Fake Fun is kind of cute...in a really strange, completely bizarre fashion, like a bunch of Oompa-Loompas sniffing glue. Working with a curious mix of drum loops, found sound, noise and things gone wrong, Bonefish Sam and his Power Orchestra build an astoundingly cohesive sound from their disparate elements. After opening with a thirty-second beat poem featuring bongos and an amazingly rhythmic dog, the horn from "Smorgasbord" sneaks into the speakers. This track lives up to its name, laying down a simple bass line which weaves between strange squiggles, a reverbed-out saxophone and a hideously insistent laugh. The result lies somewhere between noted noisemakers Crash Worship and John Zorn.

Clearly, experimentation is the word of the day, and the band takes listeners through the myriad of concepts the word entails. "Cheap Gear Jam" takes a Middle Eastern drum pattern and marries it to a harem of knob-twisting weirdness. This is followed by "Musical Chainsaw" which is filled with more boings than a roomful of cartoon kangaroos. "Over Here" splices together a piano riff, fog horns, crushing percussion and a disembodied voice that repeats the phrase "Over here", eventually providing the added clue that "I'm in the T.V." Despite the aggressive strangeness, the music lacks the threatening feel that marks sonic experiments like Pigface's Gub. Instead, the Boise, Idaho band's six members make something that sounds innocent despite its otherworldly tone. Things are definitely awry on Fake Fun. However, the insertion of melodic tracks such as "Struttin' Along and then Something Neat Happens" and "Bonefish Wedding March" turns the album into the sonic equivalent of Super Mario Bros.: dangerous and strange, but filled with a wide-eyed cuteness. This is by no means a simple feat, and the record clearly shows the thought that went into into compositions. The result is an album that is challenging, strange and full of completely real fun.