Das SPEZIAL – Notes From the Under World (SPEZIAL, SPEZIAL04)

Pick of the week: Das SPEZIAL – Notes From the Under World (SPEZIAL, SPEZIAL04)

The mysterious Das SPEZIAL project has made a huge impact in a very short space of time with its first three EPs. The fourth is his best yet and arrives just as the artist is all set to blow up.

Big DJ support has come in from major players like Ben Sims, DJ Bone, Anastasia Kristensen and Maceo Plex amongst many others, with press outlets all over the world also lavishing praise on the hard to categorise but hugely effective music this artist makes. Next to his own studio skills he also enlists Steve Dubs, The Chemical Brothers’s engineer, plus Peace Division’s Justin Drake, and together they have come correct once again here.

Fantastic opener ‘The Wizard of ID’ shows another side to this artist, with a stripped back and deep rolling track filled with melancholy, barking dog, whirring machines and jangling metal samples. The exquisite ‘The Unconventional & The Brooding’ is then a minimal track with meaningful synths layered up in sweeping fashion. Glassy keys and crunchy claps add further detail to this most intriguing offering.

‘Dancing With Death’ is a brilliantly raw analogue workout, with catchy drum loops and metallic hits making for a marching groove that’s embellished with industrial sounds and drones. The inventive styles of Das SPEZIAL continue on spaced out minimal beauty ‘An Alchemical Disturbance’, which has jazzy hi hats and sci-fi effects all melting your mind in Villalobos style. Last of all, this most adventurous and ambitious trip closes out with the masterfully loose drums and off grid hits, trumpet notes and warped synths of ‘A Gothic Vision Of Man’.

Despite being less than a year old, Das SPEZIAL is the hottest new name in dance music and is constantly re-writing his own rulebook.

Tracklist: Das SPEZIAL – Notes From the Under World (SPEZIAL, SPEZIAL04)

01. The Wizard of ID
02. The Unconventional & The Brooding 3. Dancing With Death
04. An Alchemical Disturbance
05. A Gothic Vision Of Man

Buy release: Digital
Listen on: Spotify