[Something]

2009 may go down as the year of the private press, but STL (aka Stefan Laubner of Bad Harzburg) has traveled this hand-paved road for six years with his Something imprint, issuing scuffed-up house and techno tracks, field recording collages, and numerous combinations thereof. The best of these come off as soft-spoken bedroom curios, but garner enthusiastic support as potent groove tracks. Juggling a prolific release schedule and bankable quality control, STL’s steadily amassed a loyal fan base. Farming out the occasional release to Perlon can’t have hurt either, but it’s a new alliance with Smallville, bringing with it the overwhelmingly embraced “Silent State” EP, that’s really raised STL’s profile this year. Yet his in-house press is as busy as ever. Arriving in June, “The Unseen Voyage” is familiar, steadfast STL, a sign perhaps that neither “Silent State” nor the increased attention have disrupted the Something agenda. Don’t mistake it for a retread, though. “Space Warriors,” the EP’s opener and longest track, manages to feel unmistakably like STL while sounding nothing like anything he’s done before. The track layers a shrill ascending squeal — sounding like the Something logo’s UFO soaring into the heavens — over a frenzied keyboard jam that similarly presses us forward, but keeps us on the ground. The shortcut description, though, is to call this STL’s “Mouth To Mouth” basement tape, a feverish cycle of swelling build and celebratory release, all captured on Super-8.

The B-side switches to weathered, dusty house, following a line of Theo Parrish-derived, plaintive deepness that’s regularly turned up on Something and seems to be getting more and more raw. “Walk With Me” works a rough sketch of a keyboard line, a brief spoken sample, a patter of hand drumming and, of course, a muffled kick drum heartbeat. A different kind of “late night” feel than we usually talk about at LWE, it’s eloquently emotive, but retains a smoky funk — ideal for solitary headphones listening. Ditto the aptly titled “Me Myself And I,” which lays haunting Carnival of Souls organ over a rhythm of metallic taps, smothered crashes and, yes, more of that dull kick drum throb. There are echoes of “My Home,” my favorite from 2007’s Night Grooves, but this is a more jagged and altogether eerier track. Add to all this a two-and-a-half minute slice of musique concrète and the usual bundle of locked-groove miniatures, and you get the impression that Laubner must have cabinets bursting with this stuff. Indeed, while reviewing this one, another new EP popped up on the Something site. Not to worry, though; Laubner will find plenty of listeners happy to help him clean house.