Venetian Snares - Horsey Noises

label: Planet Mu Records, 2009
contact: www.myspace.com/venetiansnares
genre: breakcore
rating: 8

At first sight, the new EP doesn´t differ from the last two, three, four (with the speed Venetian Snares produces the new records, I kind of loose track) previous discs. To be exact, stagnation, exhaustion, slight boredom, too much flour, too little meat. But the first impression was based only on absolutely unfocused listening while playing a chess match and after the second the phrase that follows you throughout (and even as you slap yourself after in the buses, showers and other places where you start to sing it out of boredom) the whole album got under the skin: “Hey horse teeth girl, I wanna make you make horsey noises.” And listening even some more, it led me to one very pleasant conclusion. I like Venetian Snares again.
On Horsey Noises even more than on any other Venetian Snares album, the sharp edges are either covered by linen or torn down. Everything meticulously rounded, nothing you can cut yourself with, non-insulting, non-stressful, work that slowly crawls towards clapping by masses and MTV. Which, obviously, brings a considerable portion of controversy, given where Venetian Snares started. Voices of the true fans can be heard screaming “He sold out!!!”, “All for money!!!” and other shouts alike. As I have already written, Horsey Noises are more accessible than anything Venetian Snares has done so far (at least from what I know, which probably won´t be the whole discography). Its full of nosey melodies and rave dance rhythms that get under your skin faster than a needle and get out equally hard. Without any problems I can imagine it on party full of rich kids, so sweet and attractive it can be. That needn´t be harmful but usually is.
Snares, even though commercial, doesn´t forget his handwriting, I dare say he even develops it, so the tummy even doesn´t hurt after so many sweets, on the contrary there is always something to focus on, what to enjoy. Above all, I have a soft spot for breaking of unreasonably sweet motives over beats and the other way around (Blaerg – Sesquipedalia is a pretty nice example), when straight beats get broken over the sweetness. And this cooperation with the beat base and nosey superstructure is brought pretty far, caramel keybords intertwine with the acid beats, sometimes naturally highlighting the important parts of the beat, sometimes playing the counterpart and going rhythmically against the base, organic cooperation and amalgamation. That’s mainly why I like the new disc so much, and that’s what I miss on some other Snares albums (for example My Downfall, where beats and the classical superstructure work separately and cooperate only very superficially).
Conclusion is simple. Horsey Noises is unbelivably catchy, at times perhaps a bit too much, where the sweetness has been naturally combined with underlying complex structure. True, Snares is not as innovative as he used to be, but at least its fun to listen to, which couldn´t be said about the last releases.

VENETIAN SNARES:
Aaron Funk – vše/all

4 / 20:14

giraffe fucking an elephant:
1. Horsey Noises
2. Horsey Vag Island
3. Pig Dinc.
4. Horsey Noisers

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Kotek

FDK - Borderline

label: Redblack, 2008
contact: fdkband.com, bandzone.cz/fdk
genre: sludge/post metal
rating: 7.5

Czech sludge? Ever heard about it? I haven´t and I am Czech for something over 22 years (even though thirteen of those don´t really count, as I listened to other kinda "hits"). Now here comes something interesting that claims to be in this genre. One wouldn´t expect too much before hearing it. To make a good sludge that really forces itself upon you, you need a good, or unique sound, or both at the same time (the best variant obviously) and Czech recording studios usually don´t provide such a necessary quality.
But in the case of FDK, surprisingly, the sound is, possibly, the strongest part of the record. Not that the other is bad on the contrary. It has all the cool attributes that you would seek in cool sludging fun, the forceful massive parts, the melancholy guitar pickings, the mixture of those two, the…, well that’s basically all you need for sludge right. But without the sound of the guitars that is somewhere between scream and doom metal, that makes the figures so intense, or thoughtfull, or both, it would just fall into the millions of “nice but I won´t listen to it again” sludge projects, that end somewhere in dusty shelves. But FDK don´t fall anywhere and for that I am glad.
They don´t bet on any primitivistic dirtiness with ultraslow guitars to wear your soul out. Instead they opt for a lighter, melancholic, emotive scales, here enjoying post-rocky influences, there a bit of scream desperation, but still firmly rooted in sludge marshes. It reminds me of the recently reviewed Vanessa Van Basten, crystal clear sound, often some guitar pickings in the background, though a bit more heavy.
Won´t really try for anything more, as I would only fall into the cliché metaphors in which I always fall when reviewing this kind of music. Not overtly original, but heartfelt, well composed and with perfect production. Won´t find any better in this genre in Czech Republic I dare say.

