N*E*R*D SEEING SOUNDS DROPS

While writing their third album, N.E.R.D. watched a Discovery Channel show about synesthesia, a neurological disorder that causes people to experience sounds as colors or as objects in their minds. Superproducers the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) and their rapping buddy Shay Haley were inspired to create music you could envision as a live show. Does that creative concept work? Hard to say, but the results are experimental and expansive: Specked with ostentatiously weird grooves, "Spaz" and the speedy, jazzy single "Everyone Nose" are destined to go down as some of 2008's most interesting hip-hop cuts. The album also dips into Sixties soul (the sweet "Sooner or Later") and chugging, riff-driven rock ("Kill Joy"), and tosses in big New Wave choruses. But some melodies feel tossed-off (is Pharrell spending too much time writing for other artists?), and you don't learn much from Pharrell's lyrics except that he's horny. The Neptunes don't necessarily need guest MCs to make a great album of their own, but if they want their rhymes to keep up with the strength of their tunes, they need to dig a little deeper than this.

CHRISTIAN HOARD, ROLLING STONE