'Highly Refined Pirates' was a fantastic, emotional, indie, grunge, art rock explosion, being one of the first bands of its kind to have a full time synth player adding ambient beats, along with their drummer, to make trip-hop music being laid over with some light rock music. 'They Make Beer Commercials Like This' sees the band take a far more mature approach to their music, and this time, on top of the previous sound, Minus the Bear have, with this EP, headed into the direction of disco, jazz, psychedelic music. Opener “Fine + 2pts” is a fairly straightforward pop/disco type tune, with strong synth accompanying the now slightly toned down vocals, whereas follow-up track 'Let’s Play Clowns' is a jazz/psychedelic razz with rock guitars and is a very strong song indeed. And for this 6 track gap between the bands next full length album, that is the general feel, and you almost get the idea that this is what Incubus had intended 'A Crow Left of the Murder' to be, which if you’ve heard it, and then compare it to this, you’ll find is a fair point.

The bizarre titles stay, a now signature move the band can always be relied on for doing, particularly with the only song on this EP that does quite sound like it was written very close to the writing of 'Highly Refined Pirates' as it has the same sort of chillout, drudge feel to it. 'I’m Totally Not Down With Rob’s Alien' is a great emotional journey of a track, sitting right in the middle of this EP.

An EP worth picking up if you haven’t heard this band yet, as this is a clear indication of what the band have to come in their career, and even more so if you’re already a fan. Comparing its quality to 'Highly Refined Pirates' would be slightly unfair, considering this is an ep, but, HRP remains the better record, but it doesn’t matter, this is a feel good 20 minutes of fresh, innovating music and is definitely worth your ears attention.