SHXCXCHCXSH - Kongestion
Deep dark cyber rave is on the menu with the new release from SHXCXCHCXSH titled Kongestion. The Swedish duo returned in 2022 with an impactful, hard-hitting and apocalyptic release on Avian, showcasing the considered chaos we come to expect from their drum-heavy productions. SHXCXCHCXSH display a fundamental knowledge of sound staging on this album, each track using panning, effects and other audio tricks to set the listener within a superbly layered space (though you may need to listen on headphones). The kick is the bedrock for most tracks, whilst more percussion sits behind this listener’s head. This is all capped off by rich, washed-out rave hoovers that envelop the space around you. These are rave techno bangers but with more. More space. More immediacy. More experimental textures. These audio devices culminate with a sense of sonic pressure that leaves you anxious as you check your surroundings. However, that leads to a much more immersive and enveloping listening experience.
The feeling of tracks like ‘Kong’ and ‘Onge’ is as if you’re in the middle of the war against the machines from the Terminator franchise; the lasers blitzing past, the dense repetition of vehicle tracks trundling over uneven terrain and the breaking of skills all around you drawing closer.
This is augmented as the EP unfolds. The track ‘Nges’ offers more experimental offerings, taking the rave hoovers from before and washing them away over heavy bass modulation leading to a weightless and floating sensation, with the last half of ‘Nges’ feeling like a freefall through shallow gravity. The intensely experimental percussive drum breaks of ‘Gest’ paired with the penetrating fog horn throughout the track laces the whole experience with an urgency not felt as strongly as in the rest of the EP.
The more melodic side of SHXCXCHCXSH is also here. ‘Esti’ and ‘Stio’ use similar effects and panning but seem to harken back to the duo's earlier works and highlight their range in the studio. ‘Stio’ impresses with its ghostly atmospheric arpeggio that accents the dramatic bass as it hits different notes. The whole affair feels quite a garage inspired.
‘Tion’ rounds off the EP, placing itself back within the musical motif with an outstanding melody played on the rave hoovers. Still, they’re washed out even more like the ripples in a pond, flowing around each kick and every percussive hit without distorting them.
Tracklist:
Kong
Onge
Nges
Gest
Esti
Stio
Tion
Label: Avian (2022)
SHXCXCHCXSH – Kongestion
