There's hardly a bolder statement you could make about your band's penchant for innovation than inventing software specifically to aid your own distinctive compositional style. This is what Brent Knopf, keyboardist/vocalist/mastermind behind Portland, Oregon's Menomena did; his program is called Deeler, and it allows the band to improvise short ideas and use them as the building blocks for broad, loop-based compositions that they then learn to play live. The method borrows most obviously from hip-hop and glitch, and you can pick up traces of both in the band's otherwise mostly pop-oriented sound. But it's not all highwire-act dynamics and ADD jams ? "I Am the Fun Blame Monster" is also brimming with mood, a dark energy and sense of direction that permeates every song. The surprises are packed tightly into every song: guitars crash in only to anticipate silence, pianos weave through minefields of modular percussion, and Knopf's pleasing tenor runs a gauntlet of fading and processing to deliver what are fundamentally very basic melodies. Menomena are a hugely creative band, and they've managed to make an album that's both extremely accessible while remaining entirely unconventional. Comes with a charming little bound book!