On their second album (following their debut with 1993′s Greatest Hits), Sheep On Drugs serve up a mix of hard-roll techno and mellower breakbeats, with semi-apathetic punkish attitude as connective tissue.  The quick jumps in tempo and loop content work, for the most part, though it’s hard to pin down why that is.  The beats don’t always flow across the jumps, the vocals are often arrhythmic and make little to no effort at being in tune, splashes of outside styles (e.g., illbient for four bars or so) are thrown in without being fitted to the emotional ramping, and so on.  But the syrupy bass-waves and rough-edged treble punches come together with a satisfyingly sloppy human touch to their programming, while the nasal singing weaves through the beats and drones.

Suicide, apathy, drugs, and disaffection (with an emphasis on the suicide) are the main themes of the lyrics, and while they’re never communicated with an especially developed level of sophistication, their plain-faced weariness makes for far more emotionally convincing fare than the histrionics of Nine Inch Nails or similar acts at this point in the ‘90s.  The fully instrumental portions, rare as they are, show some surprising deftness for a band so evidently bent on making sure people know they don’t care about much of anything, with enticing interplay between the assorted layers and some powerful shaping of the electronics.  Fairly niche in its appeal, but with enough depth beneath its blasé presentation to warrant a listen for fans of punk/electronic crossover.

Here’s the alternate cover art.