Shocking Hobby, A

Q - 3 stars out of 5 - "...continues a process of stripping down to an asteroid-pitted beat-base, J working wonders inside his Rotterdam home studio..." CMJ - "...Sinks even deeper into dementia with a grating concoction of techno/industrial experimentation....An odd, sometimes uncomfortable listen to be sure, but who said evolution was easy." Rolling Stone - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Aggro for eggheads....[Speedy J] has borrowed some skronk from the Aphex Twin, and he brings that noise into Metallica's backyard..." The Wire - "...Bludgeoning, desolate music....an uncompromising take on post-Industrial Techno, celebrating the combined effects of corrosion and distortion upon the rhythms of modern urban existence....Stark, rigorous and challenging, this could well be the Future Sound of Rotterdam." Muzik - 3 out of 5 - "...Bookended by ambient soundbites, the meat in the sandwich is very much the sound of someone with one demon too many lurking in their subconscious....if noise is your thing, then this should sate your appetite..." Mojo - "...His most complete and satisfying work yet....exploring the darkest of ambiences, like Eno if he were a little less polite or Aphex Twin with less beard and more funk, yet it's hardly chill-out - more an Arctic freeze, cold to the bone..."

Speedy J followed up the most lauded album of his career with yet another work of excellence, an album that ranges slightly farther afield than the insistent Autechre references recalled by Public Energy No. 1. After a short ambient opener, the ungodly "Borax" comes crashing through with a sound that manages to encompass terms like funky, experimental, and beautiful with equal degrees of excellence. It's easily one of the best productions of Jochem Paap's career, not to mention one of the best in contemporary electronic music. True, a few of the later tracks ("Balk Acid," "Drill," "Vopak") are quite close to the brand of super-computing electro-techno that Autechre pioneered a few years before, but even these productions have an immediacy, an enormity of sound, quite lacking in Autechre. A world away from this music-for-eggheads sound lies what just may have been another influence on A Shocking Hobby -- namely, the insanely stupid dance style named big-beat techno. These tracks don't exactly have the can't-miss-'em drum breakdowns and old-school samples of yr average big-beat record, but when Paap places a massive explosion of sound on the first beat of every bar, it's difficult to escape the feeling that these songs are akin to Fatboy Slim on brainfood. Creating intelligent, difficult music that also feeds the attention-span deficit inherent in post-rave music isn't just a good idea, it's the recipe for another excellent album. ~ John Bush|

Speedy J followed up the most lauded album of his career with yet another work of excellence, an album that ranges slightly farther afield than the insistent Autechre references recalled by Public Energy No. 1. After a short ambient opener, the ungodly "Borax" comes crashing through with a sound that manages to encompass terms like funky, experimental, and beautiful with equal degrees of excellence. It's easily one of the best productions of Jochem Paap's career, not to mention one of the best in contemporary electronic music. True, a few of the later tracks ("Balk Acid," "Drill," "Vopak") are quite close to the brand of super-computing electro-techno that Autechre pioneered a few years before, but even these productions have an immediacy, an enormity of sound, quite lacking in Autechre. A world away from this music-for-eggheads sound lies what just may have been another influence on A Shocking Hobby -- namely, the insanely stupid dance style named big-beat techno. These tracks don't exactly have the can't-miss-'em drum breakdowns and old-school samples of yr average big-beat record, but when Paap places a massive explosion of sound on the first beat of every bar, it's difficult to escape the feeling that these songs are akin to Fatboy Slim on brainfood. Creating intelligent, difficult music that also feeds the attention-span deficit inherent in post-rave music isn't just a good idea, it's the recipe for another excellent album. ~ John Bush