Customer Reviews

Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Vsnares releases yet another awesome record. The album description above says that it's probably his most danceable record yet, but I disagree. Chocolate Wheelchair still carries that honor in my opinion, but this is still quality shizz. It's mostly in a heavy gabber style, but much more refined than, say, Making Orange Things. All those pounding distorded kicks are countered by some of Snare's more intricate breakage and always seems fresh, even though gabber isn't usually my cup of tea. It's not a surprise that the tone is very aggressive, considering the title and names of tracks, but they always have that Snares sense of humor (for example the sample of Isabella Rossellini in "The Saddest Music in the World" talking about beer and Winnipeg) to balance everything out.

Technically, this record is billed as an E.P., but at 45 minutes long it's virtually another entire concept album by the great Venetian Snares. 5 stars, as if ANYTHING by Snares is ever less than genius.

Although it may come across as somewhat immature to name an album after something that degrades a certain part of the world, such as "Winnipeg is a Frozen S--thole" for example..it's really just to add some humour into some extremely intense music, i think. The song titles as well, are in the same vein as the album title, in that most of them refer to Winnipeg is a.. something. And also, as you probably know, he is from Winnipeg.

This album is really really fast in parts, making it intense to listen to. It's definitely not a 'sit-down-and-relax" sort of album by any means. I've only listened to Venetian Snares here and there in the past, never having listened to a full album before i got this, but i doubt any of his other albums have that "relaxing" feel to them either. All in all, this is an entertaining album to say the least. Lots of samples taken from who knows where, extremely fast beats and some twisted melodies underneath all the insane noise. And don't forget the humour in and out of nearly every single track. "Winnipeg is Steven Stapleton's Armpit" is one of the silliest tracks on this album..with samples of someone saying "Winnipeg" over and over. Except it goes in and out, twists around and around, until finally it doesn't even sound like the person is saying "Winnipeg" anymore..

My favorite tracks are "Winnipeg is a Frozen S--thole", "Winnipeg is a Dogs--t Dildo" (..the person talking in the intro sounds very much like Bill Hicks too, but i don't think it is him..), "Winnipeg is F---ing Over", "Die Winnipeg Die Die Die F---ers Die", "Winnipeg is a Boiling Pot of Cranberries" and the final track which reminds me alot of something Merzbow would make. Pretty much every song has a sample that has to do with Winnipeg in some way or another. The songs are all extremely technical too. To break down these songs, or songs by artists like Autechre and Squarepusher, is almost impossible. Most of these songs are so technical and intricate in their structure, you just listen and go "Wow."

Basically, if you're looking to buy this album, you're reading these reviews and you already own some of Venetian Snares other albums, then you know really what to expect. This album is extremely good and a worthy buy for all fans new or old. I'm pretty much a new fan, not having really heard much else of his other albums, and i must say this album alone can be used to convert new (open-minded) fans from any genre of music in the world. It's that good.

This would appeal mostly to fans of Squarepusher, Autechre and Aphex Twin i think. I suggest anyone to give this album a try, you won't be disappointed. I recommend listening to it while driving too..gives it a different feel. Very cool.

Although Venentian Snares' reputation as being one of the fastest and ear bleeding electronic acts at the moment is one he seems to steer away from on some albums (Winter In The Belly Of A Snake, Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett), its a reputation he wholeheartedly embraces on Winnipeg Is A Frozen Sh*thole. This album recalls his noisy debut Making Orange Things that he made with Speedranch - loud, fast and considerably less complex and glitch/IDM than his usual output (but a lot more complex than normal gabba/speedcore). With that said, I'd say that Winnipeg Is A Frozen Sh*thole is quite a bit better than Making Orange Things (an album I've only just grown to enjoy and gave a rather scathing 1 star review to 8 months ago) due to a more cohesive sound, more attention to beats and rhythms and a much more intelligent use of samples.

The music is gabba driven breakcore. Relentlessly fast and never with a quiet moment, the album is one of his most dancable (providing the dancers have a taste for the extreme). Emotion isn't really the name of the game here and neither is complexity (there some 'WTF?' moments but compared to a lot of his stuff Winnipeg Is A Frozen Sh*thole relatively straight-ahead). Although not as brain meltingly complex as Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits or as experimental as Doll Doll Doll it makes up for it by being very danceable and catchy the only way Venetian knows how. If you want your next Venetian Snares album to be a little more than gabba driven noisecore for the mentally unstable to dance to then pass this up for the time being, but its a great album so don't go too long without it.

Growing up on only gabber and breakcore/broken beat I find this to be the type of VS I like to saturate my self with. Making orange things, LowRez#7, things like that. This adds to the list of his more aggressive stuff with nice old school 909 distorted kick drums.
Also watch for his new release on march 22, Csillag llat Született. It's very diffrent from VS's normal (if you would call it that) groove. ALL classical sounds and mellowed out in a more solid manor- less fragmented for sure. Very sick and likeable to those ignorant who hate VS. Not sure how i got my copy so early? :P

Its hard to find a good breakcore cd that isnt too avantgaude IDMish and the like. Dont get me wrong I like IDM but I like Breakcore better. I'm not a fan of Aaron Funks more glitchy stuff, but I am a fan of his. THis CD is excellent because its straight up Gabba Style Breakcore. What more can I say. If u like speed breaks u can dance to or thrash to then this cd is 4 u.