As it says boldly in the liner notes, "ALL
ETHER BUNNY SONGS ARE SAMPLE-BASED COMPOSITIONS." Utterly uncleared-for-copyright sample-based compositions at that, but unlike so many lazy practitioners of the form,
Vahnke gets his kicks out of tweaking and twisting originals to create something new instead of simply relying on a familiar hook for instant recognition. Rather than the somewhat more straightforward industrial work
Vahnke does in
Vampire Rodents, for Ether Bunny the emphasis is on big-band jazz and orchestral workouts that are just off enough, combined with some solid funk/dance rhythms for a strange, aggro edge. Compared to the shattering work of
Foetus in the same vein,
Papa Woody comes across as much more of a polite experience. As the entire album is instrumental outside of random and often quite insane source vocal snippets, there's nothing quite like
Clint Ruin's hectoring to send things totally over the top. There's something of
Meat Beat Manifesto's excellent, fluid rhythm mix to the whole affair as well, again not quite as striking as
Jack Dangers' work in general. As something like a classic Tex Avery cartoon with a dash of modern
Carl Stalling, though, Ether Bunny is onto something throughout its hour-long course. The song titles aren't exactly on the level, to be sure -- thus, "Tinkerbell Tramp," "Silly Willy," and "Mr. Poopypants," the latter of which adds some demented string samples and various overlaid grunts and yelps to the proceedings. One track, "Wee," actually was written by the folks in
Chemlab -- it fits in the same vein of things, if veering more towards full-on horny-horns funk than much else on the album. Otherwise it's
Vahnke amusing himself, and fairly well at that. Extra points for the appropriately deranged looking rabbits on the front cover as well.