Some cool sounds out of the Buffalo outskirts, or: originally out of the Buffalo outskirts, I guess. The minds at work behind the scenes of electronic duo Lesionread – producers Shawn Lewis and Jonathan Reed – met while attending middle school in Williamsville, but it wasn't until they let college and a thousand-or-so east coast miles separate them that they began releasing material together. With Lewis attending the University of Buffalo and Reed studying music in Florida, the release of their first full-length (PUSH) earlier this year was the result of a couple year's worth of .wav-mail collaboration.

There's a lot at work on PUSH. The music is characteristically flylo bump, with warm, baritone vocals, and occasional, Aesop Rock-y, allzu-intelligent rhymes. But from the slo-mo, richly padded trip-hop of “Slowing Down” and the unapologetic americana-indie-jazz-pastiche of “Shelter,” to the angel-dusted dnb clatter of “Yet Another Amazing Moment,” there's plenty of stylistic variation from beginning to end. The abstract crunch of “This is Project 2.2” sounds like Timbaland got back to work on Volta (and was promptly kicked out of a club). The organic and down-tempo “Jar” is certainly a high point, with it's insolently boastful horn outro, and inescapably close vocals that sound like Joe Goddard plugged directly into your headphones. And judging by the Ursula 1000-re-treats-Danse Macabre clang in the background of “Lock, Stock & Barrel” and “Enigmatic Smile,” I'm tempted to assume the duo might've even been listening-in when Mark Ellis infamously told Andy Fletcher, “if you want to play guitar, play guitar.”

Some of Lesionread's earlier songwriting is undercut by electronic limitations and an over-reliance on presets and stock beats. But it's still a young project, and one that shows some serious potential, so we're hoping they start leaking more material soon.