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TV On The Radio Develops Right Formula

TV ON THE RADIO: DEAR SCIENCE (DGC/INTERSCOPE) ***

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By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2008

Updated:

Starkly ambitious and powerful, 2006's "Return to Cookie Mountain" was TV on the Radio's take-no-prisoners leap into the major leagues. It's doubtful the Brooklynites could match its bleak grandeur this soon after, and "Dear Science" doesn't try.

Instead, this is TV on the Radio's most immediately accessible album, with vocals, melodies and guitar riffs from punk to funk upfront in the mix.

Crass commercialism? Hardly. David Andrew Sitek merely brightens his usually overcast production a shade or two. The lyrics of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone are pure poetry - angry, sardonic and sometimes despairing, but poetry nonetheless. And the band hasn't just discovered melody; it just finally brought it to the foreground.

Opening track "Halfway Home" introduces itself with a barrage of jack-hammered major chords and "ba-ba'ba" vocals straight outta the Ramones' Bowery compound, while the tightly wound riff of "Crying" is infectious enough to trigger a funk epidemic.

There's dark under the light, of course. War, apathy, heartache and misguided media seem to be getting Adebimpe and Malone's collective goats (although that's just yours truly's guess). But it's their voices, more than their lyrics, that have always set TV on the Radio apart. In a world of alt-rock yelpers, these two can sing, with a resonance and grasp of the craft that's rare.

Don't assume, then, that the joys of "Dear Science" are all stored on top. Like the band's other releases, it gets better, sinks deeper and cuts more acutely with multiple plays.

Download this: "Halfway Home"

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