Creature Comforts

If the tag "cosmic American music" hadn't already been claimed by rockers in love with , then it would certainly apply to and . Since it has and the cold dead fingers of and his followers aren't likely to loosen their hold on it, then must be what hides within that mossy rock, a faceted geode taking in light and turning it in a thousand directions. started their spelunking in 2001 with the half , half of , before completely abandoning their -core roots for the blissful beeping reductionism of 2002's . They followed with the four-on-the-floor anchor of 2003's single and the art-gallery cool of 2004's EP. Following those creations, it's much easier to hear how arrived at than the jump that came between their previous full-lengths. The album emerges with the tipsy, vaguely guitar of and quickly dives into the -jamming that they established with . The shifting patterns and off-kilter loops that defined that album are here, at times sounding like a more deliberate version of 's vertigo-inducing third-ear music and sometimes like the hypnotics of . Things really kick in with the almost title track It's all rumble, echo, and a higher-ground drifting that recalls a different kind of cosmic music -- the kosmisch psyche of (a presence that reestablishes itself later in the album with ) as well as the rough soundscaping of fellow electricians and the sci-fi classic all at the same time. It's not all blissed-out bubbling, though, with ugly scrapings and feedback still playing a part in the mix without ever overpowering it. Ultimately, is another starry refraction in the cosmic music claimed by , a refraction that hasn't yet failed to dazzle. ~ Wade Kergan