Venetian Snares

Canadian producer Aaron Funk shaped the electronic subgenre breakcore through his work as Venetian Snares and emerged as one of its most productive and prominent exponents. His catalog typically delivers ferocious reworkings of jungle and hardcore techno, marked by irregular time signatures at extreme velocities together with precisely reworked samples sourced from numerous origins. An acerbic absurdist wit shaped projects including the 2002 album Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006, yet he also conveyed a darker atmosphere on releases such as the modern classical-influenced 2005 peak Rossz Csillag Alatt Született. Following several acid techno projects issued as Last Step, he shifted toward analog and modular synthesizers on Venetian Snares recordings such as 2016’s Traditional Synthesizer Music and on partnerships with Daniel Lanois and John Frusciante.

After issuing multiple cassettes independently throughout the 1990s and a split cassette/CD-R with B-movie enthusiast Stunt Rock, Venetian Snares issued his earliest vinyl outing as the 1999 single Greg Hates Car Culture on History of the Future. Further 2000 EPs appeared on Zhark International (Salt), Low Res (7 Sevens.med), and Dyslexic Response (the especially abrasive Shitfuckers!!!), alongside the debut full-length printf("shiver in eternal darkness/n"); on Isolate. Mike Paradinas encountered Greg Hates Car Culture in a Minneapolis shop and promptly signed Funk to Planet Mu, which yielded three 2001 releases: the “Defluxion” 7", Making Orange Things (a noisy joint production with Speedranch), and Songs About My Cats. Additional 2001 items included the child abuse-themed full-length Doll Doll Doll on Hymen Records, a split 12" with Cex on Klangkrieg, and a ragga-jungle 7" issued as Snares Man! on History of the Future.

Three full-lengths reached Planet Mu in 2002: Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006, the odds-and-ends set 2370894, and the darker Winter in the Belly of a Snake. Hymen Records simultaneously put out A Giant Alien Force More Violent & Sick Than Anything You Can Imagine, an epic fifteen-minute piece issued on 3" CD in a jewelry-style box. 2003 delivered Find Candace (a sequel to Doll Doll Doll) on Hymen along with the broader Chocolate Wheelchair Album on Planet Mu, a split 7" with Fanny on Death$ucker, and the jazzy “Badminton” 7" on Doormouse’s Addict Records. Snares’ influential remix of Doormouse’s “Skelechairs” had attained cult status and received a 2004 Addict 12" pairing it with the original. Addict also released the further jazzy “Moonglow” 7" that year, while Coredump issued the Infolepsy EP, Sublight issued the Horse and Goat EP, and Planet Mu issued the full-length Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding.

Sublight opened 2005 with Winnipeg Is a Frozen Shithole, Venetian Snares’ speedcore homage to his hometown. Rossz Csillag Alatt Született, a modern classical-oriented album prompted by a revelatory visit to Hungary, followed on Planet Mu and quickly became Funk’s most acclaimed work, frequently cited by listeners and reviewers as his masterpiece. Meathole also surfaced that year, as did the debut EP under the acid-oriented Last Step alias, titled You’re a Nice Girl. 2006 continued the pace with the pointedly titled Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms album and the Hospitality EP. 2007 brought the Pink + Green EP on Sublight, the Rossz Csillag-styled My Downfall (Original Soundtrack) and Last Step’s self-titled debut album on Planet Mu, and Sabbath Dubs, a 10" of dubstep-style Black Sabbath covers on Kriss Records. The second Last Step LP, 1961, appeared in 2008 alongside Snares’ jungle-oriented Detrimentalist album and the more classically inclined “Miss Balaton” single. 2009 introduced the aptly named Filth together with the more vocal-focused Horsey Noises EP.

By the early 2010s Aaron Funk’s release rate had moderated, yielding more EPs and side-project material than full Venetian Snares albums. 2010 saw My So-Called Life (the first release on his Timesig imprint) along with a 12" from Speed Dealer Moms, his acid techno partnership with Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. The Cubist Reggae EP constituted Snares’ only 2011 outing. The self-released digital EP Affectionate arrived in 2012, joined by the Fool the Detector EP on Timesig and Last Step’s Sleep album (reportedly assembled by Funk while asleep) on Planet Mu. After a notably quiet 2013, 2014 produced My Love Is a Bulldozer, Venetian Snares’ first full-length in four years, plus the self-titled debut from Poemss, Funk’s collaboration with Toronto-based singer Joanne Pollock.

Snares’ Your Face EP appeared on Planet Mu in 2015. Following its release Funk disclosed financial difficulties; fans responded by purchasing numerous album downloads, prompting him to issue the free digital album Thank You for Your Consideration as thanks. The next year Funk reactivated Timesig for the proper full-length Traditional Synthesizer Music, recorded entirely on a modular synthesizer system. Shortly afterward he began working with legendary musician/producer Daniel Lanois. The pair posted a ten-minute studio session video in March 2017 and confirmed plans for an album. Their first live performance took place at a sold-out May show at the Great Hall in Toronto. On his 43rd birthday in early 2018 Funk digitally self-released the Venetian Snares album She Began to Cry Tears of Blood Which Became Little Brick Houses When They Hit the Ground. Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois, the duo’s first joint album, emerged in May 2018; pre-orders included a bonus album drawn from the same sessions. A commemorative reissue of the 1999 vinyl debut Greg Hates Car Culture appeared in 2019, adding three bonus tracks of previously scarce material from that era, most of which had circulated only among Funk’s closest associates. Speed Dealer Moms’ second EP, SDM-LA8-441-114-211, surfaced in 2021.