First batch of reviews (from Oryx and the Crakers)

LUXI- loved this record, which is saying something because i am usually turned off by 93% of underground rap/anything involving (or sounding like it involves) autotune. LOVE the instrumentation, love the vocals. It's all very Portishead meets gangsta street cred. Very groovy, and catchy, but also kind of dark. --really dig the shamisen (?) sample in the first track. Coral Castle came out really beautifully, sexual but not obnoxious, and i dug the pared-downness of the effects and beats, it's not beating you over the head with supersaturated breakdowns like the shit that's on the radio right now. It's like popular music but filtered through true musicianship not tainted by commercialism.

I don't know what it's called but it sounds like a soundtrack? Dan's roomate.

Love this, and don't get mad but it sounds very Inception-influenced to me; 'they're hacking the mainframe' reminds me of Mombasa (yes I realize I'm going to offend some music technology majors by saying I liked the Inception sountrack, sorry Dan). Totally jealous of the technology at your disposal, and in awe of how you used it. Limbo of Infants was creepy and expertly done. Was leary of listening to it at night while hanging out with my girl Mary @_@ so it's very effective.

LOGAN BRADLEY--really dug the guitar on this, very Thom Yorke meets Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The guitar intro on the first track reminds me of the Antarcticans. Also dig the combination of genre, using slide sounds over a metal beat. Great drums, love the use of tom. The riffs are...very 90s to me, which is good. I think that has to do with the grunginess left on the guitar tracks, and that contrasts well over such clear cut beats. Bitchen vocal loops.

STRANGE BATTERY--I have to hand it to Dan for the ballsiness of this idea. It's like Raffi goes Metal and hangs out with The Frogs along the way. Excellent bavarian/sort of mariachi intro to the Bonus Track. The Pop Tarts breakdown in Saturday made me lol. Great use of snare. The opeth-y keyboard breakdowns are cool. Has the D. Waldkirch trademark of going metal-lite on the bridge in Clean It Up. Like the Vowel tango, reminds me of Sebastian A. Bach a lot. Props on album art. My only criticism is that I would have loved to seen what you could do with some double bass/blast beats.