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Lucy

Albums
Alphabets Heaven
AREA C
Aidan Baker
Black Devil Disco Club
Cluster
Dakota Suite & Errante
Davis & Machinefabriek
Deaf Center
Fancy Mike
FM3
Forest Swords
Frivolous
Hakobune
Kyo Ichinose
Juv
Deniz Kurtel
Sven Laux
Lucy
Stephan Mathieu
Joel Mull
Near The Parenthesis
Netherworld
nunu
Fabio Orsi
Penalune
Pleq
port-royal
Rainbow Arabia
Todd Reynolds
Roedelius
Rosenqvist and Scott
Steffi
Sublamp
SubtractiveLAD
Tapage

Compilations
Back and 4th
Future Disco Volume 4
SMM: Context
Tasogare: Live in Tokyo

EPs
Aardvarck & Kubus
Corrugated Tunnel
Debilos
Djamel
Tolga Fidan
Flowers and Sea Creatures
Anne Garner
Mike Jedlicka / Cloudburst
Mo 2 Meaux-2
Proximity One: Remixes
Darren Rice
Sepalcure
Sharma + Krause
Josh T
Talvihorros
Francesco Tristano
Widesky
Dez Williams

Steffi: Yours & Mine
Ostgut Ton

What a splendid offering this is from Steffi Doms and the Ostgut Ton stable. Stylistically speaking, Steffi's debut artist album, Yours & Mine, sounds like the work of someone who initially apprenticed with Lawrence before striking out on her own into clubland and then checked into the studio to lay down the road-tested material. Both producers favour elegance and serenity in their tracks, with one key difference the clubbier edge Steffi brings to her tracks in contrast to the pastoral splendour of Lawrence's. Doms is no neophyte, as material by her appeared on Ostgut Ton prior to the new album, including “24 Hours” (featured on Tama Sumo's Panorama Bar mix) and “My Room” (included on the Fünf compilation). Her first full album it may well be, but it's nevertheless fully-formed.

The music's deep house strain is intimated by the dreamy opening track, “Lilo,” though subtly, with the focus equally split between rhythmic propulsion and synthetic colour. The cut captures beautifully the euphonious and mellifluous qualities of Steffi's sound, especially when a soaring synth melody drapes itself across the tune's locomotive pitter-patter. The more club-ready “Piem” hits harder with a heavy, bass-throbbing pulse and house swing that goes ever more deep as the cut develops. Handclaps, hi-hats, and synth stabs add to the feverish flow in a luscious dancefloor cut that's equally earthy and classy.

That deep house dimension is suggested by the instrumental tracks but comes fully to the fore during the two vocal cuts, in part because of Virginia Högl's vocal presence. Her delivery is in keeping with Steffi's: classy and anything but over-the-top, and Högl proves to be the perfect addition to Steffi's mix (the two collaborated previously on the Reasons EP for Underground Quality, and Högl also has worked with figures such as Steve Bug and Abe Duque). On “Yours,” Högl's sexy vocal complements deliciously the song's funky swing and chunky synth chords, resulting in one of the album's most alluring tracks. Her hushed vocal later nudges “You Own My Mind” into a soulful zone that Steffi's more than happy to follow with her own subdued array of sounds.

March 2011