following the blistering inaugural release from talker comes the second release on the standards & practices imprint from label co-founder jonathan -stave- krohn, who returns with 5 tracks of dark, visceral electronic music for the discerning listener. -black hills- and -tasc us- kick off the proceedings in fine style – pummeling drums underpinning harsh blasts of noise and bleak, greyscale atmospherics, while -in/human- and -b5- on the flip take a different approach – 2 tracks not aimed at the dancefloor, but both retaining that cold, claustrophobic feel that characterizes much of stave s work. the brooding and sinister -stave 17- closes the ep, moving into exciting new territory with an intensely cinematic sound.

standards & practices returns with a fulminant 6 track compilation.

the first release on standards & practices since the widely acclaimed remixes of talker’s “battle standards” ep (by surgeon / regis / broken english club) from late last year, “live from frankfurter strasse” represents the first recorded collaborative effort from jonathan krohn (stave, also 1/2 of talker) and jan grebenstein (downwards, horo).
standard edition on black vinyl.

after unanimous praise for talker’s “battle standards” and play from the likes of ancient methods, headless horseman, sunil sharpe, mumdance, shifted and many others, standards & practices returns with a powerful set of remixes from iconic uk techno artists surgeon, regis, and broken english club.

after unanimous praise for talker’s “battle standards” and play from the likes of ancient methods, headless horseman, sunil sharpe, mumdance, shifted and many others, standards & practices returns with a powerful set of remixes from iconic uk techno artists surgeon, regis, and broken english club.

karl meier, ken meier and jon krohn, aka stave, are launching a label called standards & practices.
the three us artists, who share chicago roots, have a pretty straightforward mission in mind for standards & practices: “to provide a platform for releases by both talker and stave, as well as for material by other like-minded artists and collaborators.” talker is the downwards-affiliated duo of karl meier—a longtime techno dj, now based in berlin, who took part in ra’s playing favourites series last year—and krohn, formerly of the experimental rock group male, who’s also been putting out his own brand of abstract, industrialized electronic music as stave for around four years. ken meier, a new york-based graphic designer, partner at common name and dj—and karl’s brother—takes care of art and design for the label.
standards & practices’ opening move is a talker 12-inch, battle standards, the duo’s third full release and first since their 2014 album for downwards. a three-track ep built with material from their new live set and “aimed squarely at the dance floor,” it includes a new version of “my favorite colour is gold,” from 2015’s the immortal eye compilation cd. it’s due out in late july. next will be black hills, a five-track ep from stave that’s expected in september.
along with the soon-to-launch label, the meier brothers recently rebooted their fear of music podcast with some new mixes, including two from karl.