On their first two albums, built their signature sound by taking the , filtering it through their druggy sensibilities, and bending it into something that was all their own. But with 1995's , began twisting their music into new shapes that were all but unrecognizable from the original source materials; one can find bits of and if they sift long enough through these shards of sound, but the final product is more of a descent into the maelstrom of experimentalism. is a deliberately ramshackle set in which the guitars sound fractured and spare when they aren't roaring within an inch of their lives, the humming of the amps is transformed into an instrument, the keyboards buzz and squawk, primitive string charts rise and fall out of the mix, the rhythms manage to be lethargic and insistent at the same time, and the lyrics rarely make much literal sense but generate a palpable dread that suggests some glorious bum trip captured on tape. In hindsight, is the logical precursor to the music guitarist , drummer , and bassist would later make with (as well as the sort of soundscapes would construct as a producer), and there are some moments of freaked-out majesty to behold. But is a grand experiment, and like many experiments it isn't a complete success; many of these tracks tend to meander as they search for their sonic destination, and while the harder-hitting tracks like are more immediately exciting, they lack the sense of musical wanderlust that make or the title track compelling even when they get lost in the woods. was the first leg in a new creative journey for the members of , and even if the places they would later go have proven more rewarding, there's enough adventure in this music to justify joining them for the trip. ~ Mark Deming