Sgt. Disco

The first line of "In Your Office" sums up the fifth Circus Devils album Sgt. Disco nicely: "There is beautiful pandemonium." Plummeting further into the demented depths of his imagination, Robert Pollard provides a monstrous amount of songs (32 to be exact) with brothers Tim and Todd Tobias. As always, the results have varying results and run the gamut from bizarre skeletal sludge topped with psychedelic bits and strange pseudo-poetics to greasy mock grunge rock. With his tongue firmly in his cheek, the former Guided by Voices frontman does his best Carl Spackler imitation (yes, Bill Murray's character in Caddyshack) in "George Took a Shovel" as he gives the play by play of a time when he found some sort of creamy alien substance in a cornfield. Other songs feature ominous junkyard jams ("Assassins Ballroom (Get Your Ass In)"), gurgling keyboard loops with elated jester voices ("War Horses"), and surprisingly sweet King Crimson type Mellotron ballads ("Rose in Paradise"). As expected, there are quite a few difficult moments to sort through — too many to list — and if half the songs were cut out, the record would be easier to digest. But Pollard's such a forward thinker that as soon as he's finished a song (sometimes before then), he's off to a new one, and like him or not, you have to respect his idiosyncratic tenacity and his relentless pursuit of a wild artistic vision. If you're into the eccentric, wedge this one between your Syd Barrett and Frogs CDs and brace yourself for one hell of a trip.