The very idea of basing an entire album of IDM around found sound is not entirely new. On one level, it’s easy to make the judgment that all IDM sounds the same: complex polyrhythmic arrangements, dissonant synthesizers, and beats that seem to have been composed by kids with physics degrees who, in lieu of doing their homework, drink a shit-ton of Robotussin and doodle around with a pirated version of fruity loops. With such a palette of sounds, one might conclude that IDM can border on completely un-listenable art fag trash, marketed only toward pill-popping scenesters with undiagnosed ADD. Matmos produced an entire album out of plastic surgery samples on A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure. So then the question on everyone’s tongue is: do Secret Mommy’s exercise in ctrl-c/ctrl-p IDM, Very Rec, stand out from the rest, or can it be written off as another pseudo-Aphex Twin clone? The short answer is “yes.” The long answer is YESSSSSSS. Not only does Very Rec excel within its genre, but as a “concept album” holds its own with well-flowing song cycles that not only presents a cohesive listen, but produces and captures a mood for the listener.

A little background trivia: Secret Mommy’s concept for Very Rec appears sort of simplistic. The duo decided to capture the mood and sounds (and possibly smells, if you really get into it) of various recreational sites. I feel that the general perception of IDM suggests that it’s awfully noisy and almost too complex for anyone to listen to. Since so many artists who consider themselves part of the whole IDM scene try to cram each track with as many different layers and complex statistical densities, the concern is warranted. Culling sounds from places like a tennis court or a soccer field lends to the general accessibility of each track. The up tempo rhythm of “Soccer Field” makes it easy to imagine an intense game, complete with a propos samples of heavy breathing to add not only a pretense of actuality, but a driving rhythm to under-gird the soundscape. Not to mention that the synthesizer riffs and melodies present on the track imagine two soccer fields: a real one, brought to life by the heavy breathing, and a virtual Atari one, complete with pixilated players who move in pre-programmed manners. And although the beats are intensely arranged, overlaid, and further complicated by a myriad of effects, there is an adequate level of funk, making it hard to deny oneself the simple pleasure of bobbin’ the head. Then there are tracks like “Yoga Studio,” which break up the groove centered beats of “Tennis Court,” “Swimming Pool,” and allow for a moment of ethereal consciousness to emerge. Then, Secret Mommy resume the funk on “Dance Studio,” which deconstructs a folksy acoustic guitar loop and collides it into a series of big band hits worthy of Benny Goodman. The result of such cutting, pasting, and overdubbing is a literal sound collage that is just as fresh, new, and exciting on the 100th listen as it was on the first.

But if you’re still unconvinced, if you’re still hesitant because you’ve heard your Four Tet, Aphex Twin, Matmos, and other such IDM/laptronica acts, there’s another reason why Very Rec proves itself worthy. As I’ve mentioned before, the beauty of Very Rec lies in the sources that constitute the very album’s core: the sounds of various recreational sites that at least some of us have been to (okay, kids who play Counterstrike all day probably won’t have any frame of reference for tracks like “Squash Court”). In the end, Secret Mommy not only provide a soundtrack to these places, they invoke and produce these spaces for the listener so that, now when I see a tennis court, a soccer field, or a dance studio, I’m unable to disassociate each space from the similarly named tracks I’ve listened to on Very Rec. I can’t say the same for similar ventures (like A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure… probably because the imagery involved in liposuction is disturbing and gross)… all the same, I’m unable to separate the experience of waiting for a flight from the melancholic, gray synesthesia of Eno’s Ambient Music For Airports, so much so that it makes the wait and expectation of traveling by plane an amazing and completely sublime experience in its own right. In other words, Secret Mommy have provided a rhythm to the everyday, mundane things that people do, but it’s not background noise either. Very Rec enhances the activities invoked by the seemingly schizophrenic, confused, and non-sensical sound collage. Yet, through their music, they make sense of, and provide an underlying logic to, each recreational experience captured by each track, and it is to their credit that Secret Mommy can effectively use IDM as a means to communicate all the different registers and experiences involved in recreational activity.