Apraxia is a synthpop band from Minneapolis, MN., previously in Detroit MI., the brainchild of Alex Valoczki, with a little help from Brooke Aldridge (vocals), Stuart Teigen (spoken vocals), Luna Love (guitar on one track), and Laura Hillman Mitchell (backing vocals on 'Strangelove'). Yep, that's right, 'Strangelove,' the Depeche Mode song, but we'll get to that later.

I can't figure out if Alex is just enamoured of 80's synthpop, or an early Depeche Mode wannabe. He says that people tell him he has a voice just like David Gahan; I think he sounds more like Phil Oakley in Human League's earliest incarnation. Yes, this is that era synthpop, and mostly minimal synthpop at that. (Even Human League's 'Travelogue' was more adventurous.) Things begin well enough with 'Stop,' the first track; it's got a good beat and retro-synths, and a bit of a catchy chorus.

I detected a hint of Freezepop on 'Delicious Vixen,' an okay song about your local club divas. And there's some nifty vocoder on 'DNA NanoBots'. However, in order to make this material work, it has to be much more clever with some wry humor which doesn't seem to be Alex's strong suit. 'Fight!' wants to make a political statement but comes off weak and merely sarcastic in spite of additional sampled dialogue and power guitar chords. No synthpop should ever cover the Stooges classic 'I Wanna Be Your Dog,' which, even with guitar doesn't cut the mustard. In fact, I don't think any artist should ever cover it, except for maybe Susan Boyle. Now THAT I'd like to hear! 'International Space Elevator' is a good track for people who like vocoders and minimal synth. 'Rabbits' really reminds me of early Human League, but not in a good way. I now remember why I don't play their albums anymore.

More cynical social commentary on 'Suck It Up,' albeit without the humor required to carry it off. There are plenty of bleeps and blurbles on this album for those who can't get enough analogue synth, but for me that's just not enough.

For bonus tracks there are remixes and extended versions of four tracks you've already heard on the album. AND- Apraxia' version of DM's 'Strangelove' produced by remixer Junior Kain. Kind of Depeche Mode light. I can't see any good reason for doing yet another version of this song. For one thing, the song has been remixed to death as is. You can find about a hundred versions of it on the net. As to Apraxia's treatment of it, if you just heard it blind, you might find yourself asking, 'Oh is that an unreleased Depeche Mode demo?' Yeah, there's a bit of a similarity vocally, and I wouldn't be surprised if this song got a little club play locally. Musically, it's serviceable.

Overall, I'm not completely sold on Apraxia's 'The Grid'. The term Apraxia is defined: '1. A disorder of voluntary movement consisting of the partial or complete inability to execute purposeful movements without the impairment of muscular power and coordination. 2. A psychomotor defect characterized by the inability to make proper use of a known object.' For now, I think the name is pretty fitting.