Winnipeg, Ontario-based Aaron Funk has certainly a reputation as one of contemporary electronic music’s most notorious provocateurs, as releases such as the infamous sexual activity-sampling ‘Nymphomatriarch’ collaboration alongside Hecate and his child-abduction themed ‘Find Candice’ have clearly illustrated. With the levels of expected shock elevated this far by past experiences, the skull and severed tooth sleeve art adorning this latest album as Venetian Snares ‘Filth’, as well as lurid nasty porn track titles like ‘Chainsaw Fellatio’ and Splooj Guzzlers’ almost comes across as de rigeur for the Canadian producer. While the title ‘Filth’ alone suggests a fiendish, graphically gratuitous voyage ahead though, in reality the ten tracks gathered here represent some of Funk’s most immediately accessible material to date.
While there’s a brief nod to the filth suggested by the title in the harrowingly contorted and pitchshifted porn moans that kick off opener ‘Deep Dicking’, for the most part this album sees Funk paying homage to classic rave and acid techno with distinctly more emphasis falling upon the kickdrum than breakcore styles this time out. There’s certainly a pure nosebleed pound to ‘Mongoloid Alien’ that suggests some vast UK warehouse stinking of amyl circa 1991, while ‘Kimberley Clark’ gradually builds from a face-melting wall of acid 303 squeals into doomy, half-step industrial hiphop in what’s easily one of this album’s most unexpected turns. In many senses the sort of vibe conjured here frequently calls to mind aspects of Luke Vibert and Aphex’s respective Amen Andrews and Analord projects, in that it’s certainly an honest and heartfelt homage to classic acid sounds, but one in this case that ends up being mutated into something considerably different when filtered through Funk’s own signature ferocious, yet meticulous production style. An inspired and refreshing album from Venetian Snares that also represents an ideal entry point for those intimidated by his massive backcatalogue.
Chris Downton
