It doesn't take a deep listen to realize that this is not your average collection of sexy sambas. Here, the lazy, sun-drenched lilt typical of the genre continually gets undercut by wide-open musical obsessions — drum & bass rat-a-tat-tat, no-wave noise guitar, percussive devices from all over the world, ambient dreamscapes, etc. Amazingly, the music is so resilient that the lilt is never altogether overwhelmed — call it make-out grooves for bohemians.

After a dreamy introduction that takes up almost half the song, "Unsure" (RealAudio excerpt) gets treated to a skittery, slightly offbeat jungle rhythm. It's unsure of where to go next but you're still sad to hear the nervous beat fade out after only three and a half minutes. The light samba of "Ex-Preguica" (RealAudio excerpt) beautifully recovers from the ambient hole into which it falls about halfway through.

Best in the show is "Prefeelings" (RealAudio

excerpt), a clang-clang-clang masterpiece. Here sound as beat continually trades off with beat as sound, as Beans from the Anti-Pop Consortium interjects barky phrases such as "a misbehaved classroom" or "worth the price of a lollipop or less." Soon so many percussive timbres get introduced that the song ejaculates into a loud freakout coda. Throughout, Lindsay manages to remain his croony, swoony self.

"Ondina" (RealAudio

excerpt) kicks off the album with a relatively straightforward

samba. Your mind wanders until you realize you've stopped what you're

doing to allow the muted horns to massage your back. Now that Lindsay's

perfected his come-on, there's no resisting him.