TV On The Radio
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In a recent interview with Tiny Mix Tapes, TV On The Radio's David Sitek said of Dear Science , "I think people make the mistake that they hear the beats or the clarity of the music and think that it's totally optimistic. It is in parts, but it still has a healthy dose of doubt." On the heels of the sinisterly brilliant Return to Cookie Mountain , it's easy to read this new set of songs as upbeat, as TVOTR follows (or pushes) the reigning musical zeitgeist toward the deepest reaches of the Byrne/Eno-mapped forest, where art rock runs into the full spectrum of musical traditions, running into genres less abstruse and mechanical than the post-punk orthodoxy can often seem. But the lyrics across Dear Science , the band's best yet, show how TVOTR don't necessarily believe that things are looking brighter. As Tunde Adebimpe sings on "DLZ," "This is beginning to feel like the dawn of a loser forever." It's always silly to saddle one, two, or a handful of individual artists in any medium with the "era-defining" tag on the zeitgeist front — not least because our dark, weird decade continues to spin too chaotically to define anything with much certainty — but if any group of musicians offer up a more perfect union of tunes to time and place, this is the one. And this is the album for 2008, even if it isn't anointed the Album Of The Year or even if its shot for the title isn't quite as strong as Cookie Mountain 's in 2006.
Comments (3)
Wow, what an anemic, waffling review.
"...Dear Science, the band’s best yet..."
"...even if its shot for the title isn’t quite as strong as Cookie Mountain’s in 2006."
So does the reviewer think it's better than RTCM or not? Does the maybe/maybe not best TVOTR album/best of the year make the reviewer feel anything? Was he compelled to listen to it obsessively or did he just hack up this blurb to meet deadline after just a couple listens? Can't really tell, there's not much to go on.
It deserves better. I'm not sure why my review won't show up in the reviews section.
When Chris says it's "the band's best yet," he's talking about the lyrics (you cut out the first part of the sentence). Also, if anything, his review is about contextualization and analysis, not just his subjective reaction to it or resorting to music description. Feel free to contact him (through here http://www.tinymixtapes.com/_Chris-Norton_) if you want to chat about the review.
Thanks for the comment!
The problem was it wasn't clear that what was posted on MOG wasn't the full review, as it didn't say it continued.
Either way, no analysis is objective. It's best just to admit that and include the visceral with the intellect.