CHAINED LIBRARY

CHAINED LIBRARY

Boomkat Product Review:
As one of the standout projects unveiled by the excellent but sadly now defunct /\ \ Aught label (2014-2015), Xth Réflexion’s /\ \ 05 + /\ \ 06 tapes transmitted some of the most enigmatic dub techno mutations since Chain Reaction kicked the bucket in 2003. Now brought to vinyl by a mysterious new label, Chained Library, we’re given a firmly tangible, if decidedly elusive reminder of Xth Réflexion’s raving, abstract excellence here.

Collecting /\ \ 05 + /\ \ 06 in their entirety – 10 tracks to be precise – Xth Réflexion’s first vinyl plunges listeners into a world of kinetic dub ephemera, feeling out a grayscale palette of cracked rhythms, silty chords and atmospheric grit with a sublime appreciation of flux and drift that feels to emulate the sensation or dynamic of brownian motion with an intoxicating appeal akin to the systolic diffusion of opioids or air-con in a sparsely furnished, humid room.

They scale and skid between tempos with naturally fluid agility, sucking us in with the flux of acousmatic source material, strobing dub rhythms and coruscating noise in 01 before winding up the tightly coiled, double-time flex of highlight, 02 and jabbing out the panicked underwater coda of 04 on the first disc, before the 2nd wraps up wickedly restless square bass squirm and rhythmic noise in 05 and 06, along with the desiccated structures of 07, plus the Voices From The Lake-style roil of 08 and the Lee Gamble-like immersion 10.

Striking the finest balance between abstraction and just-about-buoyant dub function, they are, by some distance, the best examples we’ve heard crawl out of the whole grey area in the last few years. A really strong look for anyone looking for solutions to grid-locked rhythm and sound problems.

P.S. if you’re worried about the packaging affecting the fidelity of the vinyl, we’re pretty sure that’s supposed to be the point, especially considering that the originals were presented on tape.

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Boomkat Product Review:
Killer 2nd batch of amorphous techno organisms from Xth Réflexion on the very watchable Aught label. Without resorting to kick drum assault or vicious noise, Xth Réflexion bypass current techno trends to investigate more fluid, minimalist modes in six parts owing as much to Basic Channel’s beatless moments as T++’s steppers’ techno dynamics, also finding certain points of compatibility with Vereker’s Restraint output or Felix K at his bleakest. It’s a striking sound; we urge adventurous techno types to check it out.

Boomkat Product Review:
Killer incision from one of 2014’s most intriguing new labels, kicking off 2015 with a typically obfuscated, technoid enigma from another new name, Xth Réflexion. Coming off like a lo-fi Autechre meets Chain Reaction, ‘/\\05′ deals in fractured steppers momentum and abstract dub structures, sucking us in with the flux of acousmatic source material, strobing dub rhythms and coruscating noise in ’01’ before winding up the tightly coiled, double-time flex of highlight, ’02’. Deeper in, ’03’ fires a lip-bitingly ace round of skittish steppers drums reminding of that Skee Mask 12″ trapped in a hall of mirrors, and ’04’ settles down to a tantalising dub noise detachment redolent of classic Vainqueur and Fluxion. Recommended!
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http://chainedlibrary.org
https://aught.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/aught0101
https://twitter.com/au_ght
https://www.facebook.com/Aught-1398703950394756/?ref=hl
https://boomkat.com/labels/aught

https://soundcloud.com/chained_library/sets/05-06a
Chained Library
Xth Réflexion – /\\05-06

/​\​\​05​-​06
Xth Réflexion

https://chainedlibrary.bandcamp.com/album/05-06

Xth Réflexion ‎– ​/\​\​05​-​06
chained library ‎– none
2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo
20 Mar 2017
Electronic
Minimal Techno
1 1 7:13
2 2 7:03
3 3 5:08
4 4 9:00
5 5 4:01
6 6 5:37
7 7 5:22
8 8 5:08
9 9 4:52
10 10 4:59
Two clear 12″ records in poly sleeves inside a semirigid PVC jacket. Edition of 300.
Remastered by Rashad Becker @ Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin
CHAINED LIBRARY 2017

Xth Réflexion ‎– /\\06
/\\Aught ‎– /\\06
Cassette, Limited Edition, C30
US
23 Mar 2015
Electronic
Experimental, House, Noise, Techno
A1 05 4:01
A2 06 5:37
A3 07 5:22
B1 08 5:08
B2 09 4:52
B3 10 5:00
/\\Aught 2015

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https://soundcloud.com/chained_library/sets/012016002001a
Chained Library
Agnes • 012016002001

012016002001
Agnes

https://chainedlibrary.bandcamp.com/album/012016002001

Agnes ‎– 012016002001
Chained Library ‎– 012016 002001
Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, EP, Stereo
US
15 Feb 2017
Electronic
Noise, Experimental
A 01 15:30
B 02 18:06
CHAINED LIBRARY 2017

/\ • Aught | Interview | Tiny Mix Tapes
/\\ • Aught
“Guessing as to the circumstances under which the sounds took form is, as we’ve said elsewhere, beside the point.”
https://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/aught