The 50 Best Albums of 2008

1

TV on the Radio DEAR SCIENCE DGC/Interscope

The year's finest rock record was also the one that sounded the most like America in 2008, with infernal visions of war and economic desperation. But amid the fear and loathing, there was defiance: "No bombs are falling on me for sure," sang Tunde Adebimpe; he also called this "the age of miracles/The age of sound." These Brooklynites greeted the historical moment with awe — and responded with art-rock party music. Call it the audacity of hope. Producer-guitarist Dave Sitek has streamlined and deepened the band's fusion of doo-wop, punk and soul; there are swooning ballads, wind-whipped funk and even a Tom Petty bite. And then there's "Lover's Day," the greatest hipster booty call ever recorded, in which TVOTR greet millennial terror with the oldest form of transcendence. "Ball so hard, we'll smash the walls," shrieks singer-guitarist Kyp Malone. "We could build an engine out of all your rising stars." On Dear Science, the sky's the limit.

• View List: The 50 Best Albums of 2008
• View List: Readers' Top 30 Albums of 2008