Stefan Ringer - Meekside Freekside

  • Fun house music laced with fun vocals.
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  • When I spoke with Stefan Ringer for a Breaking Through feature a couple years ago, we talked about his tendency to ad-lib over his tracks. "I just felt like that's the most original way, just go ahead and say some shit," he said. On Meekside Freekside, the Atlanta producer's first release since 2016 and the first record on his new FWM Entertainment label, he continues to carve out a sound based around loose, hand-played synths, airy grooves and his own laidback vocals. On the Meekside (the 12-inch's A-side), Ringer delivers smooth, slow-burning tracks that spotlight his free-flowing musicianship. Both "Southside" and "Great Beat" pack a lot in. There are warm R&B-style progressions, twitchy solos and constantly morphing Minimoog basslines. He also works his own "uhs" and "yeahs" into the loose percussive environment and busts a playful, unexpected freestyle three minutes into "Great Beat." But the best cuts are on the Freakside. "I Wanna Be Bad" is a laidback electro jam with Ringer speaking the chorus over moody pads. On "Got Me 123," he chops up a diva vocal over a UK garage-style synth riff. You can hear him getting excited during the intro, saying "This is a good jam right here, let's do it!" Ringer even dusts off a falsetto on "FR Shawty," a sub-110-BPM mutant funk jam. Even at this early stage of his career, Ringer's best tracks could only be his.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Southside A2 Great Beat B1 Wanna Be Bad B2 Got Me 123 B3 FR Shawty
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