SHXCXCHCXSH: SHULULULU

Full LP of soundscapes and experimental techno on Avian.Label info:The award winning Danish producer and live performer, also known for her extensive compositional & soundtrack work for video games, international theatre and dance productions – as well as her own installation projects, debuts on the Avian label with ‘Entangled’. Forged in the unique crucible of SØS Gunver Ryberg’s multidisciplinary practice ‘Entangled’, stalks a hard line at the edge of techno’s stormiest sector. A thrilling meeting of divergent disciplines and sound system metrics with a keen skill for the composition of uncompromising club works, Ryberg’s technique lies in the vital declaration of her own borders in every setting. Comprised of six club focused pieces, the mini LP applies itself to rhythmic intensity with a deft touch. Galloping granulated walls envelope you at every turn as brittle melancholic pads ease you from one moment to the next. ‘The Presence_Eurydike’ is the gentlest form that Ryberg is willing to present, whereas ‘Trispider’ builds a monumental terror out of a raw pulse. It’s at these moments that you sense the careful composition and orchestral drones, and how keenly Ryberg’s rough modulation is meant to alter states. Displaying varying approaches to form and structure across the record, the music riffs on the brooding atmosphere characteristic of the artist’s collected work by breaking up the havoc on ‘Entangled’ with a series of four microcompositions spliced between each of the tracks. Finely textured and rendered in detail they give a glimpse of Ryberg’s capacity for mesmerising sound design – or to put it another way, they give a sense of what’s barely contained by the rhythmic works. This is an expansive and hard hitting rumination on the more caustic, atonal end of the Techno genre – a truly dynamic and immersive listening experience.

Swedish disruptors SHXCXCHCXSH return to Avian.Following on from 2018’s SHULULULU EP, the duo are back channeling their sound-design focused experimentalism into a brace of characteristically high energy recordings. Melding contemporary explorations in rhythm and texture with more traditional club tropes, Kongestion places recognizable leitmotif’s from the dance music continuum in the context of the pair’s inimitable production prowessA1 Kong and follow up Onge offer two takes on a similar template that marry a stepping kick drum pattern with dense, ever-shifting granules of processed white noise. The mentasm sample, that will become a recognizable device across the EP’s course, provides it’s own twisted energy – front and center on the former, and sunk – but no less effective, on the latter. With Nges SHXCXCHCXSH draw on their beatless material for inspiration, inviting a more musical sensibility into the work. What begins life as a staccato, monotonal recording develops slowly and organically into an emotive patchwork piece – drawing on the mentasm, but this time twisting it further and introducing a bassline and shuffling hats. Relentless rhythm track Gest follows – a dense, thorny construction that segues neatly into Esti, another more caustic composition that places it’s focus on intricate, delay-driven sound design with ghostly lead tones that operate just below the surface. As the record approaches it’s close, the duo showcase their range with Stio – a pulsing, meditative ambient cut. Final track Tion wraps up the EP neatly, acting as a fulcrum for the themes explored so far. Bending the mentasms into a hook, the artists create a wall of undulating sound, broken by sporadic kick drum hits and propelled forward with percussive strikes that run through the track before dissolving into soft reverb tails.

Desroi: Dwell In Motion <iframe style="border: 0; width: 480px; height: 600px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2802608902/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=e32c14/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://avianstore.bandcamp.com/album/dwell-in-motion">Dwell In Motion by Desroi</a></iframe>