STEVE STOLL : BIOGRAPHY

Steve Stoll sits quietly in a mid town cafe amongst the hustle of bustle of mid week Manhatten life as officer workers hurry by accompanied by ever present trails of steam, as the hot air spat out of there mouths makes contact with the cold November chill of New York. Across the street a fraught cab driver bellows a string of profanities at a passing courier who has clipped the side of his already battered yellow cab. Steve Stoll takes a sip of coffee and ponders over an idea. ‘You know what’ he says to no one in particular. ‘In a thousand years time they’ll probably find a 303 in some excavation’. Welcome to the crazy world of native New Yorker Steve Stoll. An ex army techno aficionado with more than a passing interest in all things ancient. Never one to carry the ‘correct’ credentials for instant access to the techno hall of fame, Stoll is something of an idiosyncratic outsider. With a preference for humanists flourishes in a world of cold machine music and spells in the gulf recording and photographing the detonation of Iraqi missiles for fun ( ‘A whole group of us had the same hobby...we formed a kind of club’) Stoll is far from the level headed, distant lover of all things Roland we have come to expect from our techno heroes.

Steve orders a second coffee with all the poise and over the top aggression expected of someone who has lived in New York for most of their lives. Take a slice through Steve Stoll and you’d probably be faced with a cross section consisting of half a pound of deli specialities, a few ounces of pretzels and a couple of pounds of prime time Cagney and Lacey. You see Steve Stoll and New York are interchangeable. You can take Steve Stoll out of New York but you can’t take the New York out of Steve Stoll as the saying goes. Well something like that anyway. If ever there’s an argument for environment shaping the music, well Steve Stoll’s it. ‘I think it’s important to take into consideration my surroundings’ Steve states. ‘I live in mid-town Manhattan. When I pop out for some cigarettes the first thing I come across is a bunch of prostitutes, it’s a bit of a creepy area’. In a similar way that the grandeous , spatial, almost classical sounds of Detroit reflect a once great city now ravaged by a social blight and hanging on by the skin of it’s teeth, the sound of Stoll is a clear response to the claustrophobic, frantic, skyscraper heavy surrounds of New York. Like I said as New York as yellow cabs and take away pizza.

Always expect the unexpected with Steve Stoll. Never one to follow the conventional root, Stoll has preferred a path of most resistance in coming to where he eventually finds himself today. Born in Staten Island New York, Stoll found himself in the middle of a warzone in 1991 after joining the US army. Primarily involved in satellite tracking Stoll non the less ended up stationed in the Gulf with the whiz of overhead missiles soundtracking his life in the early part of 91. Add to this a stint as in house percussionist with Chicago based industrial label Wax Trax and you end up with what can only be described as a far from average scholarship. His affection for technology and his percussive talents where, with hindsight, the perfect qualities with which to launch a career in the techno field. With growing confidence and knowledge, Stoll first emerged via Richie Hawtin’s Probe label under the guise of Datacloud. Hooked on the sound and with a catalogue of ideas circling in his head, Stoll went on to record under a variety of aliases including, Hemisphere with Pete Namlook, Storm for D-Jax and Ausgang for fellow New Yorker Damon Wild’s label Synewave. Having established his own Proper Records in order to ‘capture the New York vibe’ Stoll has now found his way to London's NovaMute .Yet the sound of Stoll has maintained an unnerving consistency since he first emerged.

The hectic New York environment and fevered imagination of Stoll have combined to create slices of music far removed from the conventional confines of the techno world. With a strong techno base, Stoll has concocted an esoteric sound, alchemising individual hybrids that are as distinctive as his finger prints. ‘The more simplistic and pure the sound is' ponders Stoll, ‘ the more direct effect you can attain’. Sharing an ethos with fellow New Yorker’s Joey Beltram and Damon Wild, Stoll is a clear believer in the more is less school of thought preferring to lock and work a groove to it’s maximum potential. Terming his philosophy ‘minimalist modulation’ captures and ensnares his listener by gently tampering with the balance of a track as it progresses towards it’s conclusion. ‘Repetition is the basis for many of my songs if you listen carefully’ he states. ‘You can hear subtle changes. A song looses it’s direction if there’s too much variation in it. I prefer to build a groove.’

