Babbletron's Mechanical Royalty finds Brooklyn's Jaymanila, DJ Pre, and Cool Calm Pete working similar sci-fi grooves to their friends from Def Jux -- dark samples, snaking basslines, and disturbed beats abound. But Jaymanila and Cool Calm Pete seem a little more laid-back than the average Def Jux rhymesayer, as much A Tribe Called Quest as Aesop Rock. "Beware the black monolith in deep space," they drop on the MF Doom-produced '70s space-age funk number "Space Tech Banana Clip" -- the record's most unique and instantly accessible track -- sort of the screenplay to the brilliant Blaxploitation sci-fi flick that never was. It's a good indicator for the whole album -- creative, surprising, gritty, New York through and through, but with a strangely balanced sense of humor and futurism launching it into tomorrow. ~ Charles Spano