Venetian Snares: Detrimentalist

Admittedly, I have little frame of reference to evaluate Detrimentalist with. I usually find the more spastic and noisy genres of electronic music unbearably abrasive. Even worse, the records that aren't irritating are some of the most boring I've ever heard, i.e., the recent output of Meat Beat Manifesto. Perhaps Venetian Snares affect me differently than their peers because rhythm isn't treated as an end in itself. The time signatures are prominent, of course, but the beats often slow down or pause to make room for a fragment of melody. The tracks on Detrimentalist are distinguishable from one another in terms of tempo, mood and intensity. This alone makes it one of the superior records of drum 'n' bass and related genres, and the fact that almost all are gems puts it over the top for me.