"Here, there's a distinct mellowing as the forays into psychedelia and noise skronk are tempered as Malkmus once again finds fascination in colorful, swaying pop. Often, this takes the form of updated latter-day Pavement -- the sing-song "Lariat" and "Cinnamon and Lesbians" find their roots in Brighten the Corners -- but no matter if Malkmus is singing about "music from the Best Decade Ever," there's no sense of nostalgia here, no suspicion that he'd rather be playing with a reunited Pavement than the Jicks".