Valentin Stip War Telegram

Valentin Stip... a curious name, but what an artist. Recently while sifting through SoundCloud, I found Stip on Clown & Sunset's page. Earlier this year the 19-year-old Montreal native released an EP entitled Anytime Will Do. Believe me when I say that if you like Nicolas Jaar and his C&S compadres, it's a slippery slope to Stipville.

One of my favorite tracks by Valentin, which is actually not on this year's EP, is "War Telegram." Starting with a deliberate and understated, pulsating beat, Stip drops the first few lines of FDR's Infamy Speech ("Yesterday, December 7, 1941 "” a date which will live in infamy "” the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan") at about the 30 second mark. A progressive build up of Morse Code and piano flutter together until just after minute three where FDR's ominous voice returns, leading to an dominating bass line. Although the artist maintains this is an older track and not representative of his current sound, you can't argue with an awesome throwback involving FDR.

Reading about Stip and Clown & Sunset, it was said that the eclectic, suave style that they fully embody is "minimal genius for those of us who believe being horizontal beats being vertical pretty much every time." Dear sirs, I wholeheartedly concur.