Spoon's Britt Daniel and Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner are both true coffee achievers: high-energy dudes who tend to write tightly wound songs. So it's no shock that their side band is a genuine synthesis. Daniel's sharp guitar and Boeckner's drone-y keyboard come together on jittery jags that gain urgency by feeling knocked out – from the breakneck Kraftwerk of "The Salton Sea" to the Wire trance spackle of "Neopolitans." On the Boys Next Door cover, "Shivers," Daniel sings about trying not to have a breakdown, against paint-peeling noise – it's a song about coming unglued, from some guys who really ought to spend more time together.
Listen to "My Love is Real":