Yet the nuances and particulars of the Stoll sound are as much a response to his environment and vision as to the equipment on which he creates his pieces. Preferring the individuality and subtleties of analogue and with a penchant for creating new sound directories courtesy of long forgotten pieces of equipment, Steve Stoll is as far removed from the modernist, techno equipment buff as is humanly possible. Obviously preferring the gentle hum of the synth rather than the organic growl of the guitar, Stoll has found a different set of equipment boundaries in which to cultivate his sound. Amassing an armoury of vintage keyboards and analogue synths, Stoll still maintains the often disregarded human element in machine music. ‘I like to have my hands on the desk when I am mixing as opposed to clicking on a mouse. Even if there’s a fuck- up I keep it in, it adds a human quality.’ Stoll is clear in his vision, one in which the vital ingredient is that of the soul of the human being interpreted by the machine rather than the other way round.

Stoll has etched himself a clear identity. An innovator and machine alchemist, he has managed to unlock hidden agendas within previously static grooves and sounds. Never afraid to experiment within the tight confines of a particular sound, Stoll has done what many fail to achieve, to create tracks of startling individuality that , on the surface share common traits with those around them , yet on closer inspection have as much individuality as the hairs on Stoll's head. And so in March of 1998 Stoll emerges with an album entitled The Blunted Boy Wonder for London based NovaMute . Chillingly stark and minimal ,Stoll ploughs a furrow of hard hitting beats and subtly changing soundscapes more at home on a crowded dancefloor than a suburban front room. Never afraid of the funk, Stoll has, in his own way, created an album of pure dancefloor material as worthy of the tab of New York dance music as any disco classic before him. His vision does not falter, with a head down enthusiasm Stoll has crafted a delightful album that takes the techno vision to further extremes. With live plans pencilled in for 1998 a slice of New York will soon be heading over the Atlantic.

Steve Stoll's debut album for NovaMute is unashamed in it’s form. Flaunting it’s pure techno tones and rhythms, the album could stand proud against offerings from the techno glitteratti. Yet calling your album 'The Blunted Boy Wonder’, I mean, what the fuck's going on there? It seems that Steve Stoll likes to create false expectations, with a title like that one would be forgiven for expecting a laid back hip hop extravaganza paying homage to all thing green and smokeable. Yet to assume the album possesses any affinity to the influence of the bud would be a mistake, for Stoll has etched out an urgent, frenetic album of techno purity that is aimed more at the dancefloor than the ashtray. If I dare to be so crass, this is an album of smokin’ tunes rather than smoking tracks.

Yet Stoll has never played by the rule book. Spells in the army, a stint in the gulf and the job of percussionist for industrial label WaxTrax are not the usual techno credentials. Yet with his shaven head and frenetic intense outpouring of ideas Steve Stoll is every inch the techno svengali he is rapidly becoming. Born and raised in New York, the music of Stoll is a reflection of the city in which he grew up. With it’s penchant for disco culture and the recent leanings of artists from the five boroughs such as Joey Beltram and Damon Wild towards a hard edged minimal style, the cultural surrounds of New York have certainly shaped Stoll.

Previously recording under his own moniker for a number of labels including his own Proper Records, Stoll has recently handed over the exclusive rights to Nova Mute for the Stoll brand name. Recording this debut LP for the label in his home studio in New York, Stoll has not strayed from his trademark style of hard edged techno tracks aimed squarely at the dancefloor. Stoll has crafted a collection of tracks that subtly mutate from simple rhythm patterns into gigantic walls of polyrhythmic fury laced with enough funk to get a dancefloor of geriatrics breakdancing, yet it is the simplicity and economy of Stoll's efforts that amaze. Stoll is able to direct a track and create a sense of urgency with the minimal of fuss and effort. Forget the wall of sound when you can have as much effect with a single brick.

Opening with the gentle electro meandering of ‘Drop Zone’, the album rapidly picks up pace and moves into more familiar territories. The tribal single, ‘Model T’ makes way for the majestic ‘Reciproheat’ with it’s deep, pulsating heart, this is the sound of a dark and hazy warehouse at 3am. Slowly moving towards an inevitable conclusion of aural bliss guided by subtle acid murmurs ‘ Reciproheat’ is the soundtrack to late nights and pulstaing dancefloors. Tracks such as ‘Mosquito’ pay homage to the ghost of disco past with it’s chattering drum patterns and infectious disco led melody while the deep aquatic rumblings of ‘Slipstream’ sound like techno played on a keyboard made of syrup. With tracks such as ‘One to Nothing’ which sounds like a group of deranged steel workers tapping out unconnected rhythms on pieces of steel piping, the album proudly presents itself as a direct and uncluttered tech album that refuses to hide behind the banner of home listening. Dance motherfucker, dance.