in. Other songs on this album are well-written too but none rise to quite these heights.

I see a lot of criticism for this album on here and I can see where some of it is coming from. At its worst, there are places where the album sags under the weight of the production, and the darkness of some of the lyrics does not mesh with the dance beats. For me though, when it comes together on songs like the aforementioned "Red Dress," it really works. The band obviously has the ability to write great songs, and perhaps it would be to their benefit not to bury this quite so much in production. However this is small stuff. I really enjoy this disc on multiple levels and am ready for more from this band. Time to order Cookie Mountain.

for more information click here

Not as good as Return to Cookie Mountain, but worth getting

Having listened to Return to Cookie Mountain several times a day for over a year, I was eagerly anticipating some new material from TVOTR. Return to Cookie Mountain is one of my all-time favorites, so I had really high expectations for Dear Science. When I first listened to it, I was sorely disappointed. Unlike Return to Cookie Mountain, Dear Science contained some trackes I actually disliked (a lot). I decided to give it a chance and realized it's a 'grower'... the more I listen to it, the more I like it. The last four tracks are particularly strong. I think a lot of the reviews of this album (in newspapers/magazines) are overly generous, but it is by no means a waste of money. In fact, if you are not a TVOTR fan, this album will probably appeal to you more than their others. I think it will have a more universal appeal.

for more information click here