I suppose it’s normal that people are PO’ed that this is less of an X-rated scum-fest than the duo’s first album Yoyoyoyoyo, but there’s a lot to the noisy beats laid down here by XXXChange (with help from a wide range of producers, granted). Matter of fact, it’s a clinic on what alt-hiphop-with-a-crush-on-rock should be trying with noise. Really, it’s not simply a bunch of cool sounds… OK, it is, but pay attention and you’ll find a lot of slick tweaks, giving the stuff a depth that’s actually quite intelligent, not knob-twisting for the sake of looking busy. MC Spank himself fades in and out of playing Prince reborn for a generation that doesn’t care that there’s a difference between information and knowledge, not that his flows are anything to sneeze at when he’s in rap mode. Yes, there are gross, perverted lines driven home with railroad spikes, and die-hards will write off the 2 Live Crew and Black Eyed Peas tangents with severe disdain, but overall it’s what Meat Beat Manifesto might have done in the old days if some Warner Brothers suit had a gun to their heads. A- —Eric W. Saeger