Avian’s SHXCXCHCXSH drop a dynamic, tight and intense selection where massive fluid rhythmics constantly shift with steely ambience and noir basslines.

[social_warfare]

Shxcxchcxsh is an enigmatic Swedish duo originating from the industrial city of Norrköping. Mysteriously coded track and album titles hide a sound that stands on a thin line between abrasive pulsating techno and melancholic ethereal ambient. Their music unravels in unpredictable twists, which lead down diverse sonic paths. The Shxcxchcxsh sound is intense and spacious, but beneath the complex rhythmic structures hides steel-wool melodic ambience, which gives the sound some mellower brushes. Across three full-lengths and a large number of EPs released on Shifted’s Avian label, Subsist and HEM they explored and reinvented ways of making music to craft an emotionally stirring, solid and constantly transforming blend of techno, ambient and industrial music. If their first releases were more explicitly rhythmic, the latest albums drowned the listener in murkier waters where hypnotic rhythms and heavyweight haziness interfere. Their last release is undoubtable proof of this.

Secret Thirteen Mix 190 retains these qualities and shares similar dynamics. It is a tightly weaved selection, accurately picked and compiled with intense bursts of futurist energy that give way to ambient melancholia, neo-tribal organic pulsations or noirish bass undercurrents. In this mix Shxcxchcxsh also show their precision and attention-to-detail - the selection is very much “on point”, with its accurate emphases and no unnecessary slips. Calmer and slower moments are followed by more intense, yet delicate soundscapes. Starting with Pere Ubu’s short burst of punk, it moves forward in more abstract tones with Eric Holm’s grand ambience, Struction’s floating waves, and Mika Vainio’s sparse wanderings. Mika comes back into the mix later on with his more techno-oriented moniker Kentolevi. The selection intensifies with Terrence Dixon’s noir tech-cut, and rhythmic patterns constantly resurface with tracks by Max Duley, Sissel Wincent and others. The mix’s finish line feels truly climactic, with DVA and Simbad’s chaotic cut merging into subtle wildness and the bouncing beats of Peder Mannerfelt’s piece off his latest album “Controlling Body”. The sharp lines, soft pastel tones and interweaving constructions of Felix Del Marle’s painting “Composition” might be a good reference point reflecting the dynamics of this mix.

Tracklisting

01. Pere Ubu - The Voice Of The Sand [Chrysalis, 1979]
02. Eric Holm - Surface Detail [Subtext, 2016]
03. Struction - Strukture [Ilian Tape, 2016]
04. Demdike Stare - Hashshashin Chant [Modern Love, 2010]
05. Mika Vainio - Konsti [Wavetrap 1999]
06. Galaxian - False Flag [Transient Force, 2010]
07. Lee Gamble - Cnull [UIQ, 2016]
08. Autechre - Freulaeux [Warp, 2016]
09. Submania & Ekmoah - Amageddon [Background, 1999]
10. Pom Pom - Oppression [Nursing Home, 2003]
11. Terrence Dixon - Dark City Of Hope [Tresor, 2012]
12. Inigo Kennedy - Nothing But The Distant Clatter [Rodz-Konez, 2002]
13. One in a Million - Avolat [Subsist, 2013]
14. Max Duley - Start The End [Arc(ane), 2000]
15. Late Echo Express - A1 [Hidden Hawaii, 2016]
16. Klara Lewis - Else [Editions Mego, 2016]
17. Sissel Wincent - Chrome [Peder Mannerfelt Produktion, 2016]
18. Kotai+Mo - Music For Ranches [Elektro Music Department, 1999]
19. Kentolevi - Keimola [Cheap, 1996]
20. Vibert / Simmonds - Submarine [Rephlex, 1993]
21. SHXCXCHCXSH - SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs [Avian, 2016]
22. Levantis - Pieces [The Trilogy Tapes, 2013]
23. DVA, Simbad - Soundcheck [Hyperdub, 2016]
24. Peder Mannerfelt - Untitled [Peder Mannerfelt Produktion, 2016]

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