[Diynamic]

Martin Stimming doesn’t sound anything like Villalobos or Ben Klock. None of the records in his increasingly label-diverse discography evoke frozen tundras, k-holes or the post-industrial cathedral of Berghain on Sunday morning. His distinctively unmechanized house grooves are neither a vintage call to jack nor a dive into the depths. The longer I’ve sat on Reflections, Stimming’s debut full-length, the more I’ve realized what an awesome anomaly this young producer’s music is in 2009: his sound decidedly skirts the zeitgeist, but the undeniable quality and sensitivity of his handiwork renders him a perennial must-listen in a dance music scene moving more and more away from the organic tech-house that earns him his living.

Like Loco Dice on last year’s 7 Dunham Place or Martyn on his recent Great Lengths, Reflections is the product of an artist fully realizing the sound he’d been after for quite some time, nailing it like he’s never nailed it before. As RA’s Todd Burns delineated recently, Reflections is at least conceptually personal, an overtly nostalgic release from a producer whose signature sound usually evokes forlorn moments despite its dance floor oomph. Stimming certainly uses the extra minutes he’s afforded here to flesh out his studio prowess. But he also crafts something surprisingly cohesive, a youthful and bittersweet testament to long nights and the rainy days that follow.

Stimming might be wearing his heart on his sleeve more than most in house music right now, but he also brings some of the stranger and most deftly twisted rhythmic sound design in the business to these eleven cuts. On tracks like “Fruits of Life,” “Silver Surfer,” and “Tel Aviv Calling,” Stimming takes classic 4/4 drum programming and swaps in his own non-standard — but taut — samples. 909 hi-hats become clipping shakers and pitch-modulating, marching band bass booms where you’d expect just an efficient kick. There’s an almost 3-D tactility here: if you can’t imagine a drumstick making rippling impact or feel the wind rushing out from beneath these samples, then Stimming wants no part in them. The result is still the hefty bottom-end of club music but more casual and incidental, like it could have been conceived in a café or shaded backyard with friends over drinks. And given the emotional maximalism herein, such approachable production provides a welcome stability.

Yet Reflections works best when it’s at its seemingly least cool. “Sunday Morning” kicks off with that oh-so-recognizable Stimming shuffle. The track’s second half, taking a cue from the peak-time murk of Argy’s rework of Stimming’s 2008 hit “Una Pena,” goes big with an extra-ripping conclusion of overlaid, extra-loud strings and electro vamps. It’s a ballsy way to open your record, but for a guy who thought Rasmus Faber’s orchestral orgy-of-sentimentality remix of Studio Apartment’s “I’m In Love” was the highlight of 2008, its not a huge or unwelcome surprise. “The Loneliness” places schmaltzy blues vocals over ominous bass and gives the hook to a harmonica. It’s the album’s love-or-hate moment, but if you’re like me, you’ll be belting the vocals and drop-kicking disgruntled chin-scratchers by the finish. And even said chin-scratchers won’t be able to deny “The Kiss,” the clear highlight of this collection. Spinning unbridled romance out of deep schaffeling bells and clouds of razor synths, Stimming may have recorded the best Kompakt single not released by Kompakt this year. Like so much of this full-length, a DJ could create many types of moments with this track — peak-time bomb, mournful sunrise, sweaty vamp — but know that each time the crowd felt touched. Cheesy, idiosyncratic, or not, Stimming makes genuine music, and that outstretched hand takes his distinctive blend a great distance.