Recording information: Louder Studios, San Francisco, CA (01/2006-04/2006); Prairie Sun Studios, Catati (01/2006-04/2006).

Their third proper full-length and second album for Sub Pop, 2006's AVATAR is the most expansive and sonically varied release yet from Bay Area acid-rock combo Comets on Fire; it's also their most blatantly classic rock-inspired effort as well. Acting as something of a punk-rock auxiliary to the so-called "freak folk" movement of the early 2000s, Comets on Fire are not without certain obvious Summer of Love trappings, and the shuffling, near-jazzy noodlings that introduce many of the songs here sound tailor-made for the Fillmore West. While the band is still capable of scorching moments ("Holy Teeth" is a start-to-finish space rock juggernaut), they emerge from a more nuanced musical framework, making for a decidedly groovier trip through the rock-&-roll spaceways.