N*E*R*D: Fly Or Die

In 2002, In Search Of… introduced N*E*R*D as the rambunctious, unpredictable id to The Neptunes' hit-making ego. The oddball pop group functions as something of a release valve for super-producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, allowing them to explore their wiggiest, most adventurous sonic and lyrical ideas in an environment with dramatically lowered commercial expectations. When crafting hits for Jay-Z or N.O.R.E., The Neptunes' members have to meet the demands of the artist, its label, radio, and MTV, just for starters. But as the lead space cadets in N*E*R*D, Williams and Hugo seem to be making music exclusively for their own restless muses, and for anyone adventurous enough to follow along.

Williams and Hugo go appropriately wild on their delightfully strange second N*E*R*D album, Fly Or Die, which runs roughshod over genres and influences ranging from The Beatles to new wave to dirty blues to '70s rock. Lyrically, Williams has a Steely Dan-like fondness for misfits, runaways, stoners, and all-around fuck-ups. On the title track, he sings from the perspective of a frustrated schoolboy slacker who fantasizes about escaping the monotony of every teenager's true axis of evil: parents, work, and school. On the next track, "Jump," he's seemingly made the big leap and found, unsurprisingly, that his scary new freedom isn't that much better than the rules he left behind.

Pharrell's sometimes-strained falsetto isn't anywhere near smooth enough to make a line like "Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride" (from the first single, "She Wants To Move") sound anything but ridiculous. The super-producer/crooner's come-ons tend to be more creepy than sexy: He's the kind of determined suitor whose persistence seems equally likely to inspire reciprocated affection and restraining orders. Fly Or Die has its rough patches, but the liberating, anything-goes looseness that inevitably results in stretches of self-indulgence is precisely what makes the album, like its predecessor, so messy, vital, and fun.