Rien — The Other Russian Tape
This release appeared April of last year on the Russian label Reason Art Records- and as of writing this review the label still has physical copies of the tape left. The tape it self mixes together a black outer shell, with see-through tape reels. And the tapes sleeve features minimal dark green & black inking- with the cover just take in a blank expanse of green, and the inner sleeve & spine taking in black ( English & Russian) texts against a plain dark green backdrop.
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 has been active since late 2016 and has so far released around thirteen 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.
Each side of tape takes in a single untitled track, and the first sides track is a blend of constantly jumping & deeper rips/ judders, which are underfed by muffled hiss & smaller scarping/ snapping tones. Together these elements create a wonderfully constricting, yet subtly detailed wall, which keeps you total held through-out it’s runtime. Though at times it feels like there may be shifts going on here - but save for the last minute or so of the track, this is very much set & firm example of wall-craft.
The second sides track really seems fairly close in textural makeup to the first side- through the rips ‘n’ judders feel slower & dragged out, and the smaller textures feel more cluttering & semi-playful in their feel. Once again the texture map here is set into a tense & airless sonic weave, and this nicely wraps one in both tight awareness & worthy textural detail. As with the first track the set-ness is broken in the last minute of the ‘wall’, when the lower end elements seeming to become more choppy & less focused in their attack.
If you are looking for ultra tense-yet- detailed walled noise with a theme-less focus and minimalist sonic outlook The Other Russian Tape is most worthy of one's time.