Best Children’s Album That Wasn’t Made for Children. This IS a children’s album, right? No, really. I’m asking a serious question. – E. Lit, Berkeley

Oh man, dude. John Dwyer, man of maniacal voices, impressive bangs, and a proclivity for killer party-down garage funtime dance-rock further proves his brilliance (and rampant productivity) with yet ANOTHER kickass Oh Sees album. This one's a little subdued for the man/band, with fewer punk-rock bangers and more acoustic singalong-types (though MAKE NO MISTAKE: the few bangers totally kill). My understanding here is that pretty much the whole thing was recorded solely by Dwyer, who chases his muse in some wonderfully bizarre directions, like, the kinds of directions that lead you to add flute and mellotron and broken synths and lyrics written from the point of view of a decomposing corpse other crazy-rad junk. OH AND ALSO, the band claims that another album ("maybe our best yet," according to Dwyer) will be out in the very near future, which may be the present for you, dear reader, since I am writing this in the past (I think). And also they've recently released a vinyl-only singles compilation, which is pretty limited so no guarantee that we'll have it but you should get it if we do because it's great, and also they're one of my favorite live bands so go see them play next time they're in town. OK. – Cody, Hollywood

I'm paraphrasing, but Dolly Parton is quoted as saying something to the effect of, "You have to spend a lot of money to look this cheap." Similarly, Thee Oh Sees must be musicians of incredible talent in order to make music so perfectly ragged and chaotic. On the surface it may sound like they are just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, but their sheer musicality creates splats of pure gold. Their melodies have worked their way under my skin and the giddy, brittle jamming makes me nostalgic for Brix Smith-era Fall. – J. Mark Beaver, Hollywood

Also available on LP.