Pitchfork

"Hater" the song is the best kind of scary, the kind that leaves you titillated. Its stop/start shudders and sparkplug buzzing goes with its highly polished vocals like a lover wielding a knife and a come-hither look.

"Hater" the video is not scary, unless you consider "Katamari Damacy" scary. It isn't much of anything at all, really. A mutating ball of, um, stuff floating through space and changing shape in time with the music. Does "MTV Amp" still exist?

Far more exciting is the fact that Various will be performing live in America for the first time ever this Saturday, February 17 at Chop Suey in Seattle. This is a pretty big deal, as it's Various' only scheduled appearance right now, and these guys are quite mysterious. All we know is that their live setup involves two laptops, a MIDI keyboard, MIDI controllers, turntables, a mixer, vinyl records, and some video projections. And that they make great music. And not-so-great videos.