Michelle/Rien — Split
The white-shelled cassette comes on a red & clear case, and this takes in double-sided monochrome artwork- which features a murky picture of lines & squiggles against a washed-out grey backdrop, and minimal black texts. The physical release came in an edition of 15 copies, and as of this review the label has three copies left- so I wouldn’t hang around if you fancy picking this up.
Side A is the Michelle side of the split, and this takes in two tracks. First up we have the just under nine & half minutes of “The Boat In The Women”. This begins with a shifting blend of higher pitched tonal blips ‘n’ stretches, eerier knocks ‘n’ bangs, and unsettling harmonic drifts. By around the mid-way point, the higher pitched elements have become a lot more scrubbing ‘n’ searing in their feel, and these create a nice feeling of woozy unwell-ness. Also, the knocking has departed and is replaced by thinner midrange scrubs ‘n’ slices.
The second Michelle track is entitled “Punctuated Symbols From Above”- this comes in at the 5.16 mark. It begins with a fairly busy selection of higher-to-mid ranged scarps, hissers, & clutters. But by the mid-way, it’s pared back to almost lower case noise making, with a blend of quiet buzzing drone, spurting-like rotations, and subtle tone shifting warbling higher tones. I’m familiar with Mr. Rotunno Ebony Tower project- but these are the first two tracks I’ve heard from Michelle, and I must say I rather enjoyed both of these tracks often woozy & unsettling takes on shifting noise texturing.
So we flip over to side B, and we, of course, have the Rien side of the split. Here we just have a single fifteen-minute untitled track- and after the sourly shifting feel of the first side; this track is much more formal wall-making. It brings together a firm & fixed blend of bothersome & slightly buffeting bass grind ‘n’ roll- which is covered with smaller snaps, pops, and jitters. It sounds akin to been fed through a vast & stationary stream drawn roller with lines & lines of tiny bulbs tired around you- the low end is really blunt & nasty in its weight, while the smaller texture really suck you in & keep you locked into the track. Again I was familiar with Mr. Hammarstedt’s other project Gamiani- but I’d never heard any Rien- so once more I was impressed by the track here & it’s Moorish blend of crushing bass weight & smaller popping’n’ snapping details.
In conclusion, this is great split, and I’m really pleased it’s introduced me to these two great projects. I guess you’ll have to be fairly open-minded in your textured noise/ wall-making preference to enjoy the Michelle track- but the Rien track will certainly appeal to any fans of straight & crushing wall-craft.