Steve Stoll - Windows On The World mp3

"Windows on the world" was Steve Stoll's sixth studio album, or you can call it eighth if you count in the albums recorded as Acid Farm and The Operator during the mid nineties. To my knowledge, it was the last time Steve delivered his well known dry, linear and minimal sound, but unfortunately this time around, what has sounded well modulated and conceived before, came across as boring and hackneyed. Most tracks revolve around uninteresting loops, samey sequences go on for five minutes and take you or the dance floor nowhere.
Basically, Steve Stoll attempts once again taking a stab at the style which made him renowned and respectable, but where before his music had intricacy despite being stripped, it had charm regardless of the scarsity of layers used in his tunes, this one goes nowhere. Plain and simple, no better and easier way to describe it than call the album boring. See, if you are going to make an album like this one, you better pay very close attention to detail, patterns and ryhthmical structures, something Steve was an unbeaten master of on his earlier releases. "Windows on the world" is, to my great disappointment, loaded with pretty run of the mills loops and hooks painfully being drilled into your head.
However, not to come across like a peevish critic, there are moments of pure bliss as well. Take Bounce, for example, which is quite probably my favorite track on the album. Monotonous and bleak, sound wise, but Steve manipulates this vocal hook with such skill and ease, he creates a dance floor killer with basically only a deep bass line, some nervous background effects and a strongly emphasized hook. Hypnosis beyond belief! Slingshot is also a nice number, starting out rather minimal but then slowly adding and arranging layers and letting them engage in mutual play. Nothing overly original, just a fine track in his typical style, and one that would sit nicely along the more upbeat tracks on "Damn analog technology".
Dubs On Ponys and Menace (Society Mix) try and break the straight up techno pattern; the first is a downtempo number with a smooth melodic touch, while the latter is a rework of the second track, with basically the same hook and percussion consisting of heavily broken beats.
Bazooka Joe and Jumpin' Off are two pumping techno bangers for the club, both are very on point and upbeat, with virtually no development and climaxes, but very determined drive. Both must be amazing when heard through a proper sound system in an underground club.
The last two tracks are not that impressive either. Go Long is one of those boring minimal tracks which seriously go on for too long with two interacting sounds which come across as somebody banging two plastic water pipes against each other, while I Erupt has a cool hip hop vocal snippet going "I erupt", but it's completely ruined by this corny electro house sample going "funky funky", so despite some potential getting displayed, my verdict is that the execution is sub par.
Ok now, as one can gather from my review, I am not that impressed by Steve Stoll's work this time around. His previous albums had enough juice and ideas to walk you through them in one sit down, "Windows on the world" is in my opinion qiute the opposite. On the strenght of a few really great and proper techno tunes, Steve delivers an album which one can hardly listen through to with a smile on his face. When this album peaks, it really does shine, when it gives you that ear lobe irritation, you know it's time to push that stop button. The magic of his previous albums is gone: this is just too formulaic and feeble in my opinion. You can pick virtually any CD release with the Steve Stoll tag on it, and you've got a winner. But still, to convince you how it wasn't all bad for good ol' Steve anno 2001, go check out his Gaiden project he did with the ex-drummer of Front 242, the album is called "Walking on wires". This one is recommended only when you've completely absorbed everything this man's published before. Personally, I am a pretty big fan of this man's style and sound, but this one was a huge let down. I have the same feelings about "Windows on the world" as I had when listening to Joey Beltram's "The rising sun", another album of a former musical hero of mine, which I found to be a big dud.