Various Artists - Tigerbeat 6: Paws Across America 2002 Tour CD

Of the 10 laptop-driven acts who appear on this album, Cex are perhaps the best known, and their "Wrist Elbow 2" is the standout track here—intelligently paced and stimulating hip hop. Of the others, the most arresting tracks come from Original Hamster, whose "Notorious DSP" is a bit like Stephen Hawking impersonating Jay-Z, and Knifehandchop, who essays a stab at an intriguing new genre of gabba ragga. Where the artists move further away from populism, the results are less impressive: Stars As Eyes' post-rock by numbers, the Numbers' starry-eyed post-punk. But Nathan Michel's C&W cut-ups on "Magellan" are intriguingly askew.

Rating: 2 / 10