Q: how are things going these days? are the proceeds of three well-received mu albums changing your gear or software or life situation, or not?

A: things are going quite well thanx, just did the xmas thing, met my girl's parents for the first time, was happy they didn't chase me about with machetes. bought a house with my friends fanny and al "six samplers" conroy awhile back. it's wicked, we each have a room for a studio + a bedroom each. it's in the ghetto though so punks keep breaking into my car every second day.

Q: related to that, what is your perception of your "standing" these days as part of a community of artists? you're certainly the most prolific artist on planet-mu lately... does that impact your life at all from day-to-day? is there any conceivable conquest left for venetian snares, or would moving up in sales or popularity in any direction necessitate a more accessible sound? do you strive for more "success" in terms of record sales or reviews at all, or is that counterproductive?

A: that does all sound like a counterproductive way to look at things. i'm just doing my thing, like i always have. although it does seem funny that as a lot of my music becomes stranger and stranger it is better recieved at the same time. i truly appreciate the fact folks are buying my records, i was never good with the day job routine.so i suppose in that way it does affect my day-to-day life. at the same time i have no real concept of what people expect from me. normally i think people are going to hate my new records because they usually represent such a different side of myself than the side i showed on the last record.

Q: lately your music doesn't really sound like "breakcore" music, yet it seems to have basically started there. do you have any theories or any way to really specify why exactly, today, you sound different from say, wquarepusher or a more traditional sort of "european" sound? i guess what i'm getting at is, it seems like "breakcore" and its evolutions are kind of a uniquely north american thing, as far as i can tell.

A: i don't think about things like that and i wouldn't say breakcore is a north american thing at all. it really came from the other side of the pond, labels like praxis, ambush and new skin.

Q: it seems that there is some sort of "community" of people developing in the middle of this continent dedicated to hard break music? do you feel like a part of that, or not? is it worthwhile and vital, or just another genre dead-end like autechre-clones and u-ziq drill clones and that stuff? i'd be interested in knowing how much you think your latest stuff still conforms to that sound.

A: i'm not sure i feel a part of anything i could really pinpoint. as far as the community of people i've been involved with, it really comes down to a shared methodology, a diy approach to things as opposed to a common sound or genre or whatever. again, i don't feel like i'm conforming to any sound. just doing my thing, let the chips fall where they fall.

Q: your music lately has mostly moved away from "the breakbeat" and gone on to more glitchy and analogue sounds. is that just a taste thing you've been into recently, or is it more of a desire to maybe have more control over your sounds or draw from a wider palette? at some point, did you find it necessary, in order to express what you wanted to express, to depart from the usual "sound" of breakbeat music?

A: yeah i still make jungle slammers like always, i love to play that stuff at parties. at the same time i am quite interested in creating something from nothing. so of course you won't find a sampled break in those pieces. sometimes things just need to be completely synthetic. it's the only way to express that which does not exist on any tangible level.

Q: i think i read that warp was into releasing "snake" at one point but then the record ended up coming out on mu. should we be pissed at warp or was it just not meant to be? i have to admit that i really like the idea of being able to walk into my local mall and buy your record.

A: don't be pissed at warp, they are good people. they've asked me a few times to do things. maybe i will sometime. i do feel quite comfortable releasing on planet mu and hymen as mike and stefan are good friends. i was originally thinking of releasing winter in the belly of a snake on rephlex but i ended up giving it to mike because he was really into it from the beginning. i guess i release alot on planet mu because i talk to mike all the time and he hears what i'm making all the time so he calls dibs y'know!

Q: one of the things that i really like about your music is that it is very clearly "virtuoso" in a musical sense. i know you must hear a lot of "squarepusher" comparisons by people looking for sort of a surface-level approximation. but one of the things that i think both you and tom jenkinson have in common is the ability to captivate an audience with pure compositional skill and intensity, rather than the newest bit of granular fx or whatever. does a lot of production work go into making the production of a vsnares song so transparent, or does it just come naturally to you at this point?

A: it is all about composition to me foremost. although i think i've become that gear geek somewhere along the way. i do like to have control over every parameter.

Q: do you do a lot of tracks? i guess a lot of electronic musicians do a ton of tracks and may only cull 2 out of 20 for public consumption. are there times when you finish something and just say, "that's no good," or is it hard for you to make crap? how do you compile your albums, does the label usually just pick their favorite tracks for the record? are there songs that you've done that you really like but no one else does?

A: i do write alot of tracks, yes, i'm not interested in much else. i don't play golf. i am all about the quality control, if a track does not blow my own mind, it will not make it out of the studio. i have tracks that friends bug me to put out and i just won't do it, they love em, i just think they're stupid. most of the time if i'm banging out an idea and it's just not moving me, i will delete it. so really most of those tracks don't get to the point where i even finish them, i don't want to waste my time. life's too short to pretend. alot of the time i won't release a track just because it has nothing to do with anything. although i will sit on those for years sometimes until they do become a part of the bigger picture. the only record i didn't compile myself was 2370894. mike chose the tracks for that. they were all tracks i was just sitting on, his idea was because none of them really had to do with anything they could work together as a compilation. it really is more of a compilation than an album in my eyes. i'm sure there will be more like that once i'm dead. i do think it's neat to put out something like that because people get a glimpse of something they normally wouldn't.

Q: what can we expect from you in the coming months? i guess there is "find candace" and "nymphomatriarch" both on hymen. and by my count you have a track on the six records compilation as well as something on a comp with sonicterror recordings? any plans for the next mu album?

A: the next planet mu album is a party record. i've been playing out some of the trax lately. maybe a summer release. at the same time i am working on a very surreal record, unlike anything. it's so violent, beautiful and alien, a world onto itself really. i'm going to san francisco for awhile in january to explore these ideas in 12 way surround sound.

Q: what about this whole genre anyway? is it going to shit, like lots of folks will say, or is it just saturated? do you listen to much electronic stuff, or not?

A: i don't think music is going to shit, there are a lot of possibilities these days, i think things are finally going to get very interesting. i do listen to alot of electronic music, of course.

peter tomaselli