- Slick club tracks from Uruguay's next wave.
- Stonem is part of a new generation of Uruguayan DJs and producers, like Santiago Uribe and Michelle, to emerge from Montevideo's lively house and techno scene. This generation was turned onto electronic music during nights at Phonotheque, the city's best club and the crew's meeting point, workplace and living room. Phonotheque's label now hosts Stonem's debut release, a record kept well and truly in-house.
"Todo O Nada," as you might expect, has made it into the bags of all the usual suspects (there's a video of Z@p playing it at Hoppetosse). I first heard it early one morning at Phonotheque, during a set by one of the club's original founders and long-term residents, Christian. On the one hand, it encapsulates the sound of Phonotheque, dark and punchy with a classic tech house influence. But it also manages to stand out. The percussion is sparse and robotic, the hi-hats and snares so crisp that on a big system they cut right through you. The growling bassline and bleepy melody combine to make the sort of tense, eerie loop you could live inside. The other tracks are also solid, even if they don't hit the spot in the same way. "Antes De Empezar" comes closest, drawing from the same kind of sounds to make something less seductive than the A1, but more peak-time appropriate. Stonem has managed to get a lot right on his first EP.
TracklistA1 Antes De Empezar
A2 Todo O Nada
B1 Alunizaje
B2 Surcando