Venetian Snares - Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms

Hot on the heels of last year's brutal 'Meathole' LP, Aaron Funk's amazing prolificacy has now become as much of a trademark as his headfucking drum programming. Thankfully, his work ethic has not impinged on the quality of his output and 'Cavalcade…' is probably the Canadian's most diverse work since 2003's 'Chocolate Wheelchair Album'. Funk has tempered his penchant for nihilistic, hard-edged breaks and placed more focus on the texture and feeling of his tracks. Some are warm and playful (Donut), whilst others combine gothic chord progressions with machine gun snare-rushes to jaw dropping effect (Plunging Hornets). Album closer Cancel hijacks the synths from the 'Clockwork Orange' title music and augments them with jittering electronics and paranoid, skittering rhythms to create one of Venetian Snares' finest moments - it's a wounded, beautiful creation, and proof that there's more to the Snares Man than just crazy ass beats. [Jay Shukla]