Everytime I discover a new genre of music, my inner voice would say "this is how music should be!" 10 minutes later I would then ask myself "but why not....?" and discover another new genre of music, only to contradict the earlier thought I have.
Stimming (Martin Stimming) did exactly that. For many years, as a snob in classical and progressive rock/metal music, complexity and intricacies in music have been what I enjoyed the most. Then came Stimming who opened the door for me to the world of Dance music, shoving off all the prejudices I previously had for the genre. In Stimming’s music, timbre/tone is the name of the game - as simple as his compositions maybe, the manipulation he has over the sonic qualities of the different elements in his tracks have been eye-opening.
Stimming showed me that dance music can be emotional with ups and downs, with creative, yet subtle tonal choices in one's sound (I looked up Stimming on the internet and discovered that he is largely a “hands on” electronic musician, where he rarely touches MIDI files and software synthesizers, but instead record all his raw elements through audio with a microphone and start his manipulation from there. This must at least partially explain why his sounds are so unique as compared to the other “mainstream” producers out there.)
Stimming convinced me that dance music can be, lack of a better term from my mediocre vocabulary, "not naive". His works also showed me, a snob (ex-snob?) in intricate and complex music, that sometimes, all you need is a well balanced, well placed groove and a beautiful melody for a track to sing right to one's soul.
You can learn more about Stimming here:
About The Curator - Oliver Cheung
Oliver Cheung is a musician based in Hong Kong. Although he has recently released his debut instrumental progressive rock EP (titled Remembrance), it is only a part of what he wanted to create, as he pursue his passion in music and art with the question, “what else is out there?”
