No surprise to see all these great reviews - SImply amazing thanks :)

Seventeen years after getting this album (tempus fugit huh) I still like tossing it on from time to time. There's just something about the slow grooves, dreamy background and enveloping distortion--sure it draws from the past--but the overall sound had quite a different feel than most of the distorted beat outings I had heard around then. Expansive, and wonderfully crafted. Probably my favorite Speedy J release.

I got this album "acid"entally as a second hand 12" immediately after release date. Still unique a rocking. Happy to have this one i my collection.

Back on form after the disapointing Public Energy No. 1. This takes the same Aphex Twin / Industrial references as its predecessor, but adds a bit more finesse. A much more satisfying listening experience.

disappointing public energy #1?... you are crazy and should clean your ears out... you obviously don't know what good experimental music is

This album definately still kicks ass in a way less others do!Here Speedy J sounds like a mixture of Aphex Twin and Deep Detroit Techno.There are many grooving, guttearing Loops in here, which make the whole Album apear like a bodytrip.This is definately what I would call a real "Cyberfunk" recording!

I have to be honest here and say I've just now decided to jot down a few lines about Speedy J's much talked about album "A Shocking Hobby", and the main reason is that its true magnitude and greatness are only now crystal clear and palpable to me. Eight years after it came out, and I can claim with enough confidence that in my ears, this still sounds like George Paap's production masterstroke. Tracks like Drill, Actor Nine, Balk Acid and Amoco Cadiz are yet be surpassed in terms of production complexity, intensity and general sound quality. Not for the candy ravers, not for laid back home listening, the type of music which would make your girlfriend question your sanity, the album remains a landmark classic. A benchmark in Speedy J's extensive opus, with potential to de(con)struct, taer apart, knock down and build back up from scratch listeners perception of music. With a distinct and instinctive knack for provoking ample sets of moods, defying the odds and keeping a repellent attitude towards trends, "A Shocking Hobby" will continue giving rise to doubt, while its status of a unique work untainted by foreign factors remains in tact. One of the best albums I own. Heavy weight stuff this good doesn't come around very often, so missing out on this would be a capital mistake. 10/10.

Given "A Shocking Hobby"'s harsh and abrasive character, you'd be forgiven to believe that Jochem Paap is a somewhat unbalanced person, when he's in fact an easy-going, polite and mild-mannered guy. Building on the same framework as its predecessor "Public Energy #1", this album combines sheer white noise, colossal breakbeats and deeply emotional strings to brilliant effect, perfectly balancing the contrasts between dystopian darkness and melancholic warmth. Sometimes depressing, sometimes hair-raising, sometimes beautiful and always breathtaking, "A Shocking Hobby" is a modern classic, although certainly not for the faint-hearted.

I got this album when it was recommended to me by a guy that works at the record shop I shop at. I'm glad I bought it! Its somewhat minimalist drum n bass with some chilly atmospherics. The main focus seems to be the distorted trashcan-style beats. The everpresent distortion serves to really set the feel. "Ferber Acid" is the best track.