*** Abunai!

UNIVERSAL MIND DECODER

(Camera Obscura)

Like their Terrastock brethren the Olivia Tremor Control and Bardo Pond, Boston's Abunai! are impressionistic sonic explorers unafraid to draw on the past: from Syd Barrett to Donovan to the pastoral-folk side of T. Rex. On Universal Mind Decoder they conjure hazy, mushroom-stoked clouds of space-age psychedelia and tell tales of gypsy kings and stormy seas amid snippets of Funkadelic samples, shortwave-radio broadcasts, and a kaleidoscopic collage of guitars and percussion.

The ethereal "Quiet Storm" finds history in the band's own backyard: the tune is a dead ringer for a Galaxie 500 cover. Not all the material works (the stilted "Chromatic Moire" reaches a bit), but the pulsing undertow of tracks like "Calvary Cross" and the disc's overall sense of adventure make this a captivating album. And any band who can incite Bevis Frond's Nick Saloman to strap on a guitar and jam with them have gotta be doing something right: this disc offers 10 (okay, maybe nine) reasons why they got the master's ear that night at the Middle East last fall.

-- Jonathan Perry