STL Vinyl & CDs

Review: STL is a master of making knackered sound drum loops and lo-fi sounds then chucking them all into a blender and serving them up for deployment in backrooms around Europe's most heady clubs. He has been at it again it seems and now has a whole bunch of brilliantly dishevelled cuts for us on this new album U Know The Score on Something. It is packed with twitchy, urgent rhythms punctuated with occult sounds, smudgy melodies and shards of melody that all sound like they could collapse at any moment, but until they do, you will be locked in for the ride. Some are dark, some are light, all of them are brilliantly beguiling.

Review: 
For their second installment, the Chateau Chepere crew brings on board legendary producer Stephan Laubner under his STL moniker, with four time warping pieces of music. With his distinctive and intricate sonic palette, Laubner extracts from his hardware different musical colors and shapes to produce singular atmospheres. Opening up the EP is Fly Fly, an epic 11 min minimal house trip full of tension and excitement, followed by Eargrind, an eerie, laid back Detroit leaning ballad. On the flip is Light Up, a spaced out, playful and bittersweet number that will revitalize any hazy after-hours dancefloor. Closing up the EP is Unlike Dislike, a quirky, jacking and mischievous techno workout for the packed club. This diverse ep will pull the listeners and dancers into Laubner's multifaceted, low key but captivating universe.

Review: Boogie Box launched in style last year with a release from the mighty STL, and now they're revisiting that strong first step with a clutch of smartly selected remixes from some deep cover operators. Juniper drops two dubs of "Haze & Kraze" that press squashed synth pressure, found sounds and splattering FX into tight but funky grooves with a distinctly nocturnal feel. Fold's dub of "Hide & Seek" spaces things out beautifully, taking a crooked, steppers approach that works wonderfully with the source material. Jonas Friedlich's own dub of "Hide & Seek" takes a dustier path through the undergrowth, completing a package of truly non-conformist techno that chimes with STL's own outsider spirit.