FDK:
Cholda - vocals, guitar
Vanja - guitar, programming
Hujer - bass
Přéma - drums
Babb - vocals, guitar, sampler, synthesizer

8 / 46:04

borderlines:
1. Borderline
2. Last Race Again
3. Feelings of Dessire
4. Grim Creeper
5. DE 175
6. Alone
7. Schizofixtion
8. Hungover

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kotek

Panzerballet - Starke Stücke

label: ACT Music, 2008
contact: www.panzerballett.de
genre: fusion/metal
rating: 9.25

Listening to one album six months and constantly not being able to describe it in letters – it is not such an encouraging feeling. For a music publicist it is, simply put, a bad dream. Why is it not possible? Panzerballett from Munich tears down the musical approaches to the individual genres (and there are so many on Starke Stücke), they are not caught into prepared music pigeon-holes and, on the contrary, they make fun of them and move on the border of serious and parody, shortly said: they are unclassifiable.
Within first tones of the opening track called Pink Panther it comes to your mind „somebody got a goddamn good idea“. The instrumental band led by guitarist Jan Zehrfeld took various favourite pop-cultural songs and began to play with their particles. Coming out from this point, the listener can come up with diverse strategies about what to do with such a compositional approach: a) create specific covers of generally well-known songs b) make out of them a postmodern hotch-potch that eventually means glueing other and other references to the core c) play the renowned riffs in your own way. Panzerballett chose d) let the accidental speak, as it is possible to mix all the mentioned approaches together; fantasy has no boundaries.
Panzerballett did not embark on a problematic overdone medley, there is another thing that distinguishes this band. Significantly, they watch all the motifs, riffs, structures, moods, play modes and genres from distance. They are outside the favourite styles and, in effect, they thoroughly avoid being pigeon-holed (fusion-metal mentioned above serves just as an illustration). In association with Panzerballett it is necessary to bring in the link with seriously meant slapstick Yeah!Yeah!Die!Die! of Finnish band Waltari. You ask why? Both groups are linked with one basic feature – playfullness. This means they can make fun of whoever and whatever, they can cope with everything. This implicates larksome spirit of the whole album, which is true without any question, however, all the compositions are intentioned as being utterly serious and not any simple collage.
The guys from Panzerballett are capable of playing everything, then modify it, adjust it, take it from the original context and put it into a new one afterwards: a film melody from Pink Panther is broken up, Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) is rhythmically punctuated, Wind of Change (Scorpions) is played in an easy jazzy way and what about to have AC/DC at last? Impossible? Come on, Thunderstruck is meshuggised bison, insane and polyrhythmical soulful hardrock. The greatest shock represents a football tune in Friede, Freude, Fussball: in saltatory melody a rhythm changes three times and then comes a polyrhythmical madness again. Absolutely brilliant moment! Involvement of a saxophone is another winning point of this record; Gregor Bürger playing this distinctive instrument asks for attention with his staccato attacks and funky richness. Also thanks to him Starke Stücke has balls!
For Panzerballett will be quite difficult to reach a target listener group even though a connection link should be open-mindedness. The Germans can attract both 70’s jazzrock connoisseurs who desperately cry over present state of this musical style and metal listeners adoring the innovators of the polyrhythmical constructions Meshuggah. Surely they can catch the progfreaks who love such bands like Planet X and Spastic Ink. Despite all these technical qualities, Panzerballett are not a snobbish delicacy for a few devoted fans. This group from Munich (city of renowned ECM), despite its very intriguing playfulness, keeps its singer-songwriter approach where the melodies and straightforwardness play the main role. So there is no doubt they can catch a mainstream audience which will recognize its own favourites. And, I add, even the jazzmen can be grabbed because Panzerballet - despite its progressive approach – plays jazz standards quite often (let the last Sabbath’s Paranoid song be a proper example).
So, the result is a unique record that can not be eroded by too frequent listening.

PANZERBALLETT:
Jan Zehrfeld - guit, bass (6), zpěv (9)
Andreas Dombert – guit (except 4, 5, 6 & 9)
Gregor Bürger - saxophone (except 9 & 10)
Florian Schmidt - bass (except 5, 6 & 10)
Sebastian Lanser - drum (except 10)

hosté:
Ulf Wakenius – guit solo (5)
Nguyên Lê - guit solo (6)
Peter O'Mara - guit solo (1)
Alexander v. Hagke - saxophone solo (4)
Jan Vacik – guit solo (7)
Heiko Jung - bass (5)
Conny Kreitmeier - vocs (9)
Andy Lind – vocs (2 & 4)
Naomi Isaacs - vocs (2)

10 / 47:45

starke stucke:
1. Pink Panter
2. M.w.M.i.O.f.R.
3. Smoke on the Water
4. Friede, Freude, Fußball
5. Wind of Change
6. Birdland
7. Dreamology
8. Thunderstruck
9. Zickenterror
10. Paranoid

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