Venetian Snares

Breakbeats have rarely been more thrillingly or intimidatingly mangled than in the work of Venetian Snares. Born Aaron Funk in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1975, Venetian Snares specializes in a dizzyingly fast, violently kinetic brand of breakcore that’s sometimes called “speedcore.” He began developing his blender-like style of hyper-edited breaks on a string of cassettes and CDRs in the late ’90s, then joined Mike Paradinas’ Planet Mu label in 2001. An uncompromisingly experimental approach underpins all his work, typically accompanied by his wily sense of humor (via titles like 2005’s Winnipeg Is a Frozen S******e), and his range extends far beyond breakcore. He incorporated jazz and classical influences on 2005’s eerie Rossz Csillag Alatt Született; while under his Last Step alias, he’s explored acid house and leftfield electronic, without abandoning his sense of mischief. (He alleges to have recorded 2012’s SleEP while unconscious.) Funk’s predilection for keeping listeners on their toes extends to his collaborations: The duo Speed Dealer Moms features Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante, and in 2018, he teamed up with ambient pedal-steel legend Daniel Lanois for a characteristically unconventional spin on chill-out music.