My roomate is fond of saying there are two major forms of whatever passes for IDM these days – goofy and non-goofy. As much as I’d like to argue with him, he does have a point, considering the piles of albums filled with quirky Reaktorings, cute vowel-less titles and broken breaks that are rapidly filling the cutout bins at your local indie record shops.
Venetian Snares (Aaron Funk) does a similar dance as your other drill n’ bass-ers, if a bit harder and more vicious, as fans of the Speedranch collaborations will attest. And while there’s a polish and flair on “Songs About My Cats” which slides closer to the IDM addiction to videogame melodies – as drifting synth segues of “Poor Kakarookee” and “Bobo” and the harpsichord fantasy-fest “Lioness” attest – most of this record does the rapid-chop-and-pan beats thing. These beats crack harsh and fast – never staying in one place for more than a few seconds – but it’s hard to escape the feeling that we’ve been down this road before.
Without the refreshingly unnecessary brutality of “Making Orange Things,” it sounds like Mr. Funk has taken a trip down a road much too traveled lately.
