Lost Sounds' last album, the main release not covered by the stunning Blac Static comp -- still vicious, still unstoppable. I could complain about the lack of guitars - those synths aren't just buzzy texture anymore, they're fullfledged fighterjet blitzleaders, Reatard's carcrash riffs relegated to backing on most tracks. And I could carp about the Alicja-lead songs sapping some of the album's urgency: she's great, as a counterpoint to Jay and on her own, but Jay's undeniably the heart of the band, and he disappears at times.
But you at least trade faceshattering power for some of the prettiest punk rock moments this side of David Comes to Life. Take Mechanical Feelings, packing two and a half minutes with a lifetime of frustration, a sixpack of Polysics-via-Devo squonkbombs, and startstop swerves into delicate beauty that could end the world.
Could you tell in 2004 that this was the end? There's that sense of exploration out of obligation, that moment a band doesn't have to hunt and just checks out what's over the next hill out of curiosity, the birth of leisure killing punk urgency. Was there a synth/guitar power struggle? A fight over vocal duties? Think Trompe le Monde: a perfectly great album undercut by the momentum of its wild past 4/5
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