Estimulo (real name Andreas Stolzenberg) started listening to music in the age of 4, when he
recorded music from the radio (mostly RIAS Berlin, FM station
of the US-Army in Berlin), cutting them, producing his own
radio shows containing his favorite tunes and announcing them.
In the year of 1978, the musical taste was still quite undefined
and broad, but the music by black r&b/disco bands like "Chic" and "Kool and the
Gang" drew his attention to them.
Later on, in 1983, he got presented his first vinyl 7" single by
his grandmother. It was "The Haunted House of Rock" by Whodini.
Since then, Estimulo started to record everything from the
radio which sounded electronic and groovy. A big influence was
the NY and LA electro-funk as well as black music in general.
But there was still no special radio show for this kind of music,
so it took until 1988 when he first heard the sounds of
a radio show called "The Big Beat on Fridays", that aired on
friday night and was pumping all the hot import shit, from disco
to early house music, soul and funk, rap.
He couldn't get enough of sample house tracks from the UK like MARRS "Pump up the volume",
Coldcut "Doctorin' The House", Bomb the Bass "Beat Dis", etc
which meanwhile also aired on normal radio during the daytime, becoming
major pop hits in Germany as well as in the UK.
Desperately Estimulo started searching for any "house" record
he could get a hold of, but he wasn't very lucky in this time.
So the radio with shows like "Big Beat", run by the visionary
Monika Dietl, as well as Marusha's show on the GDR station "DT 64"
remained the main source for the new sounds.
As techno exploded in Berlin after the wall came down, the sound
was getting harder and harder. Though he made some excursions into
hard techno, gabber, etc. he always felt unsatisfied with the
lack of soul in this kind of music, so he got focussed on US (mostly deep) House and Detroit Techno
and started buying records, which was possible because meanwhile
some specialist record shops for this kind of music had
opened in Berlin. Every single cent of rare pocket money was spent for
music, music and only music.
In 1990, Estimulo set up his own little FM pirate station to broadcast
electronic beats of all kinds to the neighborhood. The station
had a range of about 1 kilometer, so it was mostly his friends who
tuned in. Still he got busted after just a few months and the
police took all his equipment. Being a programmer and electronics tinkerer, he
didn't take long to replace it and went on broadcasting for
some years.
The years from 1994 on were spent with studying at the university
(computer engineering) and buying and listening to music most
of the time, wandering thru the realms of all house genres, techno, drum & bass, breakbeat,
jungle, hardcore techno, industrial, dub reggae, digital dub, ambient, lounge, trip hop, basically
everything electronic except for a short excursion to punk.
First tracks were produced around 1990 on a very simple Amiga500
setup with a very simple program which could basically only
play drums and some noises.
Later in 1993, the first tracks with the famous "Fasttracker" on
the PC were created.
Always being more a DJ and selector & collector than a musician, though he
was playing flute and guitar for quite a long period in his childhood,
he started to produce mixes and publish them on his personal
webpage at the university. There was almost no response at all.
In 2001, Estimulo met SpIn through filesharing client soulseek, and
they had the idea of setting up a professional page to release
their mixes.
Mixomat became a success from the start, getting highest acknowledgement
in the deepest of deep house circles for the quality of the mixes and
the selection of timeless, sensual and passionate music.
Apart from being one of Mixomat Recordings' directors, Estimulo is currently working in the development of internet database applications and doing honorary work for several - mostly leftist intellectual - internet magazines.
To be continued...
Estimulo All-Time Top Ten (Deep House)
01. Mr. Fingers - Can You Feel It (produced by Larry Heard)
02. CeCe Rogers - Someday (produced by Marshall Jefferson)
03. Sterling Void - It's All Right (produced by Marshall Jefferson)
04. Turntable Orchestra - You're gonna miss me (produced by Hippie Torales & Paul Scott)
05. Phase II - Reachin' (produced by Blaze)
06. Logic - The Warning (produced by Wayne Gardiner)
07. Underground Solution - Luv Dancin' (produced by Roger Sanchez)
08. Jungle Wonz - The Jungle (produced by Marshall Jefferson)
09. William S - I'll Never Let You Go (produced by William S and Sweet D)
10. Larry Heard - Praise
Estimulo All-Time Top Ten (general)
01. Kraftwerk - Trans Europa Express / Metall auf Metall / Abzug
02. Africa Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock
03. LFO - LFO
04. Phuture - Acid Trax
05. Manuel Göttsching - E2:E4
06. Vincent Montana - Heavy Vibes
07. First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder
08. Giorgio Moroder - The Chase
09. Paul Hardcastle - Rainforest
10. Frankie Knuckles feat. Jamie Principle - Baby Wants To Ride
10.5. Prince Jammy - Jammin' For Survival
Estimulo Current Charts
01. Igor O. Vlasov - Sandy Cove (Mixomat White)
02. Igor O. Vlasov - Somewhere (Mixomat White)
03. Henrik Schwarz - Feel Da Vibe (Mood Music)
04. Rivera Rotation - Deep Inside (Lounge Records)
05. Oliver Hacke - Subject Carrier (Album) (Trapez)
06. Immer.Chic - Untitled (Mixomat White)
07. Trentemoller - Late Night Cab Driving
08. We Stand In Crowds - Tribute To The Burrells (NYC)
09. Shur-I-Kan - Searchin' (Fingers Remix) (Freerange)
10. John Dahlbäck - Passion In Her Eyes (Affected Music)
Download "Ole Style Deepness", an old school deep house set by Estimulo focussing on tracks of the 89-93 era.
Playlist for "Ole Style Deepness" is available on request by mail: estimulo@gmx.de