The Lab Rats

Editor's Review:
Some music brings back memories of your friend in your hometown and The Lab Rats give you the feeling you've known them since high school. MC Brian Brown, who adds guitar to some tracks, comes with witty honest wordplay from an everyday man's perspective. DJ KW lays down raw chunky drum breaks filled with crusty but funky rhythms that complete the down to earth package of hip-hop. - Music.Download.com

The Lab Rats drop the hip hop like they ain't just two white guys from Ohio. With their debut release "Short Order EP" you can expect DJ KW's classy grooves and MC Brian Brown's juiced rhymes to bounce your mall-shoppin' a$$ right out the back seat of your best friend's spinner rimmed SUV.


- Abercrombie and Fitch - (abercrombie.com)

A kaleidoscope of Pop culture touchstones informs The Lab Rats' imaginative soundscapes (their bio name-checks everyone from Joe Walsh and Eminem to Freddy Krueger and Dan the Automator). Hailing from the surprisingly fertile Hip Hop hub of Columbus, rapper/guitarist Brian Brown and multi-instrumentalist DJ Kelly Warner's crafty take on the genre moves one's ass as well as one's mind.
Dig it: A funkier MC Paul Barman, MC 900-ft. Jesus, more imaginative G-Love (JG)
Http://www.citybeat.com/2005-09-21/cover9.shtml - Cincinnati CityBeat

"MidPoint Music Festival overwhelms downtown with independent, original music...

...Rushing back to Main, I find Jekyll and Hyde's second floor filled up considerably. Columbus' Lab Rats don't disappoint, their amusing, atypical setup and musical approach gradually drawing more and more fans closer to the stage as their set moves on. The duo is kind of like a two-man five-piece band, as they jump to guitars, bongos, keyboards, turntables and microphones kinetically throughout their creatively mischievous performance." (MB)

BEST BEATLES REFERENCE
Columbus Hip Hop twosome The Lab Rats kicked off their set with a trippy, funkily scratched-up "Strawberry Fields Forever," which had many of the audience members singing along (horribly). (MB)

Http://www.citybeat.com/2005-09-28/cover.shtml - Cincinnati CityBeat

"Unlike the expected hotbeds that developed around mainstream Hip Hop (Atlanta, L.A., New York), the rise of "Indie Hip Hop" is making for some interesting, unanticipated new breeding grounds. Along those lines, Columbus, Ohio, looks to be becoming a hot spot, producing acclaimed artists like RJD2 and Blueprint. Next on that list could be C-Town duo The Lab Rats, whose EP, Short Order, throws back to olld school Hip Hop and adds a deft comedic touch that would make the Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest and Biz Markie smirk in approval. Rapper/guitarist/songwriter Brian Brown is a clever wordplaya, blending pop culture and social observations seemlessly into his droll, banging lyrical concoction, while Kelly Warner holds it all together with his imaginative soundscaping (warner blends DJ-ing with keyboard grooves). Think Eminem (without the faux gansta-isms) getting high and jamming with Dan the Automator and you're in the ballpark. The twosome will play a show at The Comet this Thursday." -- MIKE BREEN
- Cincinnati CityBeat

The Lab Rats, Chris McCoy and the Gospel, Salvage; 10 p.m. Saturday; O’Hooley’s, 24 W. Union St. —

What a shame that three fine Columbus acts should share a stage together with no local support, and on the night before Easter no less. Let’s hope that not everybody is going home like me, as these bands are worth your attention.

The Lab Rats are a duo making “thrift shop hip hop,” featuring DJ KW, who adds the keyboards and percussion while Brian Brown raps with a guitar in his hand. Though the band’s recordings don’t show off its instrumental prowess, it showcases a first-rate hip-hop pedigree: infectious beats under intelligent rhymes, especially on “Get Your Shit Together.”

Chris McCoy and the Gospel and Salvage complete an utterly diverse bill. McCoy’s band, featuring guitarist Matt Wagner of Athens regulars The Bygones, crafts heartfelt Americana tinged with the occasional lap steel and accordion.

Salvage doesn’t mess with any of that extraneous instrumentation, presenting straight-up three-piece hard rock that encompasses everything from Slayer to Nirvana.

—Chris DeVille
- The Post, Athens, Ohio

Best Albums
The Lab Rats, Short Order EP. Columbus has a huge underground hip hop scene, and The Lab Rats could make the same national impact as RJD2 if they get the right breaks. Sounding like a more laid-back Beastie Boys - complete with pop culture references and samples from classic rock songs - they're the perfect soundtrack for sitting back and simply doing nothing. - The Other Paper, By Chad Painter

It's easy to tag Columbus-based duo The Lab Rats as hip-hop, but it's so much more. On the group's upcoming release, Half Full Ashtrays, Half Empty Glasses, you'll hear jazz, funk, big beats, quirky samples and atmospheric soundscapes. It's the push and pull between musicians Brian Brown and Kelly Warner (DJ KW) that makes it a collaborative - we're constantly critiquing or supporting each other's ideas," Warner says. Expect a dynamic live show, but have it your way. "I don't tell people to get your hands up - it's not an aerobics class," Brown says. "I try to let the songs do the talking." - by KARI WETHINGTON - CIN WEEKLY

Talk about your cool hybrids. The Lab Rats work an amazing groove informed by the jammed-out Riff Rock of MC Brian Brown on electric guitar and the mad breakbeats and electronic touches of DJ Kelly Warner, a multi-instrumentalist with two turntables and a microphone (and a pedal steel and keys and congas). With Brown's suburban-weary songs of everyday frustration and Warner's broadly whacked musical accompaniment, the Lab Rats will be your new favorite experiment, particularly with their about-to-be-released new album, Half Full Ashtrays, Half Empty Glasses.
Dig It: Local H and the Beasties kickin' it with Jay-Z and Eminem. (Brian Baker)
- Cincinnati CityBeat