Scientology, it seems, has one of two effects: it turns you into a couch-hopping weirdo or it steers you onto a career-defining creative bender. The latter's the case for Beck Hansen, since his Dianetically-enhanced The Information is another leap in his own self-defined genre of brainy bootie pop. "Strange Apparation" sounds like a glorious update of the Stones' "Torn and Frayed" gospel boogie blues and "Nausea," the album's schizo-funky first single, contains snippets of every brilliant thing he's previously done. Bring on the Thetans!