Mr. Stan: “8wr” – A different electronic approach
There’s no denying that EDM, or Electronic Dance Music, has stormed the music industry and given artists of several different genres a reason to become famous or sell records, or both. From the artists that go out of their way to sing EDM to the artists that jump on EDM tracks to widen their audience, this genre has become an extremely accessible cash cow that many artists and producers are quick to milk, as it were. However, with any genre of music, there will always be four main categories: Those that dominate commercially, those that disappoint commercially, those that do neither, and those that just do their own thing regardless of anything else. Enter Mr. Stan.
The producer is flying under the radar right now, but it almost feels like he’s trying to create a quasi-concept EP on “8wr” distancing himself from the fodder. There’s no denying that most of these songs are beautifully serviceable and but they’re not made for the mainstream charts.
They have distinguishing factors which do not include the usual Top40 synth sounds, the euphoric drops and buildups, or the lusciously coy female vocals. “8wr” sounds more like a futuristic video game soundtrack than an Avicii club anthem.
Overall, listening to the 4 tracks on “8wr” there is no denying that Mr. Stan is content with just being creative doing what he does, as he sounds perfectly in his comfort zone. There isn’t anything wrong with that, on the contrary it sets him apart from the pack.
At times he sounds like his morphing into ambient sounds, as on “Eo4”, and then he switches to a banging beat on “asSASSination of music” before going electro on “THE GAME of everything”, and shifting up a gear into the realms of House on the title track “8wr”.
This new EP shows us yet another side of EDM—at first, you might even say a simpler one. The record’s tempos are, for the most part, slower, and its beats are straighter. You might think that’s a bad sign for the genre; But Mr. Stan’s take on four-to-the-floor is not like other producers’ approach to the same cadence.
His sense of swing is diverse as accents flick to and fro with abandon. Crucially, with his beats less busy, it has leaves Mr. Stan more room to focus on spine-tinglingly rich tunings and timbres. And that’s where “8wr” really stands out: To sink into it, preferably on good headphones or better speakers, is to be immersed in playful, slippery frequencies far more vivid than you’ll find almost anywhere else.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – BANDCAMP
