Voice Stealer

Voice Stealer is one of many bylines used by eclectic dance music producer Carl A. Finlow, whose slick, sophisticated fusions of a range of dance music styles have appeared variously on the Soma, 20:20 Vision, Subvert, Klang, Phono, and SSR labels. Following on the heals of bold, bouncy hybrids of electro and new wave such as Le Car's "Automatic" and I-F's "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass," Finlow's 1998 debut as Voice Stealer, The All-Electric House, was one of the more interesting, well-crafted album-length amalgams of those styles to appear. Fusing new wave's and electro's two strongest attributes -- cool, detached melodic and vocal accompaniment and thin, rubbery drumbox funk -- The All-Electric House escaped cliche partially by the novelty of its combination, and partially because Finlow was the one doing the combining. Although much of his work to date has clustered around standard, breakbeat, and progressive house -- he helped form the popular underground label 20:20 Vision, has released records through 20:20 as Random Factor and Urban Farmers, and is the imprint's in-house producer -- the fastest growing segment of Finlow's solo discography is in the vein of his Voice Stealer material, and includes collaborative releases with Ralph Lawson (the "Droid Funk" EP) and Daz Quayle (under the name Scarletron, primarily for Electron Industries), as well as the four-track Il.ek.tro EP, released under his own name by Klang Elektronik in mid-1998. [See Also: Carl Finlow] ~ Sean Cooper