FYI...The Flaming Lips House is Cool

The Flaming Lips don't just make crazy albums...they make crazy houses. You can check out some more photos on their website.

WORTH A LISTEN: Hot Chip - "One Night Stand (Drums of Death Remix)"

The first couple of minutes are pretty much killer. The last couple drift into unnecessary land (ft. pretentious noise). For a more straightforward dance track, there's also Carl Craig's PCP Remix and the very un-Hot Chip Joris Voorn Dusty Flower Remix.

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Vampire Weekend - Contra

Band: Vampire Weekend

Album: Contra

Sounds Like: Ra Ra Riot, Paul Simon's Graceland, The Very Best

Sub-Sub Genre: Indie Prep-rock

Essential Tracks: Cousins, Giving Up the Gun

DJ Responsible Says: Even with the substantial critical hype and the (unsurprising) massive populist backlash--or at least bickering--my first reaction to Contra tended not to be love nor hate, but an unqualified 'wtf?'. Was this really what they had spent all their time and money doing? Was this really the album, the Ivy League hipster so-uncool-it's-cool-again album that went number one in the country? Who sits down and writes "In December drinking horchata/I'd look psychotic in a balaclava" and feels that it's somehow a reasonable way to start an album (whether ironic or not)?

For however unenjoyable Contra can be at times ("Horchata," the auto-tuned "California English"), you can't label Vampire Weekend sell outs. In fact, there's an odd dichotomy to this release: their sudden and (for me) inexplicable popularity butt up against the downright incomprehensible oddity that is the actual listening experience. Did people know what they were getting into? Or were they just drawn in by the beautiful bemused blond?

There is at least half an album to love here: "Giving Up the Gun" is fairly spectacular, perhaps simply for its relative normalcy and earnestness. "White Sky" is obnoxiously buoyant and contagious, but somehow doesn't go too far. And "Taxi Cab" is a stunning, downbeat mid-album showcase for their impressive musical craft. A little taste of realness goes a long way, especially when it's hard to find.

DJ Sub Par Says: I consume music the way Michael Phelps takes in calories. I hardly pause to breathe. A month belated review of one of the most hyped bands in the last few gives me time for something rare, a chance to savor. Above all, VW have a distinct sound, joyous and upbeat. Perhaps it is derivative, schticky and might not hold up over time. But for now I'd wager that anyone can cull ten tracks from their last two albums and have themselves a nice driving CD. What more do you really want from a band?

MY TAKE: Tupac v. Biggie, circa 2010

As always, it starts in a bar.

"California Love" comes on the radio, and my buddy tells nobody in particular how much he loves 2Pac, in that reminiscent, I-haven't-heard-this-song-in-awhile kind of way.

That devil's advocate in me has to give credit to Dr. Dre ("It's his production that makes the song"). And then, seeking a pop music argument wherever I can get one, I pose the eternal question, the one American suburbanites are forever destined to pose: "Who do you take, Biggie or Tupac?"

Without hesitation, my buddy says: "Tupac. Biggie sounds like...a fat man. Like he can barely breathe."

I'd never heard that one before.

I went on to defend Notorious B.I.G., the perpetual underdog in any West Coast establishment, on the grounds of his unmistakable voice and his cleverness. I mentioned a few killer tracks ("Notorious Thugs," "Sky's the Limit," and the ubiquitous "Juicy"), but without a laptop to back it up, the argument eventually fizzled into a "seriously, you should check those songs out."

The next day I consciously stumbled upon Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up," one of the most impassioned recordings in music history, and found myself at square one.

Until the next inevitable bar debate, of course.

Notorious Thugs [Featuring Bon...

WORTH A LISTEN: The Deer Tracks - "Slow Collision"

This one is courtesy of a friend of mine, who say this band in a small venue in Sweden. I could see this band eventually achieving some States-side, crossover success. Pretty cool video too.

THE BREAKDOWN (W/ DJ SUB PAR): Spoon - Transference

Band: Spoon

Album: Transference

Sounds Like: Ted Leo, Cold War Kids, White Rabbits, The Walkmen

Sub Sub Genre: Minimalist Rock

Essential Tracks: Got Nuffin, Goodnight Laura, Who Makes Your Money?

DJ Sub Par: Britt Daniels and Co are unflappable. Apparently they don't know how to make a bad album. Sure, their first single, "The Mystery Zone" might have them going back to the Spoon book of tricks with a minimalist grove, but elsewhere they have eschewed the studio gloss of their previous outing (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga) for disoriented tracks, where the vocals might cut out sudden. The Ballad "Goodnight Laura" feels like a tape recorder has caught Britt taping out a song on the piano for the first time - a rough beauty.

DJ Responsible: As DJ Sub Par alluded, the production is a little all over the place. It's hard to imagine that the shimmering "The Mystery Zone" and the shiny "Is Love Forever?"--a.k.a. Spoon performing atop American Gladiators' Assault, can you hear the tennis ball gun?-- are only a stones throw removed from the grungy (and mediocre) "Trouble Comes Running." However, as trustworthy as the well-worn silver spoon in your morning granola, it all just sort of coheres.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Who Makes Your Money?," the best thing they've done since Gimme Fiction (so, not that long I guess). It's got the spine of a Spoon song, but all twisted and spaced-out and warped. If the rest of the album would've felt a little more like this, the memories may have reverberated even deeper.

Got Nuffin - Spoon

Who Makes Your Money - Spoon

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Solilliquists of Sound - "Bulletproof"

This poetic take on MLK Jr.'s life, courtesy of the relatively unknown and decidedly eclectic Solilliquists of Sound, reaches goosebump-inducing heights as the protagonist is given his own chance to speak.