- Dresden's Uncanny Valley isn't the most straightforward of house labels, and their techno offshoot, Shtum, is shaping up to be just as freewheeling. The cartoonish gears and gauges on the artwork for Shtum 001, a three-tracker from Monomood, hit the nail on the head: this label paints the very picture of machine music, though they've got no problem with their artists coloring outside the lines.
Shtum's second release comes from Stephan Striesen, a fellow Dresdner who's been releasing playfully pitch-black techno these last few years as Kryptic Universe. Vigorous and melody-averse, his music isn't so far removed from the likes of Milton Bradley. But critically, Shtum 002 doesn't soundtrack the apocalypse: ashen as the EP gets, you sense there's a sunrise on the horizon. A sizeable kick anchors the wonderfully scatterbrained "A Light in the Box," where sonic asides—jazzily dissonant piano work, acid stabs, even horror-film strings—cut a winding path through the usual techno thump. "Signals" begins a skittering journey that XDB finishes on his insidiously funky remix. "Dark Sky" is Shtum 002's bleakest moment, but propelled by its high BPMs and supple low-end, we reach the track's warmer second half unscathed. It all leads up to "Critters Funk," whose enthusiastic percussion signals the daybreak—or at least the demented second wind—you sensed was coming all along.
TracklistA1 A Light In The Box
A2 Signals
A3 Signals (XDB Remix)
B1 Dark Sky
B2 Critters Funk