In 1995 and 1996 it seemed that Steve Stoll was going to take Joey Beltram’s crown as the king of NY techno. There was never any rivalry or anything infantile like that, it was just interesting to hear another NY producer come through with a tough sound. Stoll continues to release material and a peruse of his discogs page shows a man who has produced a staggering amount of material with a minimal amount of self-congratulation or chest-beasting, a rare and beautiful thing in electronic dance music.

Once again I do not remember from where or whom I received this record but I felt it was worthy of some scribbling, so I scribbled a few lines about it. You can read them below if you so wish.

The Blunted Boy Wonder
This Is How We Do It
212/US/12
Steve Stoll returns under his Blunted Boy Wonder monicker for a four-track EP of fiercely Chicagoan, tracky tracks with just a smidgin of acid. There’s nothing in the way of titles, even on the release copy, just like the last Blunted Boy release. Stoll kicks things off on the title side with an extra-hard drum track punctuated with space invader bleeps, very sparse but the drum programming is pretty nifty.

The second track on this side is a less intense affair with old school Chicago beats, plenty of snare and hand claps and a modicum of acid. The flipside is populated by two similarly stripped down toons. This EP doesn’t exude the same warmth as the first Blunted Boy EP but it does contain some essential drum programming if tracks are your thing. CO