Haven't heard much of the flobots studio material but I did see them live at the DNC (actually they weren't a part of it they were protesting it) and I thought they sounded pretty bad. The band wasn't as together as they needed to be and you couldn't hear the vocals clearly. The violinist in the band was actually really good, but everything else sounded muddy and unbalanced. I'll have to check out their cd and give them an honest chance but I don't think I'd ever see them live again.