Seeing Sounds

VINYL FORMAT. N.E.R.D. is set to release "Seeing Sounds," their third album. You already know the story of the Neptunes, Grammy Award winning producers and songwriters Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, but the N.E.R.D. trio consists of Pharrelll Williams, Chad Hugo, and longtime friend and creative wunderkind, Shae Haley. The album is a blistering mash-up of booming hip-hop beats and rollercoastering rock riffs, rumbling crunk rhythms and scintillating soul music.

Whereas their first album, "In Search Of&," was an imaginative, exploration of identities, and their second album, "Fly or Die," sought out the range of genres and sounds that have influenced the group, "Seeing Sounds" grinds everything together, evoking a sound that is un-tethered by preconceptions and convention. It is also an album that amplifies the style and attitudes that have made Pharrell, Chad and Shae transcendent cultural icons.