4 star average?!?! What is wrong with you people! This is vintage Malkmus, at his crookedly raindrenched best! The lyrics are by turns zany, thoughtprovoking, and hilarious in the best Malkmus tradition, sometimes all three (anyone else wonder if the "Ghostly Iraqian Starship" was the WMD we never quite found, never dreaming they had developed a cloaking device?). Some of them take multiple listens to give up their meanings, and some of it is good ole nonsense in the Lewis Carroll tradition (or maybe I just haven't figured it out yet). This time the music is all imaginative and catchy. Even the long tracks don't lose the attention after a couple of listens. The drumming is sublime - fiercer than anyone he has played with before, which infuses the whole album with more foot tapping energy. Favorite track is Wicked Wanda, but I love all of them. This is my first Amazon review - that's how much I love it! Please buy it, and make sure he makes a few more.