Artificial Intelligence

This L.A. trio dispenses with the obvious genealogical question in the opening moments of "Bottoms Up," on which the left-hand keyboard bass of Pablo Manzarek confirms that, yes, his father is Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek. Once that's out of the way, A.I. tears through a selection of tunes whose modern, eclectic character makes only the barest nod toward spacy retro-psychedelia. In fact, there's very little space in these performances: Zack Young's drums are dry, tight, and usually quite busy, while brother Nick Young douses his steamy solos with buckets of echo, wah, and other effects. They zigzag through a postmodern musical minefield on just one cut, "Forever," tagging reggae, house, and, in the guitar break, Carlos Santana in quick sequence. Nick Young's singing underscores this impression of scattered direction and dense energy: He does Michael Jackson-like squeals, lapses into hipstah jargon, jumps from Prince gauziness to fist-pumping rap on "One Man's War," from tuneless monotone to hysterical shriek on "Alien Sex," and otherwise creates an impression of distraction, affectation, and indecision. The aftertaste of all this suggests a new-millennial Hanson, though perhaps without as tight a focus. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk