Hamburg producer Martin Stimming is on a roll. From his work with Einmusik on the “Mesdames EP” to his split with Matthias Meyer, he’s quietly tricked out a string of excellent singles all summer. “Una Pena,” a tightly wound, live wire of a track that’s been popping up left and right in DJs’ sets, continues the winning streak. It’s impeccably produced with the utmost attention paid to both detail — a smattering of bells, triangles, claves and even drum rolls fill the song’s backdrop — and groove, which snaps, crackles and pops like a bowl of rice krispies. His sampling of Chilean folk songstress Violeta Parra’s “Arauco Tiene Una Pena,” is done just right: softly, sparingly, utilizing only the most beautiful part of the melody and turning its echoes into a rousing horn-meets-kazoo riff (think “Fizheuer Zieheuer”). What a song!
Equally delightful is Argy’s remix, which fills out the original with heavier poly-rhythms, rich synthesizer textures and a whole arsenal of reverb. Argy takes listeners on a mind-fuck percussive journey, layering all kinds of congas, wood blocks, screeches and crashing cymbals over subtle melodic flourishes and a heavy, hypnotic bass line. It’s the kind of driving, pulsing track I would picture overdubbing a descent into someone’s subconscious, with the echoes of Parra’s distorted voice leading the way deeper and deeper into the unknown. Considering the growing impatience for minimal among techno audiences — with criticisms of it becoming, if nothing else, a lifeless, boring mess of a genre — Stimming’s “Una Pena” is a gentle reminder that it can be more than self-conscious drum pitch noodling or hammering on the spooky effects pad; minimal techno can produce some streamlined, booty-bumping club workouts. (post by Jeremy Cohen)
Jeebus, this track is outstanding.
i really can’t get past the kazoo…
i first heard this in stimming’s resident advisor podcast, and i had to stop as soon as i heard that damn kazoo come in. its so…kitschy.
maybe its just me, but music is such a big part of my life and means enough to me that to ham it up and make some childish mockery, like with a kazoo, or that superpitcher track that had the slide whistle in it, i kinda get annoyed. don’t get me wrong – the production value is high, and it definitely sets a room on fire, but its just so cheesy that i can’t get over it. same goes for “trompeta” by sis and a few other big room / hands in the air tracks.
See, I can’t stand “Trompeta” because its too goddamn simple — there’s no invention to it whatsoever. It just sets up its bass/drum loop, and drops the samples and that’s it. This, I felt, had some creativity to how the samples were used and how the rhythms were created. I can’t argue about it being kitschy, because it totally is, but I don’t think its nearly as stagnant and lazy as “Trompeta.”
“trompeta” was dumb as fuck the first time i heard it, and it gets even dumber the more sheep dj’s play it. its such a soulless and uninspiring track.
if i were just getting in to techno today and i heard that, i’d be like “this is what the kids are all buzzing about? fuck this…i’m going back to nirvana.”
Agreed.
For What It Is Worth…
there’s so much going on in this track that i didn’t even notice the kazoo, really. very cool record for stimming and diynamic.
Stop trompeta hating. All of this overanalyzing and demanding ridiculous levels of intricacy will ultimately result in incredibly cerebral, dry, boring damce music…oh wait, we’re already there in some ways. Trompeta has a dope groove underpinning it that just WORKS. This Stimming track is also pretty valid though 😉
I don’t think that calling “Trompeta” out for the lazy piece of sample layering that it is is demanding “intricacy” in the slightest. In fact, “Trompeta” is pretty much the definition of “dry, boring dance music.”
Start beat. Start sample. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Dope groove or no (and it is a dope groove), that shit is just lazy and artless. I’m all for big, stupid stompers, but “Trompeta” is just a bit TOO stupid for my tastes.
i’ll take “trompeta” over dubfire’s version of “grindhouse” any time…
^agreed. i’m so done with the dubfire-style techno; that track reminds me of everything that was cool two years ago.
i love una pena. really a peak time track without being terribly obvious.
I don’t think that calling “Trompeta” out for the lazy piece of sample layering that it is is demanding “intricacy” in the slightest. In fact, “Trompeta” is pretty much the definition of “dry, boring dance music.”
cosigned.
cheeeerist! will everyone just shut the fuck up about trompeta for a couple of seconds?
ERIC STARTED IT!!!!
/me hangs head in shame, cries in cereal.
yeah i haven’t heard the trompeta track but this:
“music is such a big part of my life and means enough to me that to ham it up and make some childish mockery, like with a kazoo, or that superpitcher track that had the slide whistle in it, i kinda get annoyed”
is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever heard. how seriously do you have to take yourself to make a statement like this??? i can understand if you don’t think the kazoo is a cool or aesthetically pleasing sound but i can’t even begin to process how using the kazoo turns a song into a “childish mockery”??? do different instruments have different levels of maturity???
not to sound hostile or anything
…
Deep breath.
sorry guys, is this the place where we discuss Heater?
😀
@jeremy…
no hostility taken, so don’t sweat it.
lets put it this way…you know how, years ago, when punk rock went from being less about anti-government, “fuck the system,” and aggressive and with a message and turned in to a sped-up pop ballad about their new shoes and some girl that won’t look at them in class?
i kind of look at it like that.
its not so much that production value went down, but i think the whole essence of “i’m doing this for a reason” has gone out the window and has been replaced with “what silly track can make me a quick buck and get me flown around the world?”
secondly…
obviously growing up in detroit made me jaded and bitter. hah!
I actually quite like trompeta, in a sort of get me off and get me home sort of way. This track (Stimming) is good.
and eric – listen to my other tunes, especially to my album coming feb09 also on diynamic (sorry for the advertising) and i´m sure you gonna find the depth you miss on una pena. and btw – i just tried to put some humour in it, i also try to express other feelings like anger, sadness or loneliness. this is something i really miss on most of the techno stuff out there, its just cold without human feelings in it. thats the only thing i try to do…
oh – humor withour another “u”, ups
Thanks for stopping by, Stimming!
kazoo shmazoo, next you’re gonna hate on the cowbell??? lol there is a time and place for everything, and in this song EVERYTHING works perfectly! this track is just too fantastic for words…. nueva cancion chilena 40 years later!!
ps tank u 4 da lovely track, stimming!! xo
[…] Records] 02. Soundhack, “Soundkit EP” [Soundhack] 03. Sten, The Essence [Dial] 04. Stimming, “Una Pena” [Diynamic Music] 05. Shed, Shedding the Past [Ostgut Ton] 06. Melchior Productions Ltd., “Who […]
[…] “Una Pena (feat. Violeta Parra).” Diynamic. [see comments in link for lyrics, and here for a review of the […]