Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois - "Mag11 P82"

Venetian Snares and Daniel Lanois recently announced a self-titled collaborative album and shared its opening track. The former a breakcore alchemist/provocateur, the latter a veteran producer notable for his work with Brian Eno, U2, and Neil Young; what the two lack in apparent musical common ground, they more than make up for with their shared Canadianness. But in all seriousness, this lead single suggests it's actually a match made in heaven. Daniel's pedal steel-sourced ambience is a lovely complement to VS's frenetic drum programming. And the cover art is my aesthetic – perhaps that's less relevant, but the visual side of things should get some love in these kinds of write-ups more often.

Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois drops May 4 via Planet Mu.

-Austen

Venetian Snares - She Began to Cry Tears of Blood...

Breakcore veteran Aaron Funk, a.k.a. Venetian Snares, is back with a new album that's been handed the hefty title of She Began to Cry Tears of Blood Which Became Little Brick Houses When They Hit the Ground. According to a short statement Aaron posted along with the new album via Facebook, this album is "about what it’s like to exist, to not exist, to exist otherwise, absolute chaos." Fans of Venetian Snares' back catalog already know chaos is one of Aaron's specialties – that much about this new record feels like familiar territory. However, the existential theme of this new record might be influencing some of the vast, dystopian atmospheres surrounding the incomprehensibly complex glitches and rhythms that ran through every cut I hit in my cursory listen of this project.

While the album is dizzying in its intricacies, it's more evocative to my ears than it is soulless and calculated. After all these years, Aaron hasn't lost touch with his sense of groove, and nearly every track here carries a dark, moody tone. And the contrast between the sputtering electronics in the foreground and the glacial, haunting tones floating in the background is wonderfully stark – it makes me music feel almost like it exists in a three-dimensional plane. It's been about twenty years since Aaron started recording under the Venetian Snares name, and he's still pushing the compositional limits of electronic music.

Venetian Snares - "Your Face When I Finally"

Winnipeg breakcore luminary Venetian Snares has a new EP called Your Face out July 22 via Planet Mu. Stream the characteristically frenetic opening track above and enjoy! 

YUNOREVIEW: June 2014

The magical monthly segment where I briefly touch down on a gauntlet of albums I didn't get a chance to review this past month. These are just my short, straightforward, passionate, biased opinions.

Fucked Up - Glass Boys Fire! Orchestra - Enter Cormorant - Earth Driver Venetian Snares - My Love Is A Bulldozer Antlers - Familiars First Aid Kit - Stay Gold 50 Cent - Animal Ambition Keaton Henson - Romantic Works

Additional reviews: Every Time I Die - From Parts Unknown Linkin Park - .....sorta... Anathema - Distant Satellites Cakes Da Killa - Hunger Pangs G-Eazy - These Things Happen

Venetian Snares- Affectionate

Believe it or not, last week was Aaron Funk's birthday! Happy belated, Aaron. If you didn't know, Mr. Funk has spent years as the creative mind behind one of electronic music's most challenging projects, Venetian Snares. To celebrate coming into the world, Venetian Snared dropped a new EP on Bandcamp. Stream it above, or grab it digitally for five bones here.

Stream some new Venetian Snares ‡ STREAM

I strongly believe that sampling's role in music can only get stronger, and it's guys like Venetian Snares ensuring that future.

My So-Called life is the latest album from this break/glitch/whatthehell-core artist, also known as Aaron Funk. It's out now via Planet Mu, and you can get a deep whiff of this thing through some streams on their site. Give a listen and tell me what you think.

Is this VS best album? Worst? Is this thing a sensory overload or what? If we put the Books and Venetian Snares in a cage match, who would win? -