Additional personnel: Chris Rock.

Producers: Tchad Blake, Soul Coughing, Optical, Pat Dillet.

Engineers: Tchad Blake, Optical, Pat Dillet, Mark De Gli Antoni.

Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Magic Hotel, Hollywood, California; The Looking Glass Studios, New York, New York.

Audio Mixers: Optical; Patrick Dillett; Tchad Blake.

Recording information: Looking Glass Studios, NY, NY; Sunset Sound Factory, Hollywoord, CA.

Editor: Mark De Gli Antoni.

Illustrator: Jim Woodring.

EL OSO is a combination of guitar rock, funky drumming and innovative lyrics. Throughout, Soul Coughing places superb pop melodies on top of cutting-edge rhythm tracks. "Circles" has plenty of what has made the group a fan favorite. Catchy guitar hooks and cool drumbeats make the mid-tempo toe-tapper stick in your head after only one listen.

Although the album is sprinkled with bright pop textures at times, the majority of EL OSO is a bit dark, though interesting. Tracks like "St. Louise Is Listening," "$300" and "Monster Man" show the band's diversity as songwriters and producers, continually hitting the mark they aim for. "Houston" boasts an analog synthesizer melody reminiscent of Gary Numan's "Cars." Other tracks that stand out on this strong release are "Rolling," "Misinformed" and "The Incumbent."