Beat connoisseurs, take note. Record labels are finally ready to cater to our thirst for unbridled turntable and drum machine talent, as is evident by Astralwerks' releases such as Constant Elevation. The compilation teeters between verse-less and rhyme-blessed hip-hop and various forms of electronica, a trait that's liable to limit it's audience but just as easily enlighten those who open their minds and their eardrums.

Love em or hate em, El-P has production skills. Just listen to Cannibal Oxstrumentals. He kicks things off with "Day After the Day After," a biting, dark beat that's likely to initiate ceaseless head nodding. Frequent stage cohorts and blip-hop experimentalists Anti-Pop Consortium (another act oft-disputed among the scene's heads) sound stronger on "Crab Lice" than ever, with the exception of a weak punch-lined hook.

Blackalicious DJ Chief XCel drops a brilliant scratch lesson on "Multitude," second only to Peanut Butter Wolf and Madlib getting nastier with each cut on "Rawcore." However, ewcomer This Kid Named Miles owns the album's best track however with "Slight Amnesia," splicing an old school breakbeat with enough acid jazz to make it funky and far-reaching, but fantastic all the while.

The funkier shades of this album come by way of tracks like Omid's "Schrodinger's Cat," an organ-heavy but relatively mellow drum'n'bass joint. Chiqwanga toys with a nice female vocal over some stimulating electro on "Recloose" and Z-Trip ditches the remix steez for a cosmic bass exploration and dizzying scratching on "Backyard Banger."

There may not be anything too fancy about Constant Elevation, but it's not likely beat junkies will mind. We'll just be satisfied this that the album lives up to its name.

kevin polowy