SHXCXCHCXSH have become synonymous to haunting and abstract experimental techno. With the intricate balance between light and dark as well as the realms of drone, noise, and techno their productions must be described as versatile and broad.
The once industrial city of Norrköping in eastern Sweden may not be the techno mecca of the world but it’s the hometown of two members of SHXCXCHCXSH, who consider it a perfect place to focus on music. Found each other in Stockholm years back, the two started sharing the love for the darker and more experimental realms of techno and soon followed the natural progression of working on music together. Combinedly they have a broad range of musical backgrounds and tastes from hip-hop to indie, therefore, bring diverse knowledge and experience to shape their unique sounds and ideas into deadly serious techno born out of the elements of noise, drone, glitch, broken beats, and pounding industrial and much more.
After releasing on Semantica and Subsist, SHXCXCHCXSH found a home in Avian, a thought-after label of contemporary techno led by Shifted. Following a series of sought-after records, in 2017, they opened their own imprint, Rösten, where they released music by Stanislav Tolkachev, Sissel Wincent, and SSTROM, as well as their own, including two albums. Following on from 2018’s SHULULULU EP, the duo is back channeling their sound design-focused experimentalism into a brace of characteristically high energy recordings with the album Kongestion on Avian. Melding contemporary explorations in rhythm and texture with more traditional club tropes, Kongestion places recognizable leitmotif’s from the dance music continuum in the context of the pair’s inimitable production prowess.
For this month’s Favourites feature, the Swedish duo showcases a selected number of their favourite tunes for our platform, featuring music from Kali Malone, Stanislav Tolkachev, and Pan Sonic, among others.
SHXCXCHCXSH: The entire album Medieval Femme has the most plays in my stereo past year, this track I always have to play twice.
S: Sort of childhood feeling, timeless.
S: First time I heard this was in the Church in Norberg. Absolutely stunning!
S: Insane. Unstoppable bassdrums.
S: Just nuts!
S: Heard this live at Sonar 2004. It blew my mind, literally!
S: Makes me happy!
S: Fantastic feeling!
S: Relaxing!
S: Dreamtune. Lovely!
S: Oh, so powerful! We love these dudes. Big inspiration!
