Take a Look Inside

His work in Sebadoh might have endeared him to a generation of mopey hipsters, but it took the Folk Implosion's left-field Top 40 hit "Natural One" to raise Lou Barlow's profile in Middle America. If you're looking for nothing more challenging than the pop propensity of that song (which does not appear here), this much headier disc may make for uneasy listening--but only at first. Barlow and partner John Davis have an uncanny knack for crafting ambient tunes--like the reverb-laden "Blossom"--that insinuate themselves into your skull after a few listens. The duo takes plenty of chances, building rickety sound-collages ("Sputnik's Down") and donning Mod duds (for the punchy title track), and by cramming 14 songs into just over 22 minutes, they insure that the disc contains a little something for everyone. --David Sprague