Union Underground - A top Instrumental outfit takes on an enigmatic singer-songwriter. The Cleveland Scene, 8/20/03

Brian Straw/Soulos/Voight-Kampff Collective - "Fans of the somnambulant vibe of performers like Low should not miss Brian Straw's performance. His avant folk stylings have drawn comparisons to John Fahey for his similar blending of electronic tape with acoustic guitar. Straw has performed with many luminaries of the Midwest indie scene, including Edith Frost, David Grubbs, Kevin Drumm, Black Heart Procession--and Low. Soulos, the laptop electronica project of the Voight-Kampff Collective's Andrew Myers, boasts New Age textures with industrial beats. (C'mon, not even Tesh boasts New Age anymore.) Event promoters Voight-Kampff round out the bill of avant-garde music at ruby green contemporary arts center.--C.D.
from the Nashville Scene, 2/21/02

"If America's slowly ossifying singer-songwriter tradition needs a swift boot in the pants, then Brian Straw's foot is well-shod for the kicking. Eschewing the trite, broken-down lyricism of any dude with a guitar from Kansas to Kalamazoo, Straw mixes homeade instruments and avant-garde electrodrones with six-string strummin' and a striking basso to take folk music beyond familiar Guthrie/Dylan retreads. Put that well-worn copy of Springsteen's Nebraska aside for the evening: this guy brings his progressive balladry all the way to D.C. from Cleveland-and makes music that sounds like the road in between. Straw takes the stage at 9 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1831 14th St. NW $5 (202) 667-7960 (JM)"
Washington City Paper, 3/12/01

Semper Lo-Fi, Part II: We Have the Technology - Two Cleveland musicians exemplify lo-fi’s transformation in the digital age
- Urban Dialect, 3/3/03

"...Brian Straw from Cleveland opened the show, and he was the surprise hit of the evening, at least for me. Armed with two guitars and a live sampling machine (I'm sure there's a much better technical name for it), Brian created an atmosphere of sound that I've never heard come from one person. If Sonic Youth and Elliott Smith had a baby, it would be Brian Straw. That's the only way I could think of describing it. It was great. He doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to get him to Coloumbus again for a donewaiting.com show at some point." - Robert Duffy, donewaiting.com, 03/04/03

review of What Finds You Is Not Yours, What Leaves You Is Not Stolen from the Cleveland Scene, 10/23/02

Steal Cage - article published in The Cleveland Scene, 08/23/01

"Brian Straw also focuses on typical singer-songwriter themes on 2000's Once You're Lost You're Encouraged to Stay Lost, but his focus is so telescopically intense, he takes the stark tradition of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band into the avant-garde. Whereas Lennon slyly underscored his naked emotions with state-of-the-art production tricks, Straw emphasizes his alienation by contrasting static and doleful tone poems with blasts of electric-guitar meltdown and pure white noise -- an effect that allies him with heady post-rock experimentalists from Papa M to Songs: Ohia." - The Cleveland Scene, 07/10/02

Songs:Ohia, Brian Straw-Grog Shop 08/23/03 - "...Where Molina was relaxed and chatty onstage, Brian Straw is stingy with words and economical in his movements. His presence is imposing and all-business, but musically, Straw was a perfect match for the headliner. He alternated looped layers of quietly strummed guitar with earsplitting feedback, all expertly crafted. Last year, he told the Free Times that he aims to lift his audience up into the air, smack them around and then set them back down gently, and that's exactly what he did ao Thursday." - Heather Brack, Cleveland Free Times, 08/29/01