AllMusic critic Sean Cooper described Throbbing Pouch as an album of "eazy-listening instrumental hip-hop" music "scattered with dime-store samples and goofy melodies".

[3] Reviewing Throbbing Pouch for Select, Gareth Grundy described the album as a "missing link" between Aphex Twin and Mo' Wax.

[6] For AllMusic, Sean Cooper said that on Throbbing Pouch, "Luke Vibert's arranging skills are in rare form, reordering elements and dropping tracks in and out with liquid, barely noticeable aplomb.

[8] Turk Dietrich of the American experimental music duo Belong wrote that Throbbing Pouch "may be the only LP that rivals" DJ Shadow's 1996 release Endtroducing..... "in the genre of sampledelia.

"[9] Similarly, critic Simon Reynolds stated in Spin that Throbbing Pouch "easily rivals" Endtroducing "as a masterpiece of emotive, down-tempo sampladelia.