Sometimes, a band is good because it does something new and does it well. Other times, though, a band is good because it does something not particularly new but does it particularly well. Like Superchunk (though, of course, not with that long-running band's consistency), Beulah is a band much more of the second type than the first. Yr indie-rock, melodic division, unafraid to mix in slightly off-center arranging touches...this is Beulah. Breeders-like steady, chunky rhythms frame witty, often inscrutable lyrics. Like most Elephant 6 bands, Beulah knows how to write a catchy song, but its overall sound is perhaps a bit less precious and insular than many of those bands. You get the feeling these folks enjoy raucously pummeling out these tunes while sweating out beer in smoky, dark clubs - a feeling rather muted with most Elephant 6 artists. On disc, though, the rough-hewn songs are augmented by trademark Elephant 6 orchestrations: sawing violins on "Maroon Bible" and "Lay Low for the Letdown," horns seemingly borrowed from early Pere Ubu on "The Rise and Fall or Our Hero's Reward," the quiet acoustic sparseness opening "Delta." Finally, though, the best thing about this album is that it'd sound great pouring out the open window of a car going nowhere in particular on a hot summer afternoon.

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