Perfectly Deep Weekly #64:
Le Fleur, STL, Benjamin Damage

STL - Illumination (2022)
Goldmin Music

Tags: #deeptechno #dubtechno

Out since August this year, this album has been getting more and more spins in my headphones ever since.

Berlin-based producer Stephan Laubner aka STL has released several albums and dozens of tracks over the years. Always quality and one of those artists whose every output makes it to my headsets or turntable. This album, which is a follow-up to an EP of the same name, is his best work so far.

As a producer, he hovers above conventional categorization. Something which the press release for this album describes quite well:

"Laubner has "no belonging to a specific musical movement, no proclaimed minimalism, no declared dub-techno. It is like he, as an artist, was floating all over the "scene" and only grabbing elements from one place to another, discretely, in order to convert and adapt them for his particular and exclusive use." I can subscribe to that.

'Stoner Dub' opens the album with a laid-back vibe, a subdued, underplayed kick drum, and lots of LFO-swerving dubby synth chords. A nice, minimal start to this record which gets a lovely amount of elbow space by running for almost 11 minutes. I am a sucker for tracks like this.

The title track 'Illumination' comes next. It is a lovely deep techno track that slowly builds up for even longer than the first track, 12 minutes. A lot of echo is added toward the end and lets the track ooze out nicely.

'Sunny Side Up' follows the tradition of long, slowly-progressing tracks with its 13-minute length. Super deep basslines, a kick-drum like a freight train, and classic, gritty dub techno chord samples lead this one to a soft yet mesmerizing crescendo. 'Ocean' follows suit; another 12-minute dub techno belter.

Offering noisy and intense little intermezzos, the album is sequenced by the occasional break-snippet, like 'Fast Fizzy' and 'Loop Goldmin,' which each serves as welcome breaks to the long grooves. 

'Trip Trap', at almost 15 minutes in length, is a lovely unconventional track. Mixing a plethora of curious flute sounds with a pounding kick drum, it's something I haven't heard before. It's techno, for sure, but very original.

Lastly, I want to highlight 'Kingston Sunbake Chill' and 'No Sun Today,' which wrap up the album nicely with laid-back vibes. The latter is practically a trip-hop track, which is rare these days.

The album comes out on Paris-based Goldmin Music, established in 2012 as a space devoted to various types of electronic music, often rather unconventional material.
 

Benjamin Damage - Obsidian (2015)
50WEAPONS

Tags: #experimentaltechno #deeptechno

One of my favorite albums from the most recent decade of techno, 'Obsidian' also happens to be the swan song for one of Berlin's most famous labels, 50Weapons, founded by two other Berlin-mainstay producers, Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary aka. the duo Modeselektor.

The album starts with a short title track, 'Obsidian,' a peculiar little intro snippet that reminds me of early British acid house. Running only a minute and a half, it serves mainly as a reminder of Damage's musical past (we'll get back to that) before getting into the meat of this dish, the slam-dunk minimal techno belter 'Cosmonaut.' A driving kick-drum, pounding bassline, and high-pace high-hats will surely get any Berlin-style techno follower's head bopping. Add a compelling piano riff inspired by dance music and uplifting house, and dance floors will be ripped wide open.

'Monolith' is a deep techno track driven by melancholic synth pads melody and wonderfully dubby chords. Just brilliant. 'Transmission' follows up on the dubbiness and adds a shuffly kick drum and echo-ridden stabs. Momentum rises, and it just gets better and better.

'Pulse Width' is what I call electro ambient; classical Detroit electro beat segments coupled with slowly evolving pads and ambient textures. A nice break from the energetic opening of the album and the beginning of a more experimental section. 'Shimmer' follows with shuffly beats, dubby organ chords, and playful melodies. 'Vostok 6' is next, mixing more acid house vibes with experimental polyrhythmic techno drums.

My highlight of the album is 'Parallax View,' a highly compressed deep techno cut with a hypnotic bassline, deep bass chords, and a no-fuss minimal techno quality.

As it becomes clear in the above highlights, Benjamin Damage, who is originally from Wales but currently resides in Berlin, is a techno musician with roots in numerous 90s dance music genres and an eye for what works on modern dance floors. His tracks nearly always have mesmerizing, driving rhythms and straightforward yet passionate melodies, and this album is no exception.

He made his debut in 2020 as a member of the duo Venom & Damage, whose track "Deeper" included UK garage influences and was released on Doc Daneeka's Ten Thousand Yen label.
Damage's debut album, "Heliosphere," was more inspired by Detroit techno musicians like Robert Hood, who later remixed the album's "Delirium Tremens." It had a more spacey, atmospheric vibe than his singles.

Since then, he has released on a myriad of notable labels, including Figure, ARTS, FeelMyBicep, HEX, and iconic techno imprints like Jeff Mill's AXIS and R&S Records.
 

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