(March 2010) It was inevitable, in a way, that Funckarma would end up absorbing elements of dubstep into their work. Their Legiac project had shown signs of this evolution back in 2008 when Mings Feaner was released on Sending Orbs. Having rather unfairly panned aspects of it in my review back then, its charms have since made themselves fully manifest. Mings Feaner sported many of the production techniques and tonal qualities that appear in more fully-fledged forms on Vell Vagranz (along with Cor Bolten’s space-age biological analogue entities), and these influences appear with even greater polish and precision than they did on their first dubstep-tinged album ‘Bion Glent.’
Like most Funckarma albums there’s a base palette of sounds that the majority of the tracks are coloured with and draw from, but Vell Vagranz showcases surprising and engaging diversity too. Funckarma crystallize massive snare drums and then stamp on them, leaving only the shattered, exploded remains. They shotgun saxophones, pianos and guitars to shreds then shower the splintered remains with gemstone fx. Then they splice the remains together with half-time rhythms, sprawling sci-fi pads and digital debris and graffiti the results onto blasted urban futurescapes. Look no further than opener “Woodfaced” as the albums ultimate expression of all this. There are even several vocal contributions on Vell Vagranz that provide notable index points, ranging from the inspired to the stomach-turningly abysmal.
Without wanting to sound like a broken record, Funckarma albums arguably present the listener with a little too much material – you won’t find a recent example that features less than fifteen tracks – and a slightly stretched or diluted experience can sometimes be the result. Fortunately the eclectic Vell Vagranz suffers less than others and though the bulk of the less than essential material appears dangerously early on it is at least concentrated in one small area that’s easy to cut out. It’s hard to see, for example, what “Splandid” is really contributing overall, or doing as well as other excellent tracks like “Magaz Stinged” or “Swame Deff,” “Fraid Shim” sticks out like a lacerated thumb for being over-simplistic (by Funckarma’s standards anyway), its drum n’ bass rhythms glaringly out of place, even mawkish.
And our good friend Phinx turns up to gruesomely savage “Unwire” with his cringe-inducing, caterwauling vocals. You may know Phinx from his similarly unnecessary vocal stylings on Secede’s “Vega Libre,” where he at least had the decency to limit his intrusion to one track’s closing moments, not to mention remaining in the same key as the music. But he’s here for the duration of “Unwire” and you’re left wondering if the vocals were actually added to the wrong track.
The high points far outweigh any arguably low ones, however. We have Seaming To’s almost operatic, swooping vocals coarsely chopped into the gunning juggernaut engine bass patterns, smashed snares, soaring synths and out-of-control analogue computer mayhem on “Kinnex” (and later appearing again within the the laid-back whirls of “Ketayseam”). Or there’s the stunning “Magax Stinged” delivering the fractured remnants of a reconstructed intergalactic transmission blasted and smeared by radiation, vast, whooshing solar winds, computer blips, intense static interference and a myriad of other detritus. Funckarma at their absolute best.
“Darker Days” (an interpretation of “Dark Days” originally by Landau) sets up the frequent appearance of traditional instrumentation in the second half of Vell Vagranz, with saxophones twisted and melted into faltering and also surprisingly human yet caustic snare rhythms and analogue keys. “Basszen” fires out occasional guitar twangs, lingering piano chords, a loping rhythm and reverse synth effects whilst “The Sound Between Us” ups the acoustic ante even further with reverb fueled, almost avant-garde, fluttering soprano sax and heavily processed piano key sustain creating a bizarre, smoke-filled jazz club atmosphere.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that the first half of “Deace” was part of the Mings Feaner sessions. The title, the bubbling analogue toppings, the pulsing, organic textures merged with machine-like programming all reek of that collaborative project with Cor Bolten, and one can’t help thinking that this section of the track would have enhanced the Mings Feaner experience even further – it is pure sci-fi. Finally we get “The Other Dredge,” a new version of “Dredge” that appeared on Funckarma’s Neo Ouija Elaztiq twelve from 2002, classic down-tempo, almost nostalgic Funckarma stuff.
For those that missed this on its release back in late 2008, Vell Vagranz is well worth your time and demonstrates just how confident, comfortable and highly evolved Funckarma’s style has become.
Vell Vagranz is out now on n5MD. [Listen & Purchase]
