- It was a handful of fearsomely groovy dubstep-techno hybrids, released between 2007 and 2009, which first brought Anstam renown. Lars Stöwe went on to produce two albums for Modeselektor's 50 Weapons that expanded and refashioned his ideas into an eccentric sprawl, equal parts Berlin techno, '90s IDM and synth-prog grandiosity. You couldn't criticise the ambition, but you could criticise the results: flashes of brilliance were too often obscured by bloated structures and jarring shifts in tone. It's gratifying, then, to see Stöwe return to the dance floor 12-inch with The FragmentsA. Released on Dublin's All City, it comes under the new Anno Stamm alias.
The prevailing mood is dark and muck-caked, though the bright daubs of colour that Stöwe tends to favour are never far away. "I Still Have The Photographs" is cavernous but stumbling, with great slabs of distorted bass constantly nudging the beat. So far, so charcoal industrial techno—but the chords that appear in the breakdown are verging on hands-in-the-air material. "A Triangular Patch Of Lip" works within a similar template, but its whipcrack snares and claps are even more satisfying. "Purple Clouds" pairs signature Anstam breakbeats with spiralling melodies in the vein of Amber-era Autechre. The stylistic co-ordinates of this release will be familiar to Anstam fans, but the execution is more distilled and controlled than Stöwe has attempted in some time.
Tracklist01. I Still Have the Photographs
02. Purple Clouds
03. A Triangular Patch of Lip