*** Styles of Beyond

2000 FOLD

(Hi-Ho/Mammoth)

Straight outta the San Fernando Valley, which they affectionately/ sarcastically tag "the basement of the Los Angeles basin," Styles of Beyond don't presume to sell themselves or their area code as hard. But 2000 Fold -- their 1998 debut, originally issued by Bilawn Records, then picked up by the Dust Brothers' Hi-Ho -- still remains steeped in sense-of-place, right down to the way co-producer Vin Skully appropriates his nom de knob from the legendary Dodger Stadium shot caller. MCs Takbir and Ryu have a nonpareil feel for the syrupy texture of life in the smog-socked cradle of the porn industry and aren't embarrassed to use it.

On "Winnetka Exit," over a bass line comfortably lodged in minor-key first gear, Tak and Ryu string together freeway-culture snapshots: "Sippin' half a cup of decaf coffee with milk/Lookin' over the Valley like I'm walkin' on stilts." The song's about circling on fumes, needing a dime for the tollbooth; call it commuter funk. The production pulls instead of pushing -- shadowy sample scraps slide over soft-shoed, rim-shot-wrought beats. Hooks are rare but high-quality; "Survival Tactics" bubbles an Esquivellian siren's ululations through the grease of a Willie Bobo loop; "Muuvon" speed-chops a Chic guitar quote into muscle-relaxant percussion. There are some pseudo-topical UFO shout-outs, but nothing trumps a line like "I'm so fly, I take baths in malathion," which is hands down the best airborne-pesticide metaphor anyone's flipped since Robert Altman's Short Cuts.

-- Alex Pappademas