Pedestrian/Maribou State/James A
Geisha
Friday November 21, 2014
It’s been a long wait for fans of Hamburg’s Martin Stimming, and finally the German prodigy made the long trip to our fair city and put on a live show worthy of his reputation.
Habitat have been on a roll of late, celebrating their 10th birthday last week with John Digweed, and Sasha a couple weeks before that. As well as recently touring Hernan Cattaneo, Stacey Pullen and Henry Saiz. They’ve been bringing the goods, but for discerning lovers of cutting edge house, there was none perhaps more anticipated than this show from Stimming.
A true electronic musician, he’s a producer of the highest calibre, pushing boundaries, never using samples more than once. Since bursting onto the scene around 2008 with his breakthrough track Una Pena, he has established himself as a formidable and prolific producer of deep, minimal house and organic, tech grooves. His unique style is in part responsible for bringing the warmth, melody and emotion back to the minimal genre, which for a time was at risk of becoming too stark, sterile and, well, boring.
It was a huge night in Perth for fans of house, with not only Stimming in town, but also Seth Troxler over at Villa and The Bakery was hosting rising stars Pedestrian and Maribou State – who played to a small crowd earlier in the night. A great executive decision was made to get Pedestrian and Maribou State over to play a set at Geisha after Stimming!
Leading up to Stimming’s 1.30 appearance, the ever-reliable James A played a wicked warm up set, dropping the massive DJ Koze remix of Moderat’s Bad Kingdom – a track which is doing the rounds at the moment and never fails to get a big reaction with its huge bass drop.
Stimming doesn’t DJ. He plays live with a formidable array of equipment, synths, samplers, software and his prized Moog Voyager that he really knows how to put to good use.
The enigmatic German drew upon his extensive catalogue of original material and remixes. Starting off with a bit of a softer, slower groove, fans would have recognised much of his finest work mixed into this two hour set of goodness.
Such as the delicate beats and synth stabs of his remix of HVOB’s Lion featuring the enchanting vocals of Anna Müller, or the loping mid-tempo beat of Melodica which filled the room. The throbbing groove would occasionally erupt with dramatic synth strings or a tastefully chosen vocal.
The crowd had swelled, the dance floor was packed and there was a really intense vibe in the room; Stimming had the crowd moving in a trance to his hypnotic, snappy beats.
A dramatic climax to his set was his incredible remix of Yoko Duo’s Close These Curtains. The haunting vocal of this gorgeous track echoed over the breakdown, and the crowd hollered their appreciation, as the funky bassline dropped.
The track wound to a halt to rapturous applause, with people taken aback but the sheer beauty of what they had witnessed. To take us out with one more, he finished fittingly around 3.30am with the stunning, orchestral number November Morning.
After the majesty and sheer emotion of Stimming’s live set, Pedestrian and Maribou State’s seemed, for want of a better description, a bit pedestrian. It’s not really a criticism of them, more a compliment of Stimming’s talent that he made them sound a bit simplistic.
It was still a massive bonus set from the two producers who took turns playing a great selection of upfront beats, big, bassy breaks and house, along with some of their own productions.
Dropping Daphni’s Yes I Know lifted the level. Maribou State’s track featuring Pedestrian Rush Don’t Run sounded great, and they also dropped the big Koze mix of Bad Kingdom.
They finished off the night on a party tip, with some big, classic tunes, which seemed to go down well with most of the crowd, including Daft Punk’s timeless Da Funk, Crystal Waters’ Gypsy Woman and Basement Jaxx’s Red Alert. It was a great opportunity for everyone to bust loose on the dance floor and finish the night on a high, after a stellar performance from a unique and talented artist.
ALFRED GORMAN
