Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett

Venetian Snares is a prolific breakbeat artist who usually appears on my Top 15 lists at the end of the year for one reason or another. He throws around a lot of different styles. For example, his most recent album, Detrimentalist is a throwback to old drum'n'bass and reggae samples from the purported earlier days of breakbeat sampling, but with VS' typical flare for asymmetric time signatures. This album is a huge contrast to his previous LP, which was essentially modern classical, with only four tracks out of fifteen that featured computerized drums. Everything else are strings and other "classical" instruments. Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett is Venetian Snares' masterpiece. It combines the aforementioned modern classical style with jazz samples (all from Hungarian composers), and VS himself programs the breakbeats that make the backbone of these unusual but wonderful sampling decisions. The result is epic, grandiose electronica that feels like it has one foot in a rave and the other in a symphony hall. Read my review to get more details about both the process of composing the album and the details of the sound VS forged.
Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett [2005] - Download - Review

Venetian Snares - My Downfall

Venetian Snares managed to release his most recent LP My Downfall, somewhat under the radar. Venetian Snares, who usually gets reviewed by sites like Pop Matters and tiny mix tapes, just hasn't been given a seat on the hype train for this album. It's hard to see why not because My Downfall is a logical continuation from his most critically acclaimed album Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett. On this album, VS, trades in his typical, highly electronic breakbeat in favor for the sake of exploring the atonal soundscape of modern classical music. As opposed to Rossz..., which was about a 50-50 mix of breakbeat and sampling of modern classical artists, My Downfall almost drops breakbeat entirely. The album isn't as likable in the traditional VS sense (the album doesn't have any electronic blips or video game noises), but the tracks are still intelligently composed and show off a new, subdued, and fairly sophisticated side of VS' eclectic sensibility.

My Downfall (2007) - Download - Review