Stop What You’re Doing

Friedrichshain-based label Stil Vor Talent has been an output for des gennes comme Format: B (who released Vivian Wheeler on SVT), Sascha Braemer and Luetzenkirchen. And although I’m familiar with some a little amount of releases on this label, I never realized the entity of this collective until a kind stranger at night gave me an EP called Arrow And Bow by Oliver Koletzki & Fran a couple of weeks ago. I told the boy: “Danke! Das ist ganz nett, I will check out the label. And entschuldigung, mein Deutsch ist ziemlich schlecht.”. He said, “Kein Problem! You will learn in a matter of zime, erlebt zhe music!” And I did; I listened to the release first thing in the morning and I was blown away. I have been going through their other releases, bumping into a couple of familiar ones but discovered so much more. Then I read a bit about them here and there. It left me with a feeling that told me I’ve been living under a massive bedrock called my lovely little corner of the digital world for the last couple of months. Yes, it is a very sad world indeed.

Founded in the winter of 2005 by Oliver Koletzki himself, Stil Vor Talent has been on fire, heavy blaze, crazy inferno, providing shelter to a variety of electronic music artists, in Koletzki’s own words everything from minimal techno to squeaky house to pop music. As long as Koletzi likes it, he will have them. A great philosophy behind a great music label. It’s more about having an unique trademark and fun than anything else at Stil Vor Talent; over the time they have collected a roster of about ten names. Instead of signing more artists, their aim is to focus on their current assemblage. Which is something I positively welcome – Koletzki and his symphonious association are incredibly talented and their future is looking glittery.

[wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3640368/01-oliver_koletzki_and_fran-arrow_and_bow__marek_hemmann_remix.mp3″ text=”OLIVER KOLETZKI & FRAN – ARROW AND BOW (MAREK HEMMAN REMIX)” dl=”0″]

The EP the kind stranger handed me over, is a collaboration between Oliver Koletzki and his crystal voiced girlfriend Fran. The result is fresh pop music with a taste of techno. How do we call this? Tech-pop? We all hate labels so let’s just not label this at all, I’m sorry for bringing up the thought. The video to the original is linked at the beginning of this entry and is a track off their upcoming album Lovestoned. The EP holds a Channel X dub, a remix by Koletzki himself and above remix by Marek Hemman, an absolute diamond.

[wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3640368/01-aka_aka_and_umami-ich_and_du.mp3″ text=”AKA AKA & UMAMI – ICH & DU (ORIGINAL MIX)” dl=”0″]

Another recent release (the 48th) that I’d like you to hear is crafted by AKA AKA, a Berliner DJ-duo that teamed up with Umami for one of the tracks off their EP called Ich & Du: the track they did with Umami being the self-titled track off the EP. Umami delivered the vocals to this slick loop with seductive percussion and spiced it up to groovy knees-up. The track has a video too. Moral of the story? Stil Vor Talent. All day. Everyday. Big up to this kind stranger! ?

Soraya Brouwer

LONDON VIA AMSTERDAM - Soundcloud & Instagram