Fully formed in 1999 this four piece from Ohio creates a schizophrenic texture of music. People with drum machines and synthesizers shouldn t be able to make music this alive! Tight scrapes is Stylex s finest effort to date, a high-wire mish-mash of 8-bit video game-like bleeps, animated, thick bass lines, hyperkinetic drumming and angled guitar thrusts. Along with the liveliness of the music, the wild-eyed vocals bring the human element, which seems to chase the ghosts in the machine around like a high-action game of Pac-Man. The recording isn t modern sounding, which makes it that much more effective. Instead of using all the tech tools available today, the band sounds like it is using gear that could have been available in the late 70s / early 80s. It gives the album that much more humanity, as they employ the chintziness with great effectiveness throughout unlike with much electronica today, you never get the sense that the machinery is running the show.