Over the last eleven years and more than 30 releases the Zurich-based Spezialmaterial label have manage to cultivate both critical acclaim and the praise of their independent peers, though they’ve perhaps maintained a lower profile when compared to obvious contemporaries such as Warp and !K7. As this tastefully packaged collection’s title hints, ‘SM4′ offers up the fourth in an ongoing series of compilations scanning across the Spezialmaterial label roster, with 22 tracks gathered together across two unmixed discs. What’s particularly apparent upon first listening is the sheer diversity of styles being explored across Spezialmaterial’s artist roster, and indeed I have to confess that apart from Intricate I wasn’t previously acquainted with any of the other names featured here. If there’s one general aesthetic trend to observed however, the first disc mainly focuses upon the incorporation of acoustic instrumentation, leaving the more extrovert technocentric rhythms to the second disc. Macuso Vikovsky’s jaunty ‘Back From Central Asia’ opens proceedings with an eerie chanson-fuelled tale of scam artist female houseguests that sees purred vocals merging with clattering live percussion and surf-meets-flamenco guitar, evoking a curious sense of Balkan surf-exotica, before Person’s ‘Heart Of Bass Part 1′ takes things out on a cold electro glide through phased and cut-up female vocals that sees murmuring bass synths and industrial-edged 808 beats intertwining with dark, buzzing electronics in a manner that sits closer to the likes of Nitzer Ebb’s throbbing EBM template.
Elsewhere, Gleiter’s ‘Drumboy & Bassboy’ easily manages to provide one of this collection’s most hilarious moments as a jacking backdrop of flickering electro b-boy snares and undulating sub-bass powers beneath one of the most deliberately inept (and indecipherable) Beastie Boys meets Biz Markie vocals you’re likely to hear, before Hard Coming Love’s ‘Starship’ sets the controls for swelling Mercury Rev meets ‘Screamadelica’-era Primal Scream-esque psyche-rock majesty. As for the more floor-centric beats, Intricate’s ‘Suffix’ builds buzzing momentum around a swarm of bass synths and snapping electro-tinged rhythms, only to suddenly send the entire track spinning back and folding up into itself in a series of jagged arcs in what’s easily one of the more furious outings I’ve heard from the aforementioned artist in a while, before Superdefekt’s sinister ’8Beat’ takes things off amidst an ominous whir of phased synths and dark bass swells, glassy-sounding broken techno rhythms maintaining a sharp-focus snap against the more gaseous atmospheric elements. Pretty much impeccable quality stuff that manages to chart an extremely broad range of stylistic territory, ‘SM4′ easily qualifies as one of the best label compilations I’ve heard in a long time, let alone this year. Move fast, though – things are limited to a run of just 500 CD copies, with a download version also available.
Chris Downton
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