Artist
milk sugar
Why we feature this artist Milk & Sugar: a house record with a long second life Stay Around (For This) is a useful way into Milk & Sugar because its history moves at the pace of club music rather than a single release announcement. A record can arrive, find th…
Start with the music
Tracks to explore
The artist, in context
The story of milk sugar
Why we feature this artist
Milk & Sugar: a house record with a long second life
Stay Around (For This) is a useful way into Milk & Sugar because its history moves at the pace of club music rather than a single release announcement. A record can arrive, find the right DJ, return in another mix and reach a much larger audience several years later.
The partnership and the label
Milk & Sugar began as the German production partnership of Mike Milk and Steven Sugar, with releases under that name from 1997. The studio work developed alongside their own label, making production, remixing and the practical circulation of records part of the same activity.
Let the Sun Shine became one of the defining early successes. Its familiar melodic source is rebuilt around a house rhythm, with enough room for the vocal to retain its open, expansive character.
Stay Around
The label’s original account dates the first vinyl release of Stay Around to 2003, when attention was also gathering around Let the Sun Shine. Later DJ support and a new remix campaign gave the record another life in the middle of the decade, with Ayak supplying the vocal.
The history suits the music. A short, effective vocal figure and a confident groove can remain useful long after a first release window. New versions change the pressure or the shape of the introduction while keeping the part that made the record work.
A continuing recording name
The later catalogue includes Hey (Nah Neh Nah), drawing on the Vaya Con Dios song, and a wide range of vocal house collaborations. In 2022, the project announced that Michael Kronenberger would continue the Milk & Sugar name after Steffen Harning left the partnership.
The recordings are best approached through their grooves and their version histories. Stay Around demonstrates both: a clear musical idea, then several opportunities for that idea to find the right surroundings.
Essential releases
Let the Sun Shine
A defining example of the project’s song-led house approach.
Stay Around (For This)
The original vinyl recording receives a later remix-led revival.
Hey (Nah Neh Nah)
The Vaya Con Dios collaboration brings another familiar melody into a new rhythmic setting.