5 out of 5

Label: Williams Street

Produced by: JG Thirlwell

I grooved along to the kitsch but cool opening theme of The Venture Bros. for years, and surely noted the composer’s name – JG Thirlwell. Meanwhile, I also also owning some Foetus albums, which I enjoyed, and never connected the two.

I don’t know when that lightbulb finally lit, by linking this Thirlwell to that Thirlwell unlocked my appreciation of this stuff on a whole new level: I felt lucky as heck to have bought the Venture Bros. Blu-ray that came with the soundtrack disc, and started listening to it with new ears while back-filling my Foetus collection, and wondering how I hadn’t heard the similarities before.

The work here is instrumental, of course, and though not as caustic as much material on JG’s Foetus releases, the playfulness and lush orchestration that pops up is certainly shared, with the straight-up circusy / orchestral bombast found on later discs a pretty exact match. The originality of this score, though, is in how it does that aforementioned balance, which is encoded within the show’s writing and animation as well, combining retro-cartoon riffs with deep characterizations, and goofy hijinx with some crazily-scoped action and adventure; musically, this means a kind of 70s James Bond and Spaghetti Western vibe gets blended with modern instrumentation, lush production, and a composer who loves dotting his works with just the right amount of flourish. The undeniable fun of ‘Tuff’ – the theme – can thus be led in to by the mournful melodrama of Brock’s Graveside; a track named ‘Assclamp!’ appears before the accurately named ‘Mississippi Noir,’ or the jazzy slink of ‘Sexy Sultry’ can be preceded, a track earlier, by something very sparse and downbeat- Descension. Meanwhile, Thirlwell keeps notes of the main hook floating throughout, and a general sense of showmanship, maintaining a set throughline across all 20 tracks.

I’ll admit it can feel like quite a bit of music, but it’s set up to be listened to as an album – ebbing and flowing between moods and pace, bookended by themes – and ranks as one of Thirlwell’s most complete and consistent efforts. What bumps it over into five star territory, though, is also how fitting of a soundtrack it is, representing the show but also, I’d say, responsible for fueling / informing the series style. You simply can’t separate the two.

But I’m glad we get the opportunity to listen to the music on its own…