There are numerous certainties throughout each year of this modern-life we live. The one with the best back-story will win the reality TV “performance” show, MPs will screw over the needy whilst filling their homes with trinkets from the taxpayer and the tabloids will blame everything on those seeking asylum. But one more pleasant assurance is that Aaron Funk aka Venetian Snares will release a new record of electronic mentalism into the world. But this time the nice people at Planet Mu have given him his own label entitled Timesig and the first release upon it is My So-Called Life.

It’s always been apparent from the outset that Mr.Snares is a compositional genius; a whirling dervish of electronic noise capable of propelling thousands of microscopic sounds-per-second from speaker-cones with unrivalled technical precision and aggression. So, let’s this out of the way at the very start; there is no doubt that sonically this is up there with his very best work. But, his use of juvenile vocal breaks can really sour the mix. On album opener ‘Posers & Camera Phones’ the repletion of “I fucking hate you // Take your draws down and rape you“ grates really quickly, in a similar way to the comedy skits that intersperse certain hip-hop albums. Similarly on ‘Welfare Wednesday’ the ever-increasing lists of “hilarious items/events” reeled off with the intention of insertion in “your punani” is just puerile and unnecessary. It might be funny if you are fourteen, but these stupidities often ruin what are otherwise works of genius.

But such immaturity shouldn’t be a deal breaker, as although this was recoded quite quickly, it is the most varied album in his catalogue. Laying bare the depth of his talent and offering a perfect first point of contact for those unsure as to where to enter his extensive body of work. Numerous styles are traversed and steps are even taken back to 2005’s Rossz Csillag Alatt Született by providing a sequel to ‘Hajnal’ in the form of the (obviously named) ‘Hajnal 2’ – its sweeping and epic JRPG orchestration is driven at full-speed into gabba beats fusing the two into a monumental display of lavish beauty and brain melting programming.

As the record comes to a close and the whistle-stop tour of all things Snares draws to an end, he pulls out all the stops for the final six-and-a-half minutes of title track ‘My So-Called Life’. Taking all of his skills and blending them into a finale that showcases the mastery of his art – hurtling past orchestral scores, 16-bit synths, break-beats, choral ambience, drum & bass and beyond – acting as a calling card or curriculum vitae to anyone foolish enough to question his prowess.

If he’d avoided the ridiculous vulgar-vocals this would be, without question, an official TLOBF recommended release. But their existence places an unavoidable turd amongst this luscious sonic banquet, our advice is to eat around it as best you can and try not to let it put you off the rest of the meal.