I first came across The Von Duesz while attending Feta De La Musique in Berlin this past summer, they were playing outside in a vacant lot with the help of wurst stands and mini bars. It was a great turnout that evening, as the sun was setting they jumped on stage to withstand headliner of the show. From attending shows earlier that day for the festival, I didn’t know quite what to expect, I felt like I had already been around the world in music up until that moment. They lined up under the canopy with drums and a gong alongside keyboards and synths, as well as dedicating one side of the stage to a pile of instruments including a sax, shakers, a mic and cowbell.
The trio started off loud and weird – kind of what was expected. They were having fun and their energy quickly fed into the crowd as their first few tracks engulfed the curious atmosphere. It didn’t seem like my taste at first but, hell, I was just stoked to be seeing a new band and I’m pretty sure a good portion of the crowd felt the same. However, once that oddity passed through, I adapted to their rhythm and it started turning to be quite an influential performance. It was almost as if they converted you to their sound with a just a few minutes of presentation; and it felt amazing as they continued with more jazzy, energetic tracks:
The group describes themselves as electric, dementia with delayed cowbell, tanzkraut (translating to “dancing herbâ€), and “youâ€; which, from this personal experience, all seem to be right on point. Once the sun set, they knew they had your attention and muscles tender, now they took you further; transforming to a deeper house with the darkening of the sky, all while keeping an array of instruments boot-side. It was a perfect setting, with just enough room to admire them from the back of the crowd atop of makeshift rooftops or to kick off your shoes and dance around up front. The rest of the night felt like a mystery, they performed and left all so quickly, leaving you traces of their sound continually bouncing in your head hours after close.
Originating in 2009 in the northeastern city of Bielefeld, Germany, they seem to be a tight knit group, confidentially experimenting with organic ideas abroad. Their debut release was just over a year ago which has been followed by four other releases up until this past month. The latest release, titled Garant, brings us an entire 10-track set that’s congregated a mass of eerily mysterious yet transforming deep house. Letting their minds out of the cage yet again, The Von Duesz share their unusual mix of new work that I see casting together listeners for pure pleasure rather than a conformation to a familiar sound. The experience you’ll get from listening to them is quite as uncanny as their live performance was. Take a listen to the preview of the album below, and make sure to check out Beatport for a full track listing and to purchase.
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/experimedia/the-von-duesz-garant-album[/soundcloud]
The Von Duesz – Garant (Album Preview)