If I was in the driver's seat in 1997, I probably wouldn't have put "mom & dad at night" on this record. Why? Because the rest of the album sparkles with such memorable and unexpected moments, "mom and dad" seems out of place--it sounds like a typical mid 90's college rock song. That being the only negative thing I have to say about this album, let me gush about the good. "Dayscratch" is a testament to the creativity, sincerity and dexterity of A.J. Strauss as a songwriter. "Your dress is so tacky, your lipstick drags..." He sings fiction, but weaves it with an autobiographical, heartfelt slant. Other track highlights include: "Inertia"--on the surface a Thurston Moore bow, but a 'second or third' listen, we see that while they travel the same road, it happens in different lanes. The song is really musical, whimsical. "Huffer" would really be a treat to see live, and not just because I have a penchant for songs about inhalants. The Sutras do well to mix up instrumentation, making each tune sonically unique, but cohesive as an album. While the record dates itself (some of it just screams "120 Minutes"), it is deseving of regular revisiting. The range of emotions, the agile and dynamic musicianship and engaging lyrics makes "A Prize for Whitey" a tasteful treat for any ethnicity. Highly recommended.

The sutras are a confused lot: they play their guitars like pianos, their keyboards like drums and their drums like a singer who won’t wake up and put his glitter on for the show that’s supposed to start in like, just half an hour. The bassist would kinda cute if he shaved more often.

The Sutras sing songs about fair-weather friendship, having a great job and getting your un-fucking-qualified relative a job, too, and have a great track that’s the noise in your head if you’ve ever held more than nine hundred and ninety nine dollars for longer than ten minutes.

i saw these cats play in philly and damn, i was impressed, even though their new stuff is pretty different, i still love this disc, i agree with the last review that the song "mom and dad at night" doesn't really fit with the rest of the album, but every other track is a winner, and i find myself playing the album over and over again, something that happens too rarely with most music that i've found... you can't go wrong with this disc, "dayscratch" alone is worth the price of admission... later.