The existence of subcultures is a testament to the failures of mainstream culture, but when subcultures become as diluted the mainstream they so emphatically oppose, this is indeed problematic.

In a world where DJs claim more cultural merit than theoretical physicists, it becomes painfully obvious that a career in music for musicians who want to do something different is a fantasy, and this is the fantasy world that Artful Vandelays inhabit.

There is something otherworldly about Artful Vandelays' music; it is at times foreboding and ominous, and other times hopeful and cathartic. It deals with the mystical and ethereal in songs like "Overheads," promising a coming distaster to end ages, and other times painstakingly nitty-gritty in a critique of ubiquitous pharmaceutical giants in "Pharma Co," likening drug companies to street drug peddlers. It will have you in a trance only to be brought back to reality, and somehow at the end of it all, there is only optimism to take from it.

For anyone who has ever felt dissatisfied with the world at large, Artful Vandelays can empathize, and would like to offer you some solace in their music.