Traditional Synthesizer Music

Album review

For an artist whose recordings typically consist of intensely edited, sample-heavy sonic constructions, the "traditional" way to go about making music is to spend countless hours programming an overwhelming modular synthesizer system that takes up an entire room. Aaron Funk has explored analog synthesizer music before, but he usually saves this type of work for his Last Step moniker, which veers toward acid techno rather than the frenetic breakcore of his more well-known guise, Venetian Snares. On Traditional Synthesizer Music, he steps away from the crushing breakbeats, shocking samples, and monstrous vocals of his previous VSnares releases, but his penchant for complex time signatures remains as strong as ever. He pushes his machines to their furthest limits, twisting the rhythms into time signatures that most musicians simply wouldn't dream of, accelerating the tempo to a heart-quickening pace on opening cut "Dreamt Person v3," and embellishing the drum patterns with intricate drum fills and stereo separation. Tracks such as "She Married a Chess Computer in the End" feature miles-deep bass drum kicks, making sure that these tracks have a gigantic bounce to them, which isn't normally associated with music crafted on vintage synthesizers such as these. Aside from the beats, Funk pays as much attention as ever to melody, and his ethereal, decay-heavy notes express terror, longing, confusion, sadness, ecstasy, and a wide spectrum of other emotions. If there's any tradition to what Aaron Funk does, it's that he's always creating fascinating, futuristic music, and Traditional Synthesizer Music is no different. The album is a sharp, thrilling experience, and easily one of Funk's most focused works.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo