Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Rien - The Grey Tape [Modern Tapes - 2018]

The Grey Tape appeared in early autumn 2018-it featured two twenty minute examples of nervy & erratically feasting static texturing from this respected Swedish based project. The release appeared in either tobacco tin tined tape release, or a digital download.

The white shelled cassette appears in a silver coloured tobacco tin- this features a stuck on monochrome label with minimal texts on & a white dotted black border on one side. Inside the box we get a fold out double sided inlay, taking in a similar selection of minimal text & border- you also get a download code, and a few black & white vinyl stickers relating to the label. Sadly this release is no longer available in its physical form- so ones only option now is a digital download.


We get two tracks in all here, each runs just shy of the twenty-minute mark, and they are simply titled I & II.  "I "is an extremely nervy & constantly fliting blend of tighter & smaller jitterings, a dry hissing, and a selection of snaps & pops- together these are brought together to create a very jumpy mesh of static texturing. The track feels akin to a walled noise track compressed, stripped back & sped-up to a jumpy & nervous rate. Thorough-out one is kept held by the tracks cleverly detailed, yet coldly sparse attack- at times it almost brought to mind a less rhythmical focused take on the tightly minimal & starkly clinical  electronica as released by the likes on Rasta Noton.


"II" follows the jumpy noise texturing of the first track, but really tightens things up more- with a mixture rapidly flitting static pop & rattle, smaller jittering tones, and subtle traces of muffled hiss. It keeps feeling like the whole things suddenly going to force it’s self apart with it tense jumping momentum, but it never does as it constantly keeps rolling along in its rapid-yet- highly nervy manner.  The tracks just as effective as the first side, yet nicely moves the whole tight-yet- sparse texturing vibe in a slightly different direction.


The Grey Tape is another extremely worthy release from Rien- which once again highlights the projects skill for creating creative static texturing that sits in the more stripped & pared-back side of things.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Rien - The Grey Tape
The Grey Tape appeared in early autumn 2018-it featured two twenty minute examples of nervy & erratically feasting static texturing from this respected S...
140725   Pierre Bastien & Michel Banab...
110725   Alternative TV - Direct Actio...
110725   Theme - Meditations on Space,...
110725   Pitchshifter - Peel Sessions...
100725   John Scott - Symptoms OST
100725   Torsofuck - Feasting On Carve...
100725   Dachra - Dachra(VOD)
100725   Transmission - Transmission( ...
100725   Up! - Up!( Blu Ray)
100725   Jack The Ripper - Jack The Ri...
Latest Articles

Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sharp t...
It’s fair to say the Sharksploitation genre is often tried, tested, and to be honest, tired. Fear Below is a 2025 Australian film that tries to do some...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
090525   Ennaytch - Of walls, abused ...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom