this album is little more than someone applying break-ish drumlines over "sad" and "epic" orchestra samples to make kids think that its somehow more mature and enveloping than something else, and that its "deeper" than his previous work (it's not). i was told that he played violin on this album. but you know, a lot of people can play violin. and a lot of people add it to their music. its not rocket science. it doesnt further prove that this album is great. it sounds like sloppily made breakbeats and typical percussive elements that have been used to death by venetian snares, now with gothic orchestra sample pack hits coupled with a sparse approach to chalk up emotional factor. but it even fails to do that for me--it feels utterly insincere and emotionally flat.
Aarons most overrated work IMO, its well structured, and quite deep, but do people really think this man can arrange an orchestra, or even play cello, or violin? Its nearly ALL sampled, simply cut and pasted from someplace to this cd. This cd does make it into my stereo from time to time, though i just see straight through it, when i hear most of these tracks, i just picture a little geeky guy sitting at his pc playing with the latest software for hours on end. A refreshing album, but not totally unlike V.Snares other work, he's just sampling strings and harmonies rather than beats and synths.
Review by RedSKSep 09, 2006(edited over 3 years ago)
In this album it is hard to be sure whether Aaron Funk actually knows how to play piano and strings or if he's playing them incorrectly out of anticlimactic reasons, or maybe he's playing without skill for immature purposes. Either way, his use of classical instruments layered continiously over top of eachother mixed in with overly broken beats and riddims makes this a listening experience unlike anything else to come out of the breakcore scene. This is surely V Snares' most unusual and unique release to date.
The feeling of solitude and sadness runs straight through this album, although some might say that some of the compositions are melancholic for the sake of it. The beats are as you would expect from Mr Funk, frantic, organic and all done in weird 7 beat time signatures. Track 3 (Gloomy Sunday) makes excellent use of an old croon sample, and builds up to one of the most apocalyptic climaxes i've heard in a long time. Maybe it isn't consistently jungle orientated, but it is an excellent listen, and makes excellent use of classical elements.
Review by wondaboiJan 16, 2006(edited over 4 years ago)
At the first glance this album may seem to be a mixture of incompatible sounds and technics, employed just in order to make breakcore clatter in an even more bizarre, unusual and - when it comes to the classical music - impudent way. But nothing could be as wrong as such claims. Neither violins, nor talking to birds should earn this VS release its credit :) Nor even hungarian title(s) as one might think. What makes this album a work of art is the very feeling it gives, melancholy, a cathartic mood, springing from both extremes: dark, scary sounds, heavy percussion and heartbroken strings. These diversities complement one another in an unpredictible tension, in a sort of dialectics, that should remain unresolved forever.
Aaron Funk is not only a gifted breakcore artist, he is a talented musician, with a perfect sense of harmony and willingness to pursue new terrains of the bliss we call Music..."Rossz Csillag Alatt Született" is a masterpiece.
Review by nplasticDec 12, 2005(edited over 4 years ago)
I've been following Venetian Snares since his love-a-track, skip-a-track days. I don't doubt that Venetian Snares has a large number of fans on the audio terrorism circuit, but I tend to like my things with a bit less insane edge while still exploring complex rhythm and melodies. I've never doubted his extreme talent, but a lot of his releases are too "hard" for my tastes.
I read somewhere that the title of this album translates to "Born Under a Bad Star," and that is certainly the feeling you get when listening to the album. It is one part orchestral, one part insane drum programming, and one part waking nightmare. Every single track fits in at least one of three categories: sinister, melancholy, or angry. Often songs will fit into more than one of those containers, but from start to finish this album is the best "dark" album I have ever heard. It messes with your mind, furrows your brow and gets your blood pumping.
Though the year isn't over yet, I think this is probably the best album I bought in 2005.
Review by 5hadeMay 25, 2005(edited over 4 years ago)
A brilliant offering. Sometimes haunting, and always beautiful. At times this album reminds me of Kronos Quartet's work with Clint Mansell for the Requiem For A Dream soundtrack (listen to Felbomlaszt Mentökocsi and tell me it isn't so!). The departure from Funk's usual frantic breakcore/drill'n'bass is more than welcome when its presented with such ambition and flair. A definite must hear, and likely destined to become a modern classic of the genre.
Review by proci85Apr 28, 2005(edited over 4 years ago)
This is something serious. The album combines classical style with breakcore. And it makes it real good. The hungarian name of the songs are intresting too. And here are the names translated:
rossz csillag alatt született: it was born under a bad start. that means in hungarian, that something or someone goes with really bad luck from the beginning.
galamb egyedül: pigeon alone. the verb is missing, so when you read is, you have some feeling too that something is missing. in such form the sequence of words is weird too.
második galamb: second pigeon. the disturbance from the name of the track before is gone.
szamár madár: donkey bird / jackass bird. donkey could be an epithet or a noun too.
hiszékeny: credulous.
kétsarkú mozgalom: two poled movement.
senki dala: song of no one.
Of course some of the terms could have second meanings, but after translating the words, i have the opinion, that the titles were originally in english, and then they were translated to hungarian.
Review by handstandfetishMar 15, 2005(edited over 4 years ago)
Extremely solid composition, beautiful instruments, and some truly epic songs. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for something new, original, and highly enjoyable.
Beautiful orchestral music overlayed with addictive beats and breaks. Very cool.
Review by jared_lethalMar 09, 2005(edited over 4 years ago)
"Rossz Csillag Allat Született" is Aaron Funk's most ambitious work to date. This album got a different feeling. Maybe because of the Hungarian strings maybe the fact of Aaron himself have played violin on several tracks of the album. The point is that "Rossz Csillag Allat Született" is Venetian Snares in a very mature, dramatic way, testing new environments, new sonorities and trying to stay away from the pitiful label called "breakcore". His music is way too solid and diversified to be labeled in one single style.
"Rossz Csillag Allat Született" is the confirmation of Aaron Funk's new directions. 10 (out of 10)