Yeah, I am no fanatic by any stretch of the imagination. The Adult Party cartoon, for example, completely lacked restraint. It was terrible. 'Gross out for the sake of gross out' type stuff. It was the nightmarish, surreal qualities found in the first few seasons of the Nickelodeon cartoon that grabbed my attention. The use of reversed classical music, horror soundtrack music, intensely detailed and uncomfortable sound design, and the bizarre '1940's cartoons on acid' animation. Some of these things are what drew me to Boards of Canada in the first place.
So, you are saying Spongebob has been going in this direction? I may have to check that out!