I hesitate to think of Laika as anything remotely approaching a rock band. Despite various genrefiable trappings -- hip-hop drum loops, vibraphone melodies and the like -- I see Laika as more of a jazz band, focused and quietly intense, fascinating but distant. Perhaps that's partly due to Margaret Fiedler's breathy narrations/vocals, which are ethereal and a bit cold, full of quiet and dust and age. In her hands, tracks like "Breather" evolve into mesmeric mantras driven by complex-yet-brittle rhythms. "Out of Sight and Snowblind", on the other hand, takes proto-techno elements and a stripped-down drum and bass beatset and builds a sonic stormfront through which Guy Fixsen's vocals can wander. Equally irresistable: the childlike, flute-and-percolating-drum-driven "Starry Night", the dense jazz-funk of "Bedbugs" with its Wolfgang Press-ish lyrics, and the evocative, aptly-named "Blood & Bones" (moody mix). Laika skim the tops of an assortment of genres, picking and choosing and molding the selected elements into something that's almost, but not quite, entirely unlike anything you've heard before.
Laika Sounds of the Satellites Too Pure/Sire CD
			Review by George "Almost, But Not Quite, Entirely Unable to Express Himself" Zahora

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