Experimental multi-instrumentalist (and Cabaret Voltaire associate) Random dabbles in a wide variety of styles, hopping around from art-noise to reggae to jazz to non-Western idioms. But instead of merely regurgitating these genres, Random gives them unusual arrangements, adding odd and eerie synths, guitar, percussion, etc.
That’s What I Like About Me is a four-track 12-inch whose sound owes much to early Cab Volt; over a cheap little rhythm box and simple bass riffs, Random layers a plethora of synth washes, treated vocals and other assorted sounds. The one live cut shows no loss of sonic capabilities that might be expected from such a techno-noodler.
Time-Splice (on Cab Volt’s label) features much cleaner production and sharper playing than on Random’s first album, Earthbound Ghost Need (title derived from William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch), which includes a version of Ravel’s Bolero that would have left Bo Derek in a much different mood. Production, arrangements and styles seem to take priority over songwriting, but Random is a talented artist.