***1/2 Super Furry Animals

GUERRILLA

(Flydaddy)

No one's carried Julian Cope's freak flag quite as well as the Welsh band Super Furry Animals. The group have a penchant for absurdly catchy pop songs wrapped around moments of high weirdness -- often so disarmingly that you forget you have no idea what they're singing about. Guerrilla hits these shores only months after Super Furry Animals' Radiator, which even after lingering on the UK charts for weeks was still too strange to attract a US major label. The new album takes off in a similar array of directions -- from the neo-calypso "Northern Lights" to the exploding krautrock of "Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Phone)" to the sing-along balladry of "Chewing Chewing Gum." Singer/guitarist Gruff Rhys's frothy tenor and the band's willingness to try anything once pass for unifying elements in the universe of Super Furry Animals.

-- Ben Auburn