This week in class we looked into breakcore and how artists like Venetian snares have allowed more experimental sub-genres of electronic music to find their place in mainstream music.
Venetian Snares is helped define the electronic subgenre breakcore, and became one of its most prolific, well-recognized figures. Much of his work consists of intense mutations of jungle and hardcore techno, with obtuse time signatures playing at impossibly fast tempos, and deftly edited samples from a wide array of sources. (Venetian snares songs, albums, reviews, Bio & More)
Breakcore is a genre that will always have a deep connection to the internet. In the past few years, the once-underground genre has found a revival in more popular media due to its popularity on TikTok and other short-form content-based social media platforms. With artists such as sewerslvt and machine girl continuing to produce music for the genre.
‘Modern breakcore engages with a distinctly online space, often mingling with aspects of glitchcore, vaporwave and other internet-born genres.’ (J, 2023). While modern breakcore is distinctly different from its 90’s predecessor, the core values of the genre stay the same with tracks characterized by intense, high-energy beats and intricate, complex soundscapes. (Pianity Music)
Modern breakcore possesses a distinctly “internetcore” style with influences from anime, video games and pop culture. (J, 2023)
We also looked at Sophie,
Her music combined pop instincts, uncompromisingly experimental musical ideas, formidable programming chops, and a self-presentation that was at once mischievous and movingly guileless. The result was a body of work that was essentially hopeful, like a roadmap to a better world in which to be vulnerable was, ironically, synonymous with becoming indestructible. (Sherburne, 2021)
Sophie said in an interview that she tries to make music which is fun to dance to; that she thinks that it would be extremely exciting if music could take you on the same sort of high-thrill-3-minute ride as a theme park roller coaster. She said that this is the way that she envisages the potential of music. Instead of being strapped to a seat, people would instead be dancing. (Russell, 2012)
J (2023) What is breakcore? A genre field guide, WKNC 88.1 FM. Available at: https://wknc.org/2023/08/10/what-is-breakcore-a-genre-field-guide/ (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Pianity Music (no date) Breakcore music: Your ultimate guide, Pianity. Available at: https://pianity.com/tag/breakcore (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Russell, L. (2012) Expanded benefits: Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Sophie, BOMB Magazine. Available at: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/expanded-benefits-matthew-lutz-kinoy-and-sophie/ (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Sherburne, P. (2021) Remembering sophie’s radical futurism, Pitchfork. Available at: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/remembering-sophies-radical-futurism/ (Accessed: 26 November 2023).
Venetian snares songs, albums, reviews, Bio & More (no date) AllMusic. Available at: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/venetian-snares-mn0000317131#biography (Accessed: 26 November 2023).