Rien — The French Tape
The release was put out to commemorate the project’s live debut on 3rd of May 2018 at respected French noise & experimental venue- where Rien played alongside noise legends Vomir & Black Leather Jesus. For the physical edition of the release- you get a label-less yet scratched black shelled tape- this comes in a single-sided color sleeve, which features blocks of murky red, blue & white colors- which of course represent the French flag.
Rien is one of the projects Johan Strömvalll Hammarstedt- of projects Gamiani, J.S.H., J S H, and runner of the excellent Swedish tape label Ominous Recordings. The projects have been active since late 2016 and have so far released around twenty releases- taking in stand-alone releases, as well as splits with the likes of Vomir, Werewolf Jerusalem, and Dosis Letalis. Rien sound is minimalist & focused HNW- with no real theme to it….and I’d say this is the projects most stripped back & bare-bones release thus far.
Featured here are two side-long & Untitled tracks- the first sides track is extremely taut-yet-sparse map/ textural weave of clipped juddering, cut popping, and sudden slightly longer snaps ‘n’ drags. Together these create a wonderful compressing-yet- focus grabbing wall, which manages to both present the listener with interesting detail, feeling of tension, and glitch shredded-yet focused control.
Flipping over the other side, and moving onto the second untitled track. This 'wall' sees a blend of slurred-almost-rhythmic chopping texture, beaded & clipped juddering, and small snap ‘n’ pop detail. Again it’s another great example of taut & detailed wall craft, with Hammarstedt nicely creating a winning blend of tension & appealing textual intricacies.
The French Tape really shows that Hammarstedt is developing his skills to create intricate & at times quite complex wall-matter. It’s a real pity this disappeared so quickly in tape form, as for me it stands as one of wall noise highlights of 2018…who knows maybe it’ll get reissued at some point, either standard re-press or with additional material. If you’re a wall-noise fan/collector, it’s really worth trying to track down the tape if poss, as it’s always nice to have original physical editions in one's collection, instead of just a digital download.