VENITIAN SNARES - Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006 / 2370894

10'02

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VSNARES
2370894
(ZIQ057) Planet Mu 2002
11 Tracks. 46mins21secs.
Buy this CD on line now

VENITIAN SNARES
Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006
(ZIQ056) Planet Mu 2002
10 Tracks. 51mins06secs.
Buy this CD on line now

Twisting Ligneous is like “Lee Perry forcing Stokhausen and Squarepusher to do it at gunpoint while giving them gasoline enemas” declares Aaron Funk, mastermind behind Venetian Snares, about one of the tracks of his latest opus. The man who became an overnight name on the electronic scene following the release of his second album, Songs About My Cat, doesn’t shy away from controversy. With two albums out since the beginning of the year and a third one, Winter In The Belly Of A Snake, due out at the end of October, Funk runs the risk to alienate about everybody apart from his fans, and it could be just what he’s looking for.
Devoted member of the noise school which has scene Squarepusher, Kid606 and Aphex shoot to fame, and the likes of V/VM gain wide underground respect, Canadian born and bred Aaron Funk emerged at the dawn of the new millennium with a series of enigmatic EPs on a variety of rather obscure labels. Contacted by Planet Mu guru and legend in his own right Mike Paradinas after he heard one of them in a record shop in Minneapolis, Aaron Funk was to release a first album in collaboration with Speedbranch, another noise terrorist based in the UK. Making Orange Things raised more than a few eyebrows, but it is with its follow up, Songs About My Cat, released only a few months later, that the Snaremania really kicked off. Logically associated with Squarepusher, Funk takes the twisted drill’n’bass sound to funkier, more aggressive territories. Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006, published in May this year, opens with the rather playful funked-up operatic extravaganza that is Dance Like You’re Selling Nails before turning nastier and dirtier as the album progresses. Funk doesn’t allow much rest between his machine-gun beats and thumping noise assaults, culminating with the filthy Cobra Commander, which can equally amaze or annoy, depending on the listener’s mood. Things calm down slightly with Walmer Side, in which he drops a Hitchock-esque film sample right in the middle. Earlier on, the poetically named Fuck Off shows Funk at his most dexterous with sound arrangement, before drifting in the post-rave abstraction that is Make Ronnie Rocket. Funk allows a moment to pause and reflect on the mayhem with the breezy Dismantling Five Years, a disconcerting ambient moment, complete with strings and organ.
The second album to see the light this year, 2370894, is a more meticulous affair. The surprisingly peaceful Underground Circus Jesus and Ornamental Grape Bone which open the album are both interesting examples of Funk’s dexterity at sound organisation, and this album is a constant reminder that, if Funk excels at creating fierce beat and noise constructions, he can equally produce less constrained moments. If the following tracks progressively evolve toward more abrasive territories, the album’s abstract twist prevents it to reach the same excess as its predecessor. Instead, Funk develops a more linear, and therefore more accessible, tracks, injecting elements of raw dub in Twisting Ligneous, which, if it doesn’t entirely justifies the description evoked at the beginning of this review, remains a very impressive composition. This track, probably more than any other, shed some lights on the full Snares personality, even giving space for a little melodic line. Further down the line, 2370894 flirts with post modern classical (We Are Cesspools, Stamina), metal (Sybian Rock) or intricate electronica (Nobody Really Understand Anybody).
Aaron Funk seems determined not to follow any trend, consciously jumping from one extreme to another. This can lead to his records sounding too much to absorb, Higgins… and 2370894 sometimes falling short of being really fascinating due to these constant change of focus. Both albums are however equally brilliant, served impeccably by the incontestable talent of the man at organising each of his pieces.

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Buy Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006 on line now

TRACK LISTING - 2370894

01	Underground Circus Jesus	07	Sybian Rock
02	Ornamental Grape Bone	08	Nobody Really Understands Anybody
03	Happy Morning Condom Factory	09	Stamina
04	Twisting Ligneous	10	2 Dollars
05	Fuck Toronto Jungle	11	British IDM Preset Fanfare (The Hawaiian Hockey Song)
06	We Are Cesspools

TRACK LISTING - Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006

01	Dance Like You're Selling Nails	06	Deadman DJ
02	Banana Seat Girl	07	Cobra Commander
03	Fuck Off	08	Walmer Side
04	Make Ronnie Rocket	09	Dismantling Five Years
05	Vokeheads	10	We Are Oceans

VENITIAN SNARES DISCOGRAPHY

VENITIAN SNARES + SPEEDRANCH MAKING ORANGE THINGS Planet Mu 2001 Buy it on line now _	Fire Beats We Hate Russell Pay Me For Sex Cheatin' Unborn Baby Meta Abuse Molly's Reach Around Russell Hates This Track Viva Las Vegas Tushe Love Halfway Up The Stairway Of Mucus _
VENITIAN SNARES SONGS ABOUT MY CATS Planet Mu 2001 Buy it on line now _	Chinaski Katzesorge Part 1 Nepetalactone Poor Kakarookee For Bertha Rand Breakfast Time For Baboons Fluff Master Bobo Katzesorge Part 2 Pouncelciot Kakenrooken Stivlobits Lioness Cleaning Each Other Look _
VENITIAN SNARES HIGGINS ULTRA LOW TRACK GLUE FUNK HITS 1972-2006 Planet Mu 2002 Buy it on line now _	Dance Like You're Selling Nails Banana Seat Girl Fuck Off Make Ronnie Rocket Vokeheads Deadman DJ Cobra Commander Walmer Side Dismantling Five Years We Are Oceans _
VSNARES 2370894 Planet Mu 2002 Buy it on line now	Underground Circus Jesus Ornamental Grape Bone Happy Morning Condom Factory Twisting Ligneous Fuck Toronto Jungle We Are Cesspools Sybian Rock Nobody Really Understands Anybody Stamina 2 Dollars British IDM Preset Fanfare (The Hawaiian Hockey Song)

THE SURFER'S GUIDE TO VENITIAN SNARES

PLANET MU
Michael Paradinas, aka µ-ziq, Jack Slazenger or Kid Spatula, started his very own imprint only a few years ago, and he has used it to promote very interesting new artists, such as Jega, Capitol K, or more recently Leafcutter John and Joseph Nothing.