marc freeman

Winter In The Belly Of A Snake

'Winter In The Belly Of A Snake' signals an important development in the accessibility of Venetian Snares material. Snares, aka Aaron Funk, has historically dished out the most brutal sonic assaults money can buy. His themes are wicked, his samples malicious, and his beats are akin to being repeatedly hit in the face with a mud-caked shovel. Funk's early full lengths, 'Shiver in Eternal Darkness' and 'Doll, Doll, Doll' are masterpieces of malevolent breakcore, and represent his darkest themes and structures. Subsequent material has signaled a shift away from overt maliciousness; still, the Snares sound reliably finds audience with a masochistic underground capable of stomaching hardcore electronic brutality.

'Winter...' continues the trend away from explicit viciousness while dwelling within the sinister confines of disturbance. The full on aural assaults characteristic in Snares' material have been greatly diminished as Funk provides the fragile-eared with reduced ferocity, interludes of dark ambience, and musical elements to include vocals, strings, and actual song structures. The disk opens with the stunning and somber 'Dad,' an actual song featuring agitated rhythms and Funk's memory-laden lyrics about his departed father. 'Tattoo' also features Funk's vocals though thematically and sonically more malicious. A cover of Danzig's 'She' concludes Funk's ominous vocal portion of the release and includes only minimal strings and keys to back him up.

The majority of 'Winter...' is comprised of recognizable Venetian Snares tune structures, unruly rhythms, and eerie keyboard undertones. The hardcore barrage of static-distorted aural poundings is substituted for more accessible electronics. Take 'Gottrahmen' a dark ambient combination of processed vocals, subtle distortions, and swelling keyboard sweeps, which morph into the raucous glitch-boom-ba's of 'Suffocate.' 'January' features thumping rhythms, music-box textures, and a few wonderfully bizarre samples of public radio guru Garrison Keillor. 'Fraujager' is an explicit relapse into brutality, but mellow keyboard ramblings follow as 'Warm Body' furnishes the listener with a serene interlude.

Intentional or not, 'Winter...' is an effective step in the direction of accessibility for Venetian Snares. It is not a drastic departure into new territory; it is simply an evolution of the Snares sound. A bit less bloodcurdling, a bit more listenable, 'Winter in the Belly of a Snake' is another Venetian Snares triumph shrouded in unsettling shadows.

A Giant Alien Force More Violent & Sick Than Anything You Can Imagine

A master of violently militaristic beats, malevolent electronic processing, and disturbing sample selection, Venetian Snares creator Aaron Funk has reliably assaulted listeners with some of the most amazing and unsettling electronic music on the market. Celebrating Funk's innovative eccentricity, Hymen has released a splendid box-o-disturbance aptly titled 'A Giant Alien Force More Violent & Sick Than Anything You Can Imagine.' 'A Giant Alien Force...' consists of one fifteen-minute track originally intended as a soundtrack. Because of Funk's cinematic intentions, 'A Giant Alien Force...' comes in exceptional packaging designed and created by Snares cohort Salt. The 3-inch compact disk and mini-sleeve artwork are housed in a beautiful red box with the title impressed on the top. The box looks like something one might give a girlfriend on Valentines Day, though given the contents, I'd highly suggest not doing such a thing. Included in the box is a small red television-set which serves as a picture viewer. The picture viewer contains 8 slides, all photographs which look like alternative industrial-inspired cover art. The idea is to view the pictures while listening to the CD, all the while attempting to maintain sanity.

The first five minutes of 'A Giant Alien Force...' involve a free-flowing transformation of undulating dark-ambient electronics, mildly frenzied rhythms, sci-fi keyboard noodling, and unsettling vocal wailings. The track then mutates into to a decisive mash of static blasts, siren wailings, and distorted pounding breakbeats. At around the 8 minute mark the music drones, fades, and undergoes a transformation where pleasant keyboard tones are layered overtop more traumatized rhythms. Once again the beats subside, providing a brief opportunity to breath just before the fierce mega-bpm rhythmic pounding finishes off what's left of your feeble ears. The distinctive transformations in the track suggest that there may have been several separate tracks involved here, but Funk makes the chaos flow like a torrent of industrial sludge.

Jam-packed with ominous artwork and quality disjointed breakbeats 'A Giant Alien Force...' is an impressive presentation of Funk's distinctive malignancy. An extraordinary package for the sonically damned.

Twoism

In 1995 the IDM market was flooded with a massive 100 vinyl copies of 'Twoism' and thus the world was introduced to Boards Of Canada. By now everyone is familiar with the infamous BOC sound, and by now everyone has heard about the infamous 'Twoism' going for 800 pounds on the infamous internet auction site. Well kids, trash your mp3's (you know you have 'em) and save your currency, because Warp has re-visited, re-mastered, and re-released the coveted 'Twoism' on CD.

BOC fans will recognize the straightforward downtempo grooves of 'Seeya Later' which was included on the 'Hi-Scores' ep, and 'Smokes Quantity' which was included on 'Music Has The Rights To Children.' Those 2 tracks are arguably where comparisons end, for while 'Twoism' involves unmistakable elements of the BOC sound, it undoubtedly lacks the sonic and thematic complexity of subsequent releases. Missing from this early material is the use of psychedelic vocal samples, forward references, or backwards messages; instead the boys utilize routine rhythms and the early sound-shaping standard which eventually evolved into more complex BOC efforts. That said, my personal favorite is 'Basefree' a tune that distinguishes itself with a resilient rumbling rhythm and characteristically cool BOC floating keyboard lines and layers.

Lacking the cumulative psychedelic complexity of later powerhouse releases, and offering just over 36 minutes of music, Twoism's appeal may lie in its historical significance rather than its substantive quality as a Boards Of Canada release. 'Twoism' is still however, head and shoulders above most of the 'downtempo' nonsense currently inundating the electronic scene.