Dear Science is the third album by American art rock

Art rock

Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...

 band TV on the Radio

TV on the Radio

TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....

. It was released via Interscope Records

Interscope Records

Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...

 in the United States, Touch and Go Records

Touch and Go Records

Touch and Go Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.After its genesis as a hand-made fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s alternative and underground rock scenes, Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous...

 on iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 and was licensed through 4AD

4AD

4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...

 in Europe and all remaining territories. Despite the marketed release date of September 22–23, the album was available for download on the U.S. iTunes Store

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 on September 16, 2008. The vinyl LP

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 also comes with a free MP3 download coupon. Dear Science received near unanimous acclaim from critics and charted worldwide.

History

Kyp Malone said that the title came from "a note that Dave [Sitek] wrote in the studio that said,

"Dear Science, please start solving problems and curing diseases or shut the fuck up."

In promotion of the album, TV on the Radio was interviewed on the February 9, 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, where "Dancing Choose" was performed to end the show.

Critical response

Dear Science was named the best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, Spin, MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

, the Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's readers poll, and the Village Voice.
Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 placed Dear Science at number 140 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s, and 6th on their "50 Best Albums of 2008" list.

Remix EP

In early 2009, a remix EP was announced for release on February 17, although it was delayed until April 14. Read Silence

Read Silence

Read Silence is a digital-only EP compilation of three song remixes from TV on the Radio's third studio album, Dear Science. It was released on April 14, 2009...

was released exclusively through iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 and featured remixes of "Shout Me Out", "Red Dress", and "Stork & Owl" by Gang Gang Dance

Gang Gang Dance

Gang Gang Dance is an American experimental music band based in Manhattan, New York City. The band is known for its distinctive sound which features synthesized electronics and percussion, plus the varied vocal styles of singer Lizzi Bougatsos...

, Jneiro Jarel

Jneiro Jarel

Jneiro Jarel is a United States-based music producer. For over a decade he has provided listeners with an eclectic mix of sounds ranging from hip hop, to electronica, to electro-pop, to Brazilian funk, to bass music. Noted for his abstract style, he is also known for his beat-making alias Dr...

, and Glitch Mob

The Glitch Mob

The Glitch Mob is a three-piece electronic group from Los Angeles, composed of Ed Ma , Justin Boreta and Josh Mayer . The group, originally a five-piece including Kraddy and Kitty-D, was formed in 2006 within the burgeoning Los Angeles bass-driven 'beat' scene...

.

Track listing

Bonus tracks

Personnel

Band

• Tunde Adebimpe
  Tunde Adebimpe
  Babatunde Omoroga "Tunde" Adebimpe is an American musician, actor, and director best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. His vocal method often involves improvisation, the use of effects and repeating sampled loops....
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Kyp Malone – vocals, guitars, bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , synths
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , string arrangements
• David Andrew Sitek
  David Andrew Sitek
  David Andrew Sitek is a guitarist and record producer based in New York City, best known as a member of the band TV on the Radio. He has also worked with bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, Foals, Celebration, and most recently Jane's Addiction, and produced free jazz-influenced remixes of songs...
  
   – programming, guitars, samples, bass, synths, horn arrangements
  Horn section
  In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
  
  
• Gerard A Smith – bass, organ, synths, samples, rhodes
  Rhodes piano
  The Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
  
  
• Jaleel Bunton – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , guitars, rhodes, organ, synth, bass, programming, string arrangements

Production

• David Andrew Sitek – production; mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
  
• Dan Huron – engineering
• Chris Coady – additional engineering
• Chris Moore
  Chris Moore (producer/audio engineer)
  Chris Moore is a record producer, mixer, and recording engineer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He has produced, recorded and mixed albums by Midnight Juggernauts , TV On The Radio , Scarlett Johansson, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer, Au Revoir Simone, Foals, Dragons of Zynth, and The...
  
   – additional engineering
• Matty Green – mixing
• Mark Stent
  Mark Stent
  Mark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...
  
   – additional mixing
• Steve Fallone – mastering

Design

• Roe Etheridge – photography
  Photography
  Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
  
  

Additional musicians

• Katrina Ford – vox
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , backing vox
• Eleanore Everdell – vox
• David Bergander – drums
• Yoshi Takamasa – shaker
  Shaker (percussion)
  The word shaker describes a large number of percussive musical instruments used for creating rhythm in music.They are so called because the method of creating sound involves shaking them—moving them back and forth rather than striking them. Most may also be struck for a greater accent on certain...
  
  , claves
  Claves
  Claves are a percussion instrument , consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone),...
  
  , congas, bells
  Bell (instrument)
  A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
  
  , percussion
• Stuart D. Bogie
  Stuart D. Bogie
  Stuart Bogie is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and producer. Originally from Evanston, IL, Bogie has become a staple in the Brooklyn music scene, as part of Antibalas, as well as TV on the Radio, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many other acts....
  
   – sax
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  , horn arrangements, tenor sax
• Colin Stetson – sax, baritone sax
• Matana Roberts
  Matana Roberts
  Matana Roberts is a jazz saxophonist, composer and improviser based in New York City. She is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians...
  
   – alto sax, clarinet
  Clarinet
  The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
  
  
• Leah Paul – horns
• Eric Biondo – trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• Aaron Johnson – trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
  
• Martin Perna
  Martín Perna
  Martin Perna is an educator, social entrepreneur, and multidisciplinary artist living in Austin, Texas.-Music:He is founder of the musical groups Antibalas and Ocote Soul Sounds, and has written for and/or recorded with Sharon Jones, Scarlett Johansson, Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo, The Whitefield...
  
   – flutes
• Claudia Chopek – violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  , string arrangements
• Janis Shen – violin, string arrangements
• Perry Serpa – additional string arrangements
• Lara Hicks – viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  
• Eleanor Norton – cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  

Chart positions

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Billboard 200 (U.S.) Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	12
Billboard Top Rock Albums (U.S.)	4
Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...	26
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	33
Australian Albums Chart	26