....of the Venetian variety.

Between 1999 and 2009 Aaron Funk released approximately forty singles, eps and albums as Venetian Snares. He released so much music that whenever I went to the record store I almost expected there to be something new. But after dropping the Horsey Noises EP in June of 2009 he suddenly stopped releasing new music and seemed to get really into touring. It's been so long that I'd stopped checking his bin every time I went record shopping. So imagine my surprise when I quite unexpectedly found out that he released an album on his own shiny new label last month. Since there are quite a few people, like me, who want physical copies of everything he releases and all of it was funding somebody elses label (a good one, though - Planet Mu), it makes sense that he'd start releasing his music himself. I'm now back to expecting four of five releases a year. Yaaaaaay!

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Aaron says this about the new album, "My So-Called Life"...

"My So-Called Life" is the first release on my brand new record label Timesig. The majority of these tracks were made quite quickly, in a day or 2 each. These are the ones I feel closest to, I can listen to one of these 10 tracks and remember that day exactly, all that I was feeling, just where my head was at, whether it was a good memory, a laugh, something that was bugging me or something bumming me out. Listening brings me back to that day, whereas hearing some of my other albums brings me back to some period in my life in general. I was explaining to a friend the other day, it was more like a collection of short stories than a novel for me. Diary entries he said, and they really are, pockets of inspiration realized within a day. For me it is remote viewing my own memories with clearer and clearer mind binoculars. All important pieces in my puzzle, this kind of filing system I have that sits outside my cognitive filing yet is clear in this system. Of course all of this probably means nothing to you but you have to write something in these things so when you send out promos nobody has to think of anything thoughtful to say about it themselves. Usually I write a bunch of preposterous shit to poke fun at that whole process but I didn't feel like that today. Maybe tomorrow I will.

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My opinion is that it's not his best album, but it contains some nice tracks. His more recent albums have been more cohesive and musically advanced than this stuff. But knowing that he only spent a couple days at most on each track, it makes sense that they wouldn't sound as polished. Also, each of his releases have always sounded slightly different than the previous one, while still (usually) being a sequel to an earlier album. This album has more of a sampler vibe (although it reminds me of the Chocolate Wheelchair Album a lot).

Goodbye9/Hello10

[Edited 9/22/10 0:39am]

My So-Called Life

Ultraviolent Junglist

Aaron2

Sound Burglar

VenetianSnares.com

Cerebus said:

This album has more of a sampler vibe (although it reminds me of the Chocolate Wheelchair Album a lot).

That's my favourite VS album - total fun. I'll probably pick this up.

damosuzuki said:

Cerebus said:

This album has more of a sampler vibe (although it reminds me of the Chocolate Wheelchair Album a lot).

That's my favourite VS album - total fun. I'll probably pick this up.

I listened to it on vinyl today and it thumps, HARD. It's not as upbeat as The Chocolate Wheelchair Album. I still think it sounds a bit like a career retrospective more than anything. Which makes sense for the first release on his own label. But it's definitely not as down as Winter, Rossz, or My Downfall. Not as dark as Doll, Candace or Meathole. Doesn't have any of the 303 acid lines or rave feel of Pink & Green, Detrimentalist or Filth. And it's not as ridiculously pounding as Winnipeg or the really old stuff. Mostly I think it reminds me of The Chocolate Wheelchair because it's got a lot of recognizable samples.

[Edited 9/23/10 15:22pm]