Robot Psychosis // a review of Venetian Snares’s “She Began To Cry Tears Of Blood…”
If you are a music nerd particularly in the “underground” side of things you have to know Venetian Snares.
Whenever anybody mentions this infamous experimental breakbeat producer, the other heads in the room all nod involuntarily - some faces contorting with mild fear, hoping their bluff won’t be called.
The truth is in this day and age many people don’t have much exposure to his actual music, they just know he’s one of the craziest dudes in the world of fast high-pitched electro-drum soundcraftery.
Or they’ve seen this video which really is incredible:
I am one of these people, by the way. Apart from a few listening sessions in high school, I haven’t given much time to the music of Venetian Snares.
Where Can I Find The New Venetian Snares Album?
When I saw The Needle Drop’s post about the new record, I realized this was my chance. I’ve been crushing new records left and right, so I added this to my listening list with exuberance.
It did not disappoint.
The record, full title “She Began to Cry Tears of Blood Which Became Little Brick Houses When They Hit The Ground” (no relation to Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, another great record), is dense.
The word dense is used in many ways and for many reasons when it comes to music. In this case, I am referring to the density of how many individual notes happen.
Each track’s core is made up of fast-paced pitch-shifting click-clack noises, these weird percussive synthesizers that hint at notes without quite revealing them. Every sound falls somewhere between percussive and melodic, with no one characteristic winning out.
Most of these notes hold only a light dose of reverberation. Once or twice per second, a note will extend or explode with a shock of long-tail reverb. The combination of staccato and plosive airy sounds makes up a lot of the foundation of the record.
But, between these crazy bursts of ideological static is a surprising amount of variety - different tones, hints of different chordal progressions, obscure motifs just beneath the surface.
It’s a tour de force, abstracting away the fundamentals of a genre that is already built on lightning-pace abstractions.
Is The New Venetian Snares Album Good?
This thing is guaranteed to be an adventurous listen no matter how out there your musical taste is. It’s likely that Venetian Snares has created a new style of song with this record, one that has never been done before and may never happen again.
Whether interesting will correlate to good will depend on your taste. Most people will find this record overwhelming, or perhaps a good one-time-only experience.
My first listen was intense - by the end, I’d had enough. That was through headphones, where the detail became perhaps too intense. The second listen, on speakers, was much less punishing and more cerebral.
Though my first impression was “holy shit, this is a one-time listen,” now I’m warming up to the record. I would say that it is good. I’ll probably listen to it now and then when I want that crazy intellectual electro vibe with some energy attached.
Favorite Tracks from She Began To Cry Tears of Blood…
The tracks blend together so much that it’s hard to point out the best ones, but here are two that seemed particularly interesting:
Crazy Painted On Eyebrows Staring Out The Front Window Eating Hot Dog Buns
The Shriek She Made When She Died Was Erased By The Sound of Lightning
What Do You Think?
If you’ve heard the record, or at least sampled the tracks above, I’m all ears to hear your opinion. This is a love/hate record, I think… which side are you on?
This post has been voted on from MSP3K courtesy of @kubbyelizabeth from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ).
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Thanks Elizabeth!
Man I never heard of this guy! It's amazing, so trippy! Definetely going to my playlist! Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it, cheers
Even though I love Venetians Snares I still haven't listened to this one, or any of his more recent stuff really. In fact the most recent thing I've listened to by him was his Poemss project with Joanne Pollock. I keep meaning to set some time aside for this but I just keep forgetting to listen to it.
Have you ever checked out his My So Called Life, or Rossz Csillag Alatt Született albums? Out of his fairly sizable catalog I think it's those two that are the best listening experiences. Most of his other stuff is great but I usually just listen to one or two specific tracks from each album, but with those two I can, and usually do, listen to the whole album without having to skip any tracks.
Anyway, good review man, I think I might have to go listen to the album later tonight.
Thank you for reminding me because its been about 10 years since I heard either of those albums, in fact I'm not sure if I ever have heard the latter one, and I'm putting them both on my listening list right now.
Rossz Csillag... might be his best album. It's an interesting combination of old and new, he uses lots of samples from classical music with his usual crazy breakbeats on top. I think it's also his one of his most accessible albums, even some of my friends who don't like any sort of experimental music will enjoy a couple of tracks from it.
Ok dude you have convinced me to just out this album. I have not checked out any of his albums in forever. My first exposure to Venetian Snares was through this isis remix he did.
If you have not ever heard it you should check it out.
Thank you for this, I had never heard of him either. I love finding new sounds to hear and this might be good to listen to whilst painting. @winstonalden recently got me into Igorr and their drums remind me of this a bit.
Cool!! Igorr are a crazy band, I need to listen to them some more. Theres some similarities between the two for sure
If you like Igorrr, you should check out Venetian Snares' Rossz Csillag Alatt Született album. It samples a lot of classical music with the same kind of percussive elements as Igorrr. I think it has more in common with Igorrr's earlier music, but it's still very good.
Ive been a fan of Venetian Snare since I came across the Chocolate Wheelchair album, still play Hand Throw once in a while when I get to DJ vinyl, just to scare the kids haha .
I thought the new album was brilliant, though I have a hard time not enjoying his stuff as I feel he is a cut above the rest with his creativity. Aaron is a super awesome guy too, I got to finally see him last year in Toronto doing a live modular set, it was freaking bonkers and people were going nuts.
Have you heard the new Igorrr album? Just saw them perform the other night, and would highly recommend catching them on this tour if you are close enough to any of the stops!