#49 - Ryan & Steve

TV on the Radio

Dear Science

2008

This is one of the few albums on the list that would be significantly higher if it was on my individual list. My interest in music beyond the radio really began in 2003, which was also the year of TV on the Radio's first release, the Young Liars EP. This record had one of the band's finest singles, “Staring at the Sun.” Since hearing this song I’ve absolutely loved this band and have followed them since (I’m ignoring OK Calculator from 2002).

They are particularly special to me because from high school to medical school I’ve been able to listen to them grow as my own tastes expand and develop. Because of the expansive amount of time they’ve been playing through the headphones of my iPod TV on the Radio is one of the bands that has defined this time in my own music history. I was stunned by the soulful barber shop style vocals of Kyp Malone on their first record. With Return to Cookie Mountain, one of my first records in college, the band honed their sound and made a slightly more consistent album with an interesting hazy layer of fuzz over their guitar. Finally, just last year the band took the style of Return to Cookie Mountain and instead of cleaning it up a bit, they sent it through an autoclave, and out came the pristine Dear Science. What makes Dear Science so special to me is the fact that it was the first record I purchased after moving to Chicago. I can’t tell you how many times I listened to “DLZ” repeatedly while walking to class in the morning. It served as the perfect urban soundtrack each morning as I walked over the overpass toward campus and looked over the tightly packed highway going deeper into the city leading to the obelisk that is the Sear’s Tower. At this time I was also beginning to settle into my own political sensibilities, just in time for the 2008 election. I personally thought that this election could be the most important of my lifetime and I wanted to be part of it. I followed the election very closely and had been a supporter of then Senator Obama for quite some time and ultimately felt he was the candidate of my generation. I don't mean to inject politics into this (sorry McCain lovers / Obama haters), but being in Chicago imparted this sense of being part of a monumental event. It was an incredibly exciting time and I often associate this album with it. -R.C.

Fantastic! TV on the Radio not only created an album that sounds different than anything else they’ve ever done, but in doing so established themselves as one of the best bands making music right now. “Halfway Home” is one of the best opening tracks I’ve ever heard, and not a song on this album has even a scent of filler on it! - Phil