STL is Stephan Laubner, also known as Lunatik Sound System, an artist who is known to have an affinity for strange sounds, and an undying love for analog gear. With over two decades of experience as a DJ and a live musician, he mutates and transforms on every release. When you hear him jam live or play a DJ set you will feel like you have been transformed to an entirely different world every single time. Widely lauded contributions for major labels like Perlon and Smallville might have placed STL on the map of international dance music giving him his start, but that was a while back. More recently on Amirali's Dark Matters, STL is carving a new path.
This latest EP culminates as the labels sixth release to date. Dark Matters has been able to establish a unique aesthetic, managing to deliver a sort of unified theme even though the artists making up their discography all portray a largely different sound. In this three track EP, called Nonzero Sonics, STL begins with "No More Words," a dark atmospheric track that spends its first 6 minutes lingering between lo-fi noise, pads, and sporadic synth notes before a four to the floor beat sneaks in - it paves the way to what you may think is going to be your next favorite dance floor EP, but the coming tracks are not very friendly within that environment."Smooth Selector" is a sublime ambient track that could very well find footing in the heart of many Monday morning after parties. It's attitude is brazen; variances on the bass line deliver progressions, but only very subtly, hardly noticeable, and serve no purpose in breaking the repetitious - but very enjoyable - groove. The elements are sequenced in a way that dictate an other worldly narrative. It’s a ride through an alien divide, a transitional track bridging the gap in differences between the first off the EP, and the closer; "Out Of One."
The third track moves towards a more direct breakbeat blue print, the most charming out of the bunch. Minimally fashioned, it mostly banks on a spacey pad and reiterating drums. It is an advanced listen, with intermittent synth lines that provide bouts of dramatic complexities without losing plot. The whole EP is a further mutation of STL’s sound, it furthers his reputation as an abstract musician, who tosses all formats and accepted formulas out of the window every time he steps into the studio.
Buy the release on Juno Records here and follow Dark Matters on SoundCloud for more tunes.
