Search - Venetian Snares :: Filth

A relentless, dirty record from Mr. Snares

The Pitiful Anonymous | the Acres of Skin | 08/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Filth", Venetian Snares' latest record as of this moment, following 2008's "Detrimentalist" - another thematic one - is refreshingly, unapologetically abrasive.



With this record, Funk lets himself wallow in the `filth', the seedy underbelly of our society, and makes no attempt at sophistication. Most of the album is incredibly fast, dissonant, and frantic, the song names pornographic and obscene. The record does at times allow itself to be sensitive, such as in the signature, chiming melodies of opener "Deep Dicking", but even then the tone is always lonely, isolated and emotionally unstable, recalling the `exploring a long abandoned attic' feel of "Winter in the Belly of a Snake" or the straight up horror of another of his darkest records, "Doll Doll Doll".



Summarily, the album feels like the most self destructive drug (stimulant) binge imagineable, taken further and further without any thought of self preservation. It is the sound of desperation and extreme densensitization. The rhythms will make you sea sick, attempting to dance will end in a heart attack or with your face flat on the floor.



But this is not Funk's typical breakcore. Funk's favorite genre is now apparently acid, and what better to express the restlessness of a stimulant high? The squalling, babbling basslines ramble with twice the insanity of any original early 90's acid, the insanity only heightened by Funk's penchant for odd time signatures. The pieces are as complex as ever. For sheer unpredictability of rhythm, little can match this album. Aphex Twin's "Analord" was a solid and competently produced entry into the genre of acid; "Filth" actually takes it in new directions.



There is one thing about the album though - every track really is extremely similar. The formula described above doesn't vary too much... With similar tempos and acid techno timbres in every song, the tracks only begin to distinguish themselves upon many repeated listenings. Only "Mongoloid Alien", with its processed vocal, and "Kimberly Clark", with its memorable fuzzed out bassline, manage to be at all catchy. This and the constant, tense unease which permeates the album, seemingly on purpose, make it really difficult to listen to unless you really do have THAT much energy to expend.



In conclusion, "Filth" is an interesting and complex record that, while unique, suffers from a certain lack of listenability. I've grown to enjoy the album a lot, but you've definitely got to be in the mood. Aaron Funk may have made the least relaxing album of the year. His new EP, "Horsey Noises" is both a more accessible and diverse exploration of the some of the same acid techno inspired ideas. 4 stars for "Filth"."