Interview: Stimming talks ‘Keys Don’t Match’ remixes

German electronic producer Stimming has built a reputation on emotive harmonies and boundary-pushing sounds, from his early Diynamic releases to his more recent output on Stimming Recordings.

His latest ‘Friedrich’ remix EP landed on July 25th, featuring seven fresh takes on ‘Keys Don’t Match’, selected from over 350 crowdsourced submissions. Originally voiced by Dominique Fricot, the track finds new life through the ears of Stimming’s own community.

We caught up with him to talk remixes, inspiration, and everything in between:

It’s been a few months since the release of ‘Friedrich’, how has life been for you since then?

Life’s been busy! I played my first solo concert shows with visuals and a couple of “classic” club gigs, but in general my family eats up most of my time – which is not a bad thing, but from time to time I wish I was able to focus more on my music, then my youngest does something funny and everything’s fine again (for ten minutes haha).

Was there any moment during the making of the album that really stuck with you?

I had plenty of beautiful moments, as every track’s theme resonates deep within. But the one that really stands out to me is ‘Lucky Me’, as it’s connected to a potentially dangerous health issue that luckily was found early enough and seems to be under control right now.

I think I really managed to put this strange mixture of relief and stress into the music – which I’m quite happy about.

You just released a new remix pack for the project, which came together from crowdsourced submissions, what made you open the project up like that?

I never gave away stems (or sounds in general) openly from a track of mine during my eighteen year career, but when one of my co-workers came up with the idea I immediately loved it. From my own experience I knew this track was a goldmine for a remixer – strong vocals, interesting harmonic possibilities, and medium tempo.

How difficult was it to choose the winners? Did you find yourself going back and forth?

I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that more than 350 people would come back with a remix, when there was 80 after a few days I already thought: wow, that’s gonna be difficult to choose.

But they kept coming in and I realised I have to listen full time and sort all these. In the end there was 50 tracks which made it into a second list. In this list, honestly, around 30 were ready to release, simply by the quality and interesting approach.

The next step was to sort the genres and structure the desired outcome, I wanted one more techno-leaning one, one house take, one experimental, and so on.

The remixes bring a new perspective to ‘Keys Don’t Match’ – why that track over the others?

Latteo made a very high quality and playful take on the original. There was another one from Coiro that was in the same league and genre. Decisions like these were the hardest part, as in the end my decision wasn’t just about the quality but more a question of taste and strategy. This was a painful part as I can totally relate to the producer’s feelings of not being chosen because of a strategic choice.

Nevertheless, this speaks volumes about the overall level and I’m still grateful for all the colleagues – professional or not – that spent their time doing something beautiful!

Did any of the remixers surprise you with the approach they took?

Oh yes, plenty! there was a remix from a trombone player that created a harmonic change that was miles more complicated than my own. Or a tiny minimal ambient version from a girl named Nadine (I don’t know anymore about her than this) from Switzerland that was sweet and short like a little expensive praline. Or a guy sending from a yandex.ru email account who sent a dark ambient triphop halftime version with a quarter-time snare drum so loud and clear that I still remember it. Or this gentleman called Kevin Simpson Mastering who sent a classic soulful house track that was also very, very good! Or a lady called Lisa Deng who made a very cool edgy remix. Or Mqqndrwan that made a proper drum & bass remix – and so on, it really was a bouquet of flowers!

What else is on the horizon for Stimming following this release?

I have plenty of tracks and ideas started over the past months, but need to find a time-span that allows me to dive deep enough to properly finish them all, and of course I’m already thinking about the third album from this leftfield music of mine.

And creatively, where are you finding your energy right now?

During the past months I stocked up in synths and possibilities – this turned out to be not the right approach, so the task for the next weeks will be to sell many of these again and focus on a stringent set of gear. I figured, more than three mono synths and three drum machines plus some effects and a poly isn’t really necessary.

Is there anything else you want to share before we go?

In a plane, the armrests belong to the one in the middle seat. Apart from that: take care!

Stimming – Keys Don’t Match (Remixes) is out now on Stimming Recordings.

40 Questions: Ramon Tapia