Vsnares 2370894

Judging by Aaron Funk's track-by-track comments in the liner notes, the brilliant VSNARES: 2370894 is a collection of extra songs that didn't fit anywhere else on the prolific electronic provocateur's many albums. One guess is that's why he released the album under the moniker Venetian Snares. As always, Funk skirts genres ranging from drill'n'bass to acid jazz to pure industrial experimentation. "Sybian Rock" even indulges a bit of hardcore metal lunacy. And per usual, Funk's music still feels utterly cohesive, despite the lack of genre stability. Individual songs threaten to implode at any second and traditional arrangements are entirely ignored. Perhaps the addictive nature of Funk's songs stems from the fact that there's always a sense that any kind of oddball sound or motif will appear from around any corner. When a Morrissey sound-alike starts singing huge chunks of the Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" on "Nobody Really Understands Anybody," it's hard not to smile, despite the song's inherent madcap trickery. Funk ups the jazz quotient considerably with improvisational elements on the too-cool "2 Dollars" and the utterly wicked and mad "Twisting Ligneous." Completely mental and warped, yet bubbly and beautiful, VSNARES: 2370894 proves again that Aaron Funk is a world-class electronic musician. He can only hide behind obscure album titles and jokey song names for so long.