There is no Zen koan about the sound of wet hands clapping, but if there were, it would answered by Sascha Funke's soggy take on Martin Stimming's slowburner "The Kiss." Originally the album closer on Stimming's Reflections, the track undergoes a transformation in Funke's hands from a rather uninspired tech house exercise into a ten minute aquatic odyssey. By soaking the claps in thick processing and sending Stimming's hook back to finishing school for lessons in reverb, Funke adds like +15 to dexterity and +10 to charisma. He's not afraid to let a loop solo long enough to create a rapport with the listener, a ballsy move in tech-house—a genre that's so concerned with pacing.
Comparable praise cannot be directed toward the B-side take of "The Kiss" by Swiss mixologist Raphael Ripperton. Ripperton squirts in the requisite kick drum, busybody strings, pitch-shifted voice sample and flatulent bass. The result is competently sequenced but barely whelming. It's not really an improvement on Stimming's original, which at least exhibits some Hamburg reserve and nuanced tensions.
You can see where Ripperton went wrong: Stimming's source document track has all the organic charm of a belt sander, but the cure for that malady isn't a dose of overcooked maximalism. Dr. Funke, a maestro whose instruments always seem coated in something special, correctly diagnosed that the track as just needed a trip to the shore for some bracing sea air. It returns with a little color in its cheeks and a little spring in its step.
Published /
Mon, 18 May 2009
Buy Stimming - The Kiss Remixes at
Tracklist: Stimming - The Kiss Remixes
 A The Kiss (Sascha Funke Remix)
B The Kiss (Ripperton Remix) | 
