1/24/2013 - Next-gen trip-hop from a trio of bedroom-laptop hipsters from Brooklyn, all of them larded with massive volumes of cred (classically trained pianist/violinist/singer Emilie Friedlander co-edits the Pitchfork-affiliated Altered Zones blog; synth-guy Toshio Masuda was doing j-pop on a major label). The above, of course, will mean nothing to folks who aren’t constantly trying to enhance their hipness by familiarizing themselves with future failed trends, but either way this is truly neo-psychedelic as done by technologically advanced beings from another planet, sort of like Animal Collective gone new age.  Speaking of other planets, Friedlander might want to stick to the wah-pedal violin that makes this stuff so eerie instead of telegraphing the punches with cartoon weirdness — “Save The Ocean” makes me want to do no such thing, what with all the big-echo green-skinned space-girl wooo-oo-oohing she does. But when stuff like that isn’t happening, Masuda’s contributions douse the whole sound in a plaintive Asian vibe, thus conjuring what you might hear if Massive Attack had done the soundtrack for Crouching Tiger.