Jonathan Krohn, a Chicago-based electronic music artist and graphic designer who is operating under Stave alias. Moreover, together with Karl Meier he is working on the industrial techno project Talker. Their self-titled debut LP album has been recently released on the critically acclaimed Downwards imprint. Johnathan is also a part of experimental rock group Male, which is now defunct. Krohn solo works were released on Repitch Recordings, Flingco Sound System and Trensmat. Judging from the facts mentioned above it is clear that in the last couple of years Krohn firmly rooted his musical concepts into the worldwide electronic music ‘soil’ and is about to grow and expand even more. His recent live performances in New York’s Bunker (with Regis), Berlin’s Contort or various Brussels’ underground venues are good proof of this.

Stave’s production combines a great palette of influences mostly taken from the 1980s/1990s Chicago-related punk/rock scene. Steve Albini (Big Black and Shellac) is another source of inspiration for him. This is how Krohn interprets Albini’s music: “Albini’s got that real metal on metal, tinny guitar sound, low end bass and tuned drums… to me that sounded like… techno.” [1] Probably this is why later Krohn chosen to investigate the harsh and metallic world of sound, which in the end was transformed into his stellar, purely analog electronic music with a strong feel of identity. Repetitive machinery rhythms, grunge sound textures, glitchy percussions and stone-cold effects are the fundamentals of Stave’s turbulent recordings.