I’m such a fan of this album.  It’s raw and threadbare.  The production is so very analog.  It’s as though they sent everything through as much analog gear as they could for beautiful distortion and then nice and loud to tape for that delicious saturation. The band is playing around, experimenting, allowing themselves to be unpolished. And the results are beautiful and interesting.  It’s far too easy today to over-produce an album; as many takes as needed, tons of layers, then quantized and pitch-shifted to perfection. We don’t have that here and that just makes everything musical.

It’s raw and direct; not afraid to keep mistakes in the mix (there’s one track where you can hear interference from a cellphone signal on top of an overlaying guitar solo.) Vocals from Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs recorded from a phone call just feels like a really fun time.

The one thing that brings me back again and again is Lip’s rhythm section.  Michael Ivins and Kliph Scurlock.  Bass and drums on this album just keep finding grooves that are just addicting. I find myself air-drumming and humming along to those lines throughout. That’s not to say that Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd are underwhelming. They’re not. Textures, melodies, and uninhibited sounds abound.  For me every time I spend time listening to this album, I hear something new and interesting.  And that of course keeps me coming back.