Songs About My Cats - Venetian Snares

...too.

Then, Songs About my Cats came out.

S.A.M.C is a hugely important release by Aaron. It showcases the full-blown genius of Aaron Funk's mastery; in other words, the separation from gabber purism to an exceptionally intelligent musical vision. He would still use gabber, hardcore and punk but in mind-bending ways, alongside digital restructuring and highly technical jazz-influenced pieces. He would also express, as ...
...sound. Eerie.

Songs About my Cats is a masterwork from Venetian Snares.
It represents all the best about his music.
If you like intelligent experimental music, then you should get your hands on this great album.

*

(Written by myself - no violation, no lifting, no breach of copyright)  ... more

2001 was a significant year for Venetian Snares.
He would release a total of 3 albums under Planet Mu and Hymen Records.

After a string of self-released cassettes back in 1998, Aaron Funk would give birth to his first oeuvre Printf("shiver in eternal darkness/n") under Isolate Records in 2000. This would be a typical gabber release. Nothing terribly inventive... still worth a mention though.
This would very much lead him into a collaboration with UK gabber artist Speedranch in 2001, with his highly disturbing Making Orange Things (Planet Mu). Although, M.O.T isn't a particularly skilful oeuvre, it does however contains some distinctive Venetian Snares-esque moments; very satisfying ones too.

Then, Songs About my Cats came out.

S.A.M.C is a hugely important release by Aaron. It showcases the full-blown genius of Aaron Funk's mastery; in other words, the separation from gabber purism to an exceptionally intelligent musical vision. He would still use gabber, hardcore and punk but in mind-bending ways, alongside digital restructuring and highly technical jazz-influenced pieces. He would also express, as Aphex Twin had done on Drukqs (Warp Records, 2001), his love for John Cage-esque piano works.

S.A.M.C is composed of 14 tracks. These converge into a running time of 46 minutes approx.

Chinaski initiates S.A.M.C with a flurry of blade-like razor-sharp splintered digits and strange misshapen cat noises in the background. This doesn't sound anything like Making Orange Things. It is very composite.

Katzesorge part 1 is the primary sequence to a hyper-complex piece of piano. It constantly reallocates rhythm, creating a skin-tight drumming of notes.

Nepetalactone and Poor Kakarookee both contain spiralling choir voices, entangled in layers of breakcore and fractured electrics. Although these tracks are very abrasive, they have warmth and a certain magnificence. Poor Kakarookee, suggesting Poor Karaoke, really takes off. Sounding like a bag of iron pipes in a tumble-dryer, it spills all over the place, dislodging it's intriguing rhythm bars before throwing them violently back into line. These tracks are electrifying.

The fifth track is simply a bridge between Poor Kakarookee and track number 6; strange voices ascertain the following: "I am the cat that walks by himself"; almost in vein with the absurd "A donut on a glass plate" sample in his 2006 release by the infuriatingly long name Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom-poms.

Breakfast time for Baboons is similar to Chinaski, the opening track.
It consists of huge crusty beats and mathematical laddering of smashed breakcore bits. Very tense and darker that previous tracks.

Fluff Master and Bobo have more in common with the type of sounds used in Making Orange Things; hammer-like beats that bash into the mix with astounding violence. That being said, these tracks are not gabber. Fluff Master is actually quite beautiful in a way, with colourful pads that submerge the backbone of the piece.
Bobo is a little more vehement. Gabber sections do not last long enough to be able to class the track as being part of such genre. But when they enter, they sound like processed machine-guns. Powerful. In-your-face.

Katzesorge part 2 completes the madcap piano work of the second track. Only this time, the John Cage-esque keyboard segment is supported by a sinister drone.

Pouncelciot and Kakenrooken Stivlobits are miraculous.
These tracks introduce Mark Kaminsky's saxophone; the same Mark Kaminsky from Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits (Planet Mu, 2002 - by Venetian Snares too). The breakcore featured in these pieces is really frenzied, hyper-agile rhythmical gushes that make you wonder if there is any limit to Aaron's imagination.

Lioness is a gorgeous little ballad tune. Like swaying digits inspired by an African landscape.
Cleaning Each Other plunges us into a twisted circus of bent notes, pitched flow, bouncy sticks and broken drums. It even introduces a short Bossa Nova piano roll at one point.
The final track is a fleeting transmission-like sound. Eerie.

Songs About my Cats is a masterwork from Venetian Snares.
It represents all the best about his music.
If you like intelligent experimental music, then you should get your hands on this great album.

*

(Written by myself - no violation, no lifting, no breach of copyright) 

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