Venice [Import]

Fennesz | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Touch
• Copy Protected
• ASIN: B0001URUDO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,551 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #70 in Music > Imports > Import Deals

Editorial Reviews

Universally acclaimed as one of the major releases of 2004! ''Venice was recorded on location in the summer of 2003 and subsequently assembled and mixed at Amann Studios, Vienna in January/February 2004. Venice, the fourth studio album by Christian Fennesz, finds electronic music at a crossroads between its early status as digital subculture, and the feeling that there has to be something more, an emotional quality that rises above noise and moves towards melody and rapture. Includes the continuation of his collaboration with David Sylvian on the track 'Transit', following the success of their duo on Sylvian's 2003 solo album, Blemish.'' on the UK Touch label.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pitchforkmedia Review; 8.6 out of 10.0; Exceptional, April 6, 2004

By 

treblekicker "treblekicker" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venice (Audio CD)

In an interview with The Wire last year, Kid606 let slip that, like many electronic producers in his sphere, he could create an album in one night. He asserts that the software has gotten so good that making tracks is just that easy: Talent is kinda nice-- and probably adds something to the equation-- but it's not really required. There's no question that the perceptible dip in interest in experimental electronic music in recent years has something to do with the fact that there are so many labels, artists, and, above all, records that don't sound different enough from one another to warrant special attention.

But then there's Christian Fennesz. When it comes to recording under his own name, Fennesz works slowly: Venice is only his fourth full-length studio album in seven years, and his first since 2001's groundbreaking Endless Summer, which altered the perception of experimental electronic music with pop leanings. Fennesz has remained busy by remixing, collaborating, touring (both on his own and with FennO'Berg), and re-releasing his back catalog, but-- considering Kid606's admission-- three years is a long time between albums for an artist such as Fennesz.

With every album, Fennesz's music has become prettier and more accessible yet still retains his distinctive style-- and Venice is no exception. That's fortunate for the uninitiated because as Fennesz's reputation has grown, each new offering has served as the perfect introduction to his work. "Rivers of Sand" opens Venice with deep bass pedals working against pinched swoons of feedback. It's completely electronic, but this piece would also sound fantastic in an arrangement for strings. "Château Rouge" is in the vein of the bent instrumental pop of Endless Summer, with what sounds like an organ melody (simple, just a few notes) beset by synth gurgles and pinstripe bands of white noise. Its "middle-eight" is vertical howls of machine noise, but its purpose is the same as the bridge of any pop song-- to offer a variation on the themes presented earlier. "The Other Face" also feels as if Fennesz were taking some of the ideas from Endless Summer and pushing them in a different direction, here adding ethereal vocal samples to the buzzing mix.

The short track "onsra" serves as an intro to Venice's centerpiece, "Circassian", which was written and performed with fellow avant guitarist Burkhard Stangl (who has previously worked with Fennesz as a member of Polwechsel). When people talk about Fennesz's Kevin Shields fixation they're thinking of tracks like this. "Circassian" drowns in loud, slightly out-of-tune power chords, each of which leads a long and happy life after the initial strum. The string reverberations multiply and mutate endlessly, making it possible to imagine cathedrals, a jet airplane passing through billowy clouds at 500mph, or the volatile racket of a tropical storm. Markus Schmickler gave it a shot, but no one does neo-shoegaze laprock as well as Fennesz.

On Venice, Fennesz also continues to dabble with pop. Last year, he collaborated with David Sylvian on the former Japan singer's Blemish, and that partnership continues here with "Transit". When a record contains only a single vocal track, the tendency is to place too much focus on it. That anomalous track always seems destined to summarize or "explain" the record somehow, yet the particular concerns voiced by Sylvian on "Transit" don't blend easily with its abstract aesthetic joys. Still, as a song, it works well and would have made a nice non-album single. Fennesz has demonstrated a sympathetic yet adventurous ear when supporting vocalists. On "Transit", a low organ sound anchors the tune but all sorts of strange explosions do the real work, simultaneously marking the changes and shifts in the song and reinforcing its structure. Fennesz flirts with a different kind of conventionality with "Laguna", a guitar duet with Stangl with a serious Morricone vibe.

Venice's quality extends beyond its sound. Touch proprietor Jon Wozencroft-- through his breathtaking design and photography-- continues to fight the good fight against records-as-pure-data by making the CD a value-added prospect. More importantly, the music is of a high standard. One thing that is made clear by Venice is that Fennesz is a composer who spends as much or more time crafting melodies and chords as he does searching for the perfect texture. He works regularly with improvisers, but his records under him own name could not be more orderly, with discrete sections carefully structured to maximize their emotional impact. (The symphonic nature of last year's Live in Japan is strongly present here.) Thanks in part to that emotional heft, I have a feeling that long after many of the experimental electronic records from the past ten years disappear, we'll continue to reach for the works of Fennesz.

-Mark Richardson, April 1st, 2004

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars yoda would come up with a better title for this review ;-), July 18, 2004

By 

bogdi (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venice (Audio CD)

as far as Fennesz goes, I've heard Venice and Endless Summer. I enjoyed Venice a lot more; it feels like the textured sound is more thoroughly explored = more interesting. Venice isn't a departure in sound but it is rounder and more focused. It flows very well as an album, which is why I won't go into specific songs.

at first I thought the vocals on Transit were anticlimatic for the general flow of the CD. I've changed my mind since. They do fit the song very well, eventhough I still prefer the instrumental tracks.

if you're in the market for something layered and enveloping without it being emotionally taxing, something that fits an introspective mood, don't hesitate to go for Venice. I personally find it very inspiring for intellectual pursuits or just for hanging out at home on a rainy day.

ps: I think the cover reflects the mood quite well :-)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An effect that's impossible to describe., July 21, 2004

By 

Donkey Dick (Blubber Land) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venice (Audio CD)

Christian Fennesz's ambient, electronic experimentation is the absolute last thing I should be listening to, but thanks to Pitchfork Media's recommendations, and during a highly experimental phase in my life, I picked up his previous album, "Endless Summer."

While I never quite was privy to the brilliance it was reported to contain, I was nevertheless rather impressed at the way Fennesz could break down noise to its bare essentials, and how he would bury a melody so deep in dissonance, it would somehow make it even more powerful.

"Venice" is much more subtle than "Endless Summer," and I suppose by IDM or experimental standards, more accessible, but its hypnotic quality and breathtaking beauty are often too much to handle. It's quiet music that needs to played loud, very loud, and uninterrupted. It's 5-minute gurgly drones with embedded tunefulness that somehow completely swallow you from start to finish. And more importantly, it's music that I should not like for any reason, that I regard as some of the best I've ever heard.