Critical reception
David Bennun of Melody Maker called it a "loud and unmistakably self-imposing record" that is comparable to earlier collaborative albums Eno made with Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads, David Byrne and U2, albeit "with all the tunes taken out and the found noises left in." [3] NME critic Betty Page noted that Eno eschewed soothing meditative pieces, instead "stabbing bits of broken glass into funk, jazz, electro, world and otherworld, to produce a sonic mutation clearly ahead of its time." [4] In Select , Dave Morrison awarded Nerve Net a perfect score, deeming it wholly unlike Eno's previous work and "a plunge into the deep end of the mainstream demonstrating his remarkable knack of keeping outside and ahead of current trends while remaining a pervasive influence." [6] Morrison played down comparisons to artists such as System 7 as lazy and insufficient, instead noting the record's eclecticism and density, resulting in a "complete electric music for the mind and body for the '90s." [6]
In the United States, Entertainment Weekly critic Arion Berger lamented the album's dance rhythms, adding that "Nerve Net may sport intricate drumming and spoken-word weirdness, but it's woefully retro, as tinny and uninspired as the computerized synthesizer experiments of the '70s, and often as irritating." [10] The critic Robert Christgau dismissed the album as a "dud" in his "Consumer's Guide" for The Village Voice . [16]
Retrospectively, AllMusic's Rick Anderson named Nerve Net Eno's "most rocking solo album in years, and also his funkiest", and considering it very fun in "a slightly inhuman, claustrophobically funky sort of way" but also relatively unexciting. [8] Douglas Wolk of Pitchfork believes it to be "more obviously a product of its time than any other Eno record", evident through the synthesiser presets and "some iffy rapping", and noted the cold, brittle sound. [11] Drowned in Sound reviewer Alexander Tudor considers it an edgy and frequently abrasive album and a rare successful example of jazztronica, comparing its funkier, more propulsive material to This Heat and its coldest and most intellectual to Autechre. [8] Tudor also noted the influence of Fela Kuti, imbued in a way that "never feels like pastiche, ethnographic forgery (a la Can) or cultural colonialism; instead, it feels like dialogue." [8]
In a very favourable review for PopMatters, Rhea Rhollmann noted its upbeat sound, sometimes bordering jazz-rock, but retaining strong, moody ambient elements, and contrasted it with The Shutov Assembly , Eno's more ethereal follow-up album, saying: "The denser, more synthetic and more danceable Nerve Net – with its more easily discernible beats, sporadic guitar twangs, occasional minimalist vocals and piano-driven swings to spacy jazz – indeed carries a certain urban ambient vibe." [12] The author Jim DeRogatis interprets both albums as tributes to the dance and techno producers that Eno believed were making the most innovative studio work of the period, such as the Orb and Moby, both of whom took influence from Eno's ambient works. However, DeRogatis deems both albums inferior to Wrong Way Up (1990). [17] Ian Stonehouse named Nerve Net as one of Eno's key records in The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), saying the producer "rematerialized in fine form with this 'Bleep & Booster' song assemblage." [18]
