Super Warren MMIV

Album Review

Superwarren MMIV is pretty much the one-person show of Jona Bechtolt on this instrumental electronic album, even if a few spoken voices are briefly heard. It's a gently rollicking, mutedly whimsical series of pieces, the pleasant yet bland sequences of electronic tones backed by percussion that's on the rigorously mechanical side (though according to the liner notes, about half the tracks feature "real" drums). The sparse, slightly moody atmosphere is occasionally punctured by more dissonant bursts, flutters, and sputters of electronic sound, though these aren't too jarring. Some of the song titles ("I Asked If We Could Have Sex One Last Time," "We Want Tofu," "Bunny & Duck's Boat House") are in keeping with the moderately playful feel of the music, albeit not the kind that's funny enough to make you laugh out loud. On the whole, these seem more like sketches than a fully developed album, in terms of both composition and production.