Sluta Leta.
Nuggets of gold from the mire.
Sluta Leta on Operation Good Times, a multi-stage sifting process and music as an endless work in progress.
Sluta Leta · Ramon & Andi
For Sluta Leta, a new album doesn’t begin with a special occasion. Andi Pieper and Ramon Bauer produce continually, sift things out, throw material back into the pot and sometimes return to it later. Talking about Operation Good Times, they describe that shared process: Luise Nehl’s voice on Corridor of Darkness, an intro with a history reaching back to 1995, and the dramatic arc of an album that can have an A-side and a B-side even in digital form.
Sluta Leta is a Vienna and Berlin based electronic project of Andi Pieper and Ramon Bauer. Operation Good Times was released on 23 October 2026 by Schematic Music Company and contains 16 pieces. We received their joint answers on 2 November 2026.
Produce, sift, keep working
What musical idea got Operation Good Times started for you?
Generally, we produce without stopping, so there’s no need for a special occasion to get something “started”. We have regular studio sessions in which we continually generate and work on new material. Through a multi-stage sifting process, the nuggets of gold are filtered out of the resulting mire, polished and shaped. The rest is thrown back into the pot and might be worked on next time. Over time, of course, a sediment of completely unusable bits also builds up; that gets moved to the archive and never listened to again. The raw material often determines the idea of a piece, but the starting points can be very different: a good sample (rarely), quick recordings from our collection of gear, a played bass riff, work within a specific genre (jazz, techno, funk, chanson, etc.), or whatever else lands on the desk. The whole thing is always part of a continuity with the previous releases, too.
A voice gives it direction
Luise Nehl sings on Corridor of Darkness. How did the piece develop through working with her?
The piece was already quite far along, with placeholder vocals that were waiting for further work. We then invited Luise Nehl—who had also contributed vocals to Past in Reverse on the previous album—to have a go at the existing vocal tracks, and it worked very well straight away. That gave the piece the direction it had still been missing.
It’s an endless work in progress, with a snapshot from time to time.
A history reaching back to 1995
Prélude Gas also opens Drift Dekoder and now returns as Version 2026. What appealed to you about revisiting this piece?
Here, too, we’re carrying that continuity with us: back in 1995, on Fan Club, we included an adaptation of Mason Williams’ Classical Gas as an intro. That is carried forward here through the subsequent releases. It’s an endless work in progress, with a snapshot from time to time.
Together, even at a distance
How do you pass a new idea to each other so the other person can make something of their own out of it?
Over the internet. We’ve developed workflows that make the necessary exchange possible without being physically present together. But there’s nothing unusual about it: we use the standard off-the-shelf video and audio tools and deliberately keep the technology simple.
A-side, B-side, intermezzo
The album contains 16 pieces. How did you decide on their order to make people want to stay with it from beginning to end?
Like the final titles, that is only decided towards the end of production. Generally, a dramatic arc runs through the sequence, and there’s also a division into an A-side and a B-side, regardless of the release medium. The production process also often leaves shorter, less fully developed fragments behind. Those are then sprinkled over it as intermezzos if the dramatic arc calls for them.
Sluta Leta
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. Heike Nehl · SCENE:ID colour treatment · Joachim Brohm · Artwork: Heike Nehl · Heidi Specker · Artwork: Heike Nehl