Fake Surfers

Fake Surfers, the fourth album by Seattle's prolific and sacred Intelligence, is destined to change your whole outlook on "pop" music. As with 2007's Deuteronomy, The Intelligence has employed In The Red house producer Mike McHugh at the Distillery to hone their edge to its sharpest yet. The possibility of an industrial/pop music crossover seems as unlikely as a black metal/country conglomeration, but on this new album, The Intelligence introduces a whole new spectrum of sonic awareness cleverly buried under little piles of dirt, with glimmering specks of brilliance poking through.

Lars Finberg, who performs here as The Intelligence, makes experimental post-punk rock weighted down by paranoia. As the bolts-and-bolts drummer of A-Frames, he builds songs off goose-stepping beats and coded lyrics. The Intelligence can't help but swing a little, however - the singing hints at emotion, as stilted phrasing sometimes becomes a howl. It never breaks a sweat, but these songs are like pop that has been wiretapped, shocked, and muzzled, whereas the A-Frames are a robot's guess at how rock music sounds.

The Intelligence has faint whiffs of Swell Maps, Tronics, and Wire's Chairs Missing, though Fake Surfers is more relaxed and evenly paced than any previous releases. The sole cover on the album, "Pony People" by LA's Wounded Lion, has been stripped down to an acoustic pop ditty. This is by far the best Intelligence release yet...until the next one.