Shantel & The Bucovina Club Orkestar

Shantel's rather breezy trip-hop productions suffer little considering their stated pop inclinations. Though born in Frankfurt, Stefan Hantel was introduced to clubbing and the music life while studying graphic design in Paris. Back in his hometown he opened the Lissania club, one of the few bastions of earthy grooves in a country obsessed with techno. A noted port-of-call for similar minds like Kruder & Dorfmeister and Howie B., the club's prosperity led to Shantel's first album, Club Guerilla. Released locally by Infracomm, the album was given a 1997 American reissue by Shadow Records, along with Auto-Jumps and Remixes (a collection of EPs from his own Essay label). Shantel signed to Studio !K7 for his second full LP, Higher than the Funk. It earned high praise around the world, even hitting Spin magazine's end-of-the-year charts. Great Delay was issued in spring 2001. (John Bush - AMG)