I'd rather be a killa whale

I have to drop some album review science on y'all before Late Registration hits tomorrow and my soundsystem is permanently occupied by Kanye. Check it:
What's the deal with indie folks changing their name to their album titles? First, Jason Molina's Songs: Ohia came out with Magnolia Electric Co., then he changed his name to that. Then, Phil Elvrum, who was the Microphones through his Mt. Eerie album, became Mount Eerie. Now, Dan Snaith is Caribou, after a song on his Manitoba's Up In Flames. It's a strange trend. Snaith has always reminded me of a happier M83, gazing at the sky instead of his shoes, and Caribou's The Milk Of Human Kindness continues in that vein. Imagine if Brian Wilson had gotten himself ahold of some drum machines. I need to listen to this one some more, as my commentary feels a little shallow.
Understandably, though, because I've been blowing my mind with Edan's Beauty And The Beat. As lyricists go, Edan isn't a Del or Gift of Gab, but he's solid as fuck and the presence of folks like Mr. Lif and Insight kick the rhymes up a notch. I like that he one-up's the Game's namecheckmanship with two killer tracks: "Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme" is a rapid history of real hip hop, from Kool DJ Herc up to the Wu, while "Rock & Roll" spins puns on classic rock bands over a guitar loop that can only be (unconfirmedly) Tony Iommi. What kills on this album, though, is the production. If Omar Rodriguez-Lopez produced hip hop instead of proglatinfunkfusionrock, this is the album he would make. Insane Moog (R.I.P.) tricks, loads of backtracked drum loops, spaced-out guitar effects and assorted other noise, all flowing together into one continuous sound--no track breaks to speak of on this album. In a few songs, Edan raps over a psychedelic sound collage that can barely be called a "beat," which will fade out into directionless ambience for a few bars before phasing back in for another verse...just like, say, the space between movements on Frances The Mute. I've been listening to a lot of hip hop this summer, but Edan is the first, even among the backpack heads, that has sunk into my skull in an intellectual way, and I dig it for real.