?High-energy, brutal Techno? is not a phrase you utter lightly, especially since it seems on the surface to invite only ridicule. And yet I?m really not going out on a limb in saying that about Stylex. They play synth-based post-rock that teeters on the edges of being both danceable and not, and always seem inches away from descending into the kind of ironic, pop-techno that passes for funny in bands like Aquabats or Ween. But they don?t. Call it smarts, call it balls, call it learning the right lessons from fellow Ohioans like Devo and Pere Ubu, but Stylex hits hard and often, and you can dance to it.

This is their fourth full-length, and on tracks like ? Escaper?, ?Thanks To Meet You? and ?The Game? you can easily see a band hitting its stride both in terms of confidence and absorption of its influences. Though Stylex seem like a walking encyclopedia of post-punk and 80?s Ohio experimentation, they are a band with ideas of their own to spare, and more than most bands you?ll hear this month. ?Tight Scrapes? rocks hard, jiggles when it wants to, and is smarter than the average Prodigy. 9/10 -- Mike Wood (30 October, 2006)