Perhaps one of the most inventive experimental electronic releases in the last 5 years. Autechre said in an interview that this album and J Dilla's donuts were the most inspiring electronic music they had heard lately. Someone described it to me as 'you know how Bogdan has mutated drum and bass in a kind of bedroom style? well Mr oizo has done the same thing but with disco' I'd say oizo has even taken it into more experimental territory than Bogdan has ever gone and for some people (like the above) reviewer that can be a bad thing.

I've only heard the Steak OST before this album and i was excited to hear Sebastien was doing a solo work after Steak.
Steak was imo the pefect retro throwback to cheesy 80s music, not necessarily GOOD music but since it was such a well done throback i couldnt help but love it.

Hearing this album i almost fell to the floor. It sounded as if Sebastien got a couple casios and sining over them would equate to some sort of mod electro pop sound. Unfortunately it comes off as a very cheesy, very european, and something that im personally shocked that its getting a lot of attention right now.

For hardcore Zoviet France collectors only.
The 8" is very collector worthy, not only is it on a clear lathe cut acetate vinyl. Its also square shaped! Pretty neat aesthetics and presentation unfortunately do not make up for the very lackluster ZF music contained herein. I am a huge fan of Zoviet France including the period after Robin Storey left. I was really excited about The Decriminalization of Country Music when it came out, so naturally i was very curious to check out the follow up, Shteirlel. Knowing it was an 8" i didn't expect long tracks. It starts off promising with interesting evolving sound textures and what sounds like muted Persian music soaked in digital effects. Quickly it degenerates into a ringing tone and does not evolve for the course of side 1. Putting on side 2 was a big disappointment because it is just a continuation of the track on side 1 which continues to be an non- evolving tone. Now i know a 10 minute length of time does make room for much, but choosing a drone with no progression was a bad choice for this format. After a 8 year wait i was expecting more, i should probably end this by saying, thank god for Reformed Faction!

this release is more minimalist and has less layers than any Haflter Trio release or Autechre release. Only recommended for fans of extremely minimalist dark ambient with very little progression.