Rossz Csillag Alatt Született (Hungarian:[ˈrossˈt͡ʃillɒɡˈɒlɒttˈsylɛtɛtt]) is a 2005 album by Canadian electronic music producer Venetian Snares, released on the Planet Mu label. Inspired by a visit to Hungary, the album title and all of the track names are in Hungarian; Rossz Csillag Alatt Született translates to "Born Under the Wrong Star",[4] a Hungarian expression which means "cursed from birth". The album consists of classical strings and brass combined with breakbeats.
Overview
The concept of the album came when Aaron Funk imagined himself as a pigeon on Budapest's Királyi Palota (Royal Palace).[5] Its third track, "Öngyilkos Vasárnap" is a cover of the song "Szomorú Vasárnap" ("Gloomy Sunday") by Hungarian composer Rezső Seress, which has been referred to as the Hungarian suicide song. According to urban legend, Seress's song has inspired the suicide of multiple people, including his fiancée. The song was reportedly banned in Hungary.[2] It has also been covered by many artists. Billie Holiday's vocals are sampled in this track.[4]
The album also samples various pieces of classical music:
The first movement of Béla Bartók's fourth string quartet, in track two.
The second of Igor Stravinsky's "3 Pieces for Clarinet", in track five.
The first movement of Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony (trombone solo), in track five.
Measures 121-128 (14), 134 (15) and 144 (16) of Bartók's first string quartet (third movement), in track five.
While there were no official music videos released with the album, artist David O'Reilly produced an unofficial computer generated video for Szamár Madár,[6] and Mason Shefa produced a film featuring Szerencsétlen.
Alan Ranta of Tiny Mix Tapes praised Rossz Csillag Alatt Született as Funk's "most accomplished album to date" and described it as being "of uncouth beauty that is at once sublime, timeless, cinematic, sporadic, and moving from start to finish."[2]Sputnikmusic writer Nick Greer hailed it as an "absolutely amazing" release that "truly excels in how it shifts paradigms in unexpected ways".[8] William Tilland of AllMusic called the album "typically uncompromising and unsettling, although it is certainly constructed with great technical skill and maintains an abrasive beauty throughout."[7] Cameron MacDonald of Pitchfork was more reserved in his praise and felt that "Funk's percussive palate could have ventured beyond the standard-issued 'Amen' breakbeats", while concluding that "Rossz's totality still possesses nerves that can cast shadows that never dissipate away from the mind."[4]
Tiny Mix Tapes ranked Rossz Csillag Alatt Született the 25th best album of 2005 and the 31st best album of the 2000s.[9][10] In 2014, Resident Advisor critic Hugh Taylor described it as "one of breakcore's most important albums".[1] In 2017, Pitchfork placed it at number 25 on its list of "The 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time".[3]
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