TV on the Radio

Although the Radio crew’s talent is well established, the band’s music has always raised user-friendliness questions: Sure, 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain was excellent, but did anyone other than rock critics listen to it? Dear Science tackles this conundrum head-on, upping the accessibility quotient without smacking of sell-out desperation. “Crying,” for instance, uses a shuffling dance beat, a burbling bass line, funky guitar, and a Tunde Adebimpe vocal that shifts beguilingly into falsetto at the best possible moments — a tack that also distinguishes the coolly insinuating “Golden Age.” Other tracks, including “Dancing Choose,” will present greater challenges to the uninitiated, but they’re hardly unapproachable. The result is a disc that should please fans even as it induces more people to tune in to TV on the Radio.