Ah, SHXCXCHCXSH. SHXCXCHCXSH, SHXCXCHCXSH, SHXCXCHCXSH, animals' favorite electronic act. Even half a decade later, dogs still keep bringing up their Subsist debut RRRRGRRGRRR on occasion, and if you've ever been in a circle of snakes, you know that their third Avian LP SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs is all these guys ever talk about these days. Whether or not the tree that falls in deserted woods will make a sound is a nice question to ponder, but what I personally want to know is—how does one bring them up in a real-life conversation given that the rest of the clique is unacquainted with Avian? Jokes aside, the fearless approach of these guys in regards to picking titles is admirable, and the fact that the combination of letters SHXCXCHCXSH, while cannot be uttered, has been forever engraved in our memory speaks to the fact that perhaps the choice of name was not such a bad idea after all. Releases-wise, 2017 has been rather uneventful for this shadowy pair (the two remixes were nice), but their admirers' in-tongues-spoken prayers for more material have been apparently heard, and just as the year was about to enter its second half, out of the blue came Rösten 1—inaugural 12" of an eponymous imprint, for the moment, alas, a vinyl-only one.

    However, and this is something we should be thankful for, its tracks that are titled Stämma #1 to #4 don't follow SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs's purely esoteric and mostly beatless formula, which, admittedly, was a nice one to explore, but in all sincerity—ambient and downtempo are not the genres that brought SHXCXCHCXSH to prominence and they are not the ones that made us fall in love with the duo in the first place. "Yes, we can"—Obama was saying with foreknowledge about this release—put Stämma tracks onto the club decks, and as the gently whispering and softly sizzling noises will be caressing and petting our ears, inoppressive kicks will give the push required for the folks in the club to surrender to the rhythms and get lively on the floor, led by ethereal grooves that captivate the mind effortlessly, non-intrusively. It's a healthy combination of Techno, IDM and even House (to a miniscule and reasonable extent), and in this restful time of summer, when nobody wants to move profusely, Rösten is just what the witchdoctor ordered—not explosive to the point of losing one's head and energetic enough that it will gather the crowd into a haystack and bind them around with invisible, mental threads.

Release Type: EP

Release Date: 22 June 2017

Release Format: Vinyl

Record Label • Catalog: Rösten • RÖSTEN1

Purchase Links: Juno • Redeye • Clone • Triple Vision • Rush Hour • Hardwax • Deejay • Deejay