Steand: No One Else – 2-Track EP – 2021
Genre: Electronica, Deep House, Sunny Summer Sound
Label Change
Steand is back, this time solo and not together with Andy Kulter, but with his 2-track EP „No One Else“, which is scoring with real ear-catcher qualities. I was surprised, however, that the new single was no longer released by Nora En Pure’s Purified Records, but by Songspire from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. For me, Steand, together with his production partner Andy Kulter, was actually established as a key member of Purified Records. Well, nothing lasts forever.
About the Artist
Steand – the pseudonym is made up of the first letters of Stephan and Andreas of his name – is based in Rheinland-Pfalz near Kaiserslautern in Germany and has been producing music since 2012. As a fan of „Above & Beyond,“ the masterminds from the UK’s Anjunabeat/Anjunadeep label, they and the label’s sound have left a lasting mark on Steand’s production style. His sound can be classified somewhere between deep house and progressive house.
But Steand clearly does more than just walking in the richly trodden deep house paths. Steand already convinced me with the previous EP „It’s Okay“ on Purified Records, because very few genre colleagues are able to shake the arrangements out of their sleeves as easily and effortlessly as he does.
No One Else – the track / original mx and jackarta remix
The new track „No One Else“ has an incredibly relaxed flow, very carefully Steand layers electronic sound levels with percussion, pearly repetitive keyboards and pounding beats and makes them work together organically.
Last but not least, there are also very distinctive vocal lines, which gives a very special flair to the original mix – as well as to the Jackarta remix, which is a bit stronger. The male vocals are slightly a bit smoky and snotty, very distinctive, actually contradicting the sunny floral carefree summer sound. But Steand interweaves these two layers very elegantly and forms a track with almost an incredibly high recognition value, which could definitely have the potential to become a summer hit.
The man behind the vocals
The fact that Steand lives his sound with skin and hair is also shown by the almost unbelievable story of the way the track „No One Else“ got its stylish vocals.
One fine day, Steand was walking around Berlin, somewhat lost in thought, when a breeze suddenly swept the vocals of an incredibly impressive street musician into his ears. Steand approached the musician and after a few cups of coffee and even more long conversations it was decided who would take over the vocals on „No One Else“.
So Steand also has pretty distinctive scouting qualities, and really „no one else“ could take over the track vocals in such a sustainable and shape-shaping way.
Sound quality
The „No One Else“ EP is only available in 16 bit / 44.1 kHz, but it is perfectly mixed with a well contoured, deep bass, an organically tempered treble and a very natural midrange.
Reference
Artist: Steand
Title: No One Else
Format: 2-Track EP
Label: SongSpire Records
Release Date: May 24, 2021
Genre: Electronica, Deep House
2 Tracks – 07m 12s
Available on Qobuz in CD Quality
16-bit / 44.1 kHz – stereo
My Test Equiment
Studio 1 (High End):
- 2 x System Audio SA Mantra 50 (front)
- 1x System Audio SA Mantra 10 AV (center)
- 2x System Audio SA Legend 5 (rear)
- 1 x System Audio Saxo 10 (subwoofer)
- 4 x Onkyo SKH-410 (B) (Dolby Atmos)
- Auralic Altair (audio streaming client with max. 32 bit / 384 kHz)
- NVIDIA Shield Pro with Plex, Kodi (max 192 kHz for Audio, Tidal (MQA Streaming Client)
- AppleTV 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Amazon Cube 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos (restricted), HDR, Dolby Vision
- Panasonic DP-UB9004 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Oppo UDP-203 (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Yamaha CX-A5100 (Preamp) 4K, Dolby Atmos, Hi-res
- Yamaha MX-A5000 (Power Amp)
- Sony KD-55A1 (TV) 4K OLED, HDR, Dolby Vision