TV on the Radio's EP Young Liars - was a welcome surprise, announcing the arrival of one of the most unique acts to seemingly come out of nowhere during the 2000s. Its alchemy of strange sonic bedfellows like post-punk and doo wop, and powerful vocals and experimental leanings, into songs that were challenging and accessible was no small feat; indeed, Young Liars was such an accomplished EP that it begged the question - can TV on the Radio pull off this feat (being eclectic, experimental and accessible over the course of an entire album. The answer arrives with Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, a richer, darker, and more compelling version of the band's already ambitious sound.

TV on the Radio is basically Dave Sitek the white guy and Tunde Adepimbe the black dude do to musical genre's what Gomez does, or even Moby on the doo-wop inspired tunes - and sometimes use the African root thing to push the music into realms that smack of Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, but these latter comparisons are easy, and the Ladysmith Mumbazo connection is only echoed on a few songs.

Adepimbe in particular continues to expand his genius and is doing things that are not only pushing the envelope but putting dings in the mail-box. Occasionally he will remind of Gomez or Ben Harper, but his unique ability to integrate elements of soul, jazz, spirituals, and doo wop into the mostly lily-white world of indie/experimental rock of as a distinctive and captivating voice, both musically and lyrically. It's during these moments when it's fair to compare him to Moby.

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes opening track, "The Wrong Way," is one of the most compelling evidence of his growing gift as a singer and writer, and of TV on the Radio's overall growth. Through the song, Adepimbe delves into his role as an African American and about black culture at large. Inwardly, he struggles between radical and peaceable courses of action and his feelings of guilt for not being "Teachin' folks the score/About patience, understanding, agape babe/And sweet sweet amour." He comments on the soulless materialism surrounding him, with bling "fallin' down just like rain," and misplaced anger and violence: "Hey, desperate youth! Oh bloodthirsty babes! Oh your guns are pointed the wrong way." His lyrics alone are stirring enough to make impressive poetry, but Adepimbe's massed, choir-like vocals and throbbing fuzz bass, and martial beat that Sitek surrounds them with turn them into an even more impressive and anthemic song.

That TV on the Radio can tip-toe so eloquently and gracefully through the minefield of racial tension is no surprise, considering how organically the group can turn traditional black music into white-sounding experimental indie-rock even Radiohead on track 2.. However, the song reminds us that even as valid as hip-hop has all of the sudden become again, there is other genres of music that can get across this kind of dialogue. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is a political album on other levels, from the psychedelic soul-tinged peace-not-war "Bomb Yourself" to the less in-your-face politics of relationships that many of the other songs cover. The vicissitudes of love pop up in songs like "Don't Love You," "King Eternal," and the hauntingly brooding "Dreams," which makes the end of a relationship sound like a societal ill, the result of urban slum lords. But Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes also leaves room for hope, and finds it in connections with other people. "Ambulance" is a creative look at love that sets lyrics like "I will be your screech and crash if you will be my crutch and cast" to doo wop in a way that not only invokes nostalgia, but transcends it to sound utterly fresh. Like Postal Service getting lostin the mail and ending up on lost in Dickenson of Catherine Wheel's porch.

"Poppy" might be the only love song that rhymes "individuated" with "congratulations," but the track's ecstatic guitars do most of the talking; "Wear You Out's" erotic grind closes the album on a surprisingly sexy note remindful of Van Hunt meets My Morning Jacket, eventually dissolving into the sax driven ecstasy of Gomez. Even though Young Liars was an accomplished EP, TV on the Radio have already progressed beyond it. "Staring at the Sun," the only song included on the EP and Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, seems almost simplistic compared to the rest of the album's songs. I'm not willing to proclaim this a perfect album - occasionally the album's overindulgence can cause things to drag. But what I am saying is that TV on the Radio is perhaps the most interesting band to come along since Gomez and Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is an impressive expansion of TV on the Radio's fascinating music.