Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Vsnares so far?, 15 Oct 2003
Just received a nice advance copy of this record today from the lovely people at Warprecords.com, and it's been spinning non-stop since.
Heard most of the tracks at the recent UK gig at the Camden Underworld (worth being deaf for 48hours afterwards!), and they sound just as amazing in the hi-fi comfort of my own living room.
This album seems to be Aaron's first which combines all the best elements of his previous releases: the technoid whimsicality of 'Cats', the cold industrial intensity of 'Doll' & 'Candace', the IDM (hate that term) complexity of 'Snake' and the uber-junglistic beat genius of 'Higgins' etc, etc.
But it's more than the sum of its parts. His releases just keep getting better, and they were f*cking amazing to begin with. Can't wait for the next one, and knowing Mr. Funk, I won't have to... at least not for very long.
Buy it to the power of infinity. Play it until your cat destroys all your soft furnishings or politely reminds you that it prefers 'Songs About My Cats'.
Scarlett Parker (faithbuck's boyfriend, sharing her email address!)
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another slice of mashed up drill, 27 Nov 2003
It’s been a surprisingly quiet year for Venetian Snares’s Aaron Funk, with just one album released on Hymen earlier this year, and this one, pencilled for release for some time and finally made available. If the last in last year’s trilogy of albums published on Planet Mu, Winter In The Belly Of A Snake, showed Mr. Snare at his more accessible, The Chocolate Wheelchair Album returns to the more upfront and arrogant smashed-up drill of Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits. But nothing is ever straightforward with Venetian Snares, and this new album takes once again some liberties with the genre.
It seems almost incredible that Canadian-born Aaron Funk only shot to fame a couple of years ago with his collaboration with Speedbranch. Yet, in this short time, he has become somewhat of a figure on the electronic scene, alongside the likes of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. His tortured beats, cartoonesque melodies and heavy use of samples have attracted as many detractors as fans, and this new album will do nothing to change people’s mind. Kicking off this album is Aaron’s trashed version of the long-running British soap Coronation Street theme tuned, so mashed-up and lacerated that it is barely recognisable, Abomination Street (does Aaron Funk really watch Corry?) is fuelled with jazz, hip-hop and dub references, instantly setting the tone for what’s to come. The Chocolate Wheelchair is Venetian Snares reclaiming ownership of the dance floor. Landslide, Epidermis or Herbie Goes Ballistic are as many tribute to the head banging community, with Hand Throw adding raga influences courtesy of a Belgian MC. With these tracks, Funk goes into overdrive, surfing his way through more hyperactive beats than ever. Yet, as he proved with Winter In The Belly Of A Snake, he can also produce more mature and structured music. Too Young, Funk’s reworking of the Mötley Crüe song Too Young To Fall In Love is hip-hop on acids, while he toys with dancehall, be it perverted, on the recent Einstein-Rosen Bridge single. Sky Painted On Car is suspiciously reminiscent of µ-ziq’s sonic realm circa Tango’n’Vectif, although the infectious underlying dub groove would point toward Mike Paradinas’s more recent musical excursions.
Once again, Aaron Funk is determined not to follow any other rules than his own. He might not be responsible for inventing drill’n’bass, but he can certainly be credited for blowing the fun element out of proportion. The Chocolate Wheelchair album is a clever record on which Funk juggles with genres and moods with as much conviction and determination as on his previous releases.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hmm.., 11 Mar 2004
`Well, I suppose anything was going to be a letdown after Winter In The Belly Of A Snake. Gone is the fragility, complexity and haunting frozen atmosphere of WITBOAS, welcome back raggamatic dancehall vocals and, let's be honest, the kind of jungle breaks that should have been put out of their misery a long time ago. However, TCWA isn't a bad album. It's just not a *great* album, as anything done under the Venetian Snares banner rightfully should be, as an artist who has consistently reinvented his own style, making our collective neurons explode along the way. The most interesting track on the album for me personally is 'Too Young', a pounding rocker strangely reminiscent of N*E*R*D wrapped up in the Snares-brand spazzing we've all come to know and love.`
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