- Is it possible to call someone who has put records out on the mighty Perlon imprint underrated? If so, STL, AKA Stephan Laubner, would fit the bill. Then again, he probably prefers it that way. A resident of sleepy Harz, Germany, pictures are scarce of the producer, his deep house productions reveal little about him, and his ambient field recordings yield even less. In fact, the only thing you can really say for sure about Laubner is that he's deeply interested in grooves—and how he can extend them forever.
Laubner's latest for his own Something Records imprint, like his other vinyl releases for the label, have a variety of locked grooves that should allow inclined DJs to transcend their seconds-long length. But, as you could hear on Mark E's RA podcast, the same goes for the longer tracks too. "Dangerzone," which comes first on this 2x12" package, does little more than work a well thought-out drum loop through the paces, while simultaneously wrapping two pieces of analog funk in and around the proceedings. It's a simple trick and one that Laubner uses again and again throughout Klangbewegungen.
Lest you think this type of thing is easy, though, think back to the last time that minimalism like this worked so well. My touchstone is Mr. Oizo's Analog Worms Attack. Sure, Laubner may be the stoner older brother into house music and Quentin Dupieux the impatient, ADD-addled child of hip-hop, but the comparison is an apt one. There's not much to be said about Laubner's tracks, because like Oizo there's not too much to them. Klangbewegungen is the sound of melancholic restraint, a dirty loop echoing into infinity, surrounded by otherworldly elements that rarely do anything but push it further into the stratosphere. Exquisite stuff.
TracklistA1 Dangerzone
A2 All We Need
A3 Loop A
B1 Moving Deep
B2 Subway Hustle
B3 Loop B
C1 Insectoid
C2 Left Alone
C3 Loop C
D1 Leaving Earth
D2 Loop D