Sitting somewhere between broken down techno and stripped back dubstep, Italian artist Stenny has had a great 2019, having just released his debut album, the Munich-based DJ has played clubs like De School, Berghain and Fuse this year alone. His brand new long player, Upsurge, follows the May release of Stress Test for his return to the Zenker Brothers’ Ilian Tape imprint, a label that has also brought us tracks from Skee Mask and Djrum in the past. The dozen-long tracklist combines a
diverse palette of styles and sounds, everything from the heavier modulation on ‘BFRB’ and the fast, tumbling percussion that overlaps for a glitch-like sound on ‘Whyrl’ and ‘Psygraph’, to the cold, condensation-touched ambience and drum-less arrangements on ‘Water Maze’ and ‘Dew’. As a whole, the record provides a refreshing contribution to this years album catalogue, a time-lapse of how bass music has grown through the 2010’s, taking influence from early dubstep and experimental club sounds and transforming them under the guidance of todays technology and modern trends.
Where to start:
‘Detraction’ – Perfectly filtered percussion fed into subtle delays
‘Blind Corners’ – Punchy drums layered between dynamic synth programming
‘Cursed’ – Carefully built rhythms in a sincerely emotive bed of harmony
Previous from Stenny:
Stress Test EP (2019, Ilian Tape)
Consume IV EP (2016, Ilian Tape)
If you like this then check out:
Forest Drive West – Apparitions LP (2018, Livity Sound)
Zenker Brothers – Immersion LP (2015, Ilian Tape)
Stenny’s Upsurge LP is out now on Ilian Tape.