STL - Listen Up!

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  • The world has its share of raw, analogue house records, but most of them aren't made by Stephan Laubner. His STL catalogue has a consistency that recalls the ethos of Reinheitsgebot ("German Beer Purity Law"): using the fewest ingredients possible, the Harz-based producer has made dozens of simple, hypnotic drum and synth loops that stay in your head for days. The plaintive acoustic guitar in "Smile Function" underscores its intimate atmosphere—you could imagine the ridged bass notes as frogs and crickets at night, its ambient synths as grey smoke rising from a campfire. The drums are heavier than on, say, On Another Frequency, which featured some of Laubner's rowdiest drum programming, but the blows hardly feel excessive. "Wrong" sometimes sounds like a disco cover filtered through hard-nosed synths and drums, and it's as much fun as that sounds. "Mind Puzzlin" is more familiar STL, but even it sounds tweaked. Crisp hi-hats and compressed handclaps chop at the track's bleepy arpeggio, which later sounds like water trickling from a tap.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Smile Function A2 Listen Up! Loop B1 Wrong B2 Mind Puzzlin
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