Self is the best thing down the pop pike since Jellyfish. Matt Mahaffey and company fire up a wildly disparate stew of chunky beats, angular guitars, strict harmonies, string orchestrations, jazz samples, and a host of sound effects to create a suitable soundtrack for Mahaffey's lyrics, which range from the silly to the sublime. For example, in "Meg Ryan," he offers one of the most backhanded compliments in modern music, promising that "If Meg Ryan were my personal taste/I'd be on top the Empire State every Christmas." Of course, the implication is that she's not and he isn't . . .

The "Uno Song" tweaks up the Casio for a humorously simple love song (with occasional drum breaks and Queen-nodding guitar), and organs abound in the disc's most delectable offering, "Paint By Numbers," which previously turned up on 1998's Dead Man On Campus soundtrack. But wait, there's more -- there's a handclappin' good time in "The End Of It All" and a feast of percussion in the sci-fi fury of "Kill The Barflies." And I'm not sure what the orchestra/guitar stomp/percussion thing is going on in "It All Comes Out In The Wash," but I'm ready to go to the laundromat for more.

How do they do that?

Rating: 8