- Any deep house producer who puts away the old-school samples, fires up their machines and looks to the cosmos gets respect from me. Some Japanese artists nailed this interstellar sound 15 years ago, but save for a handful of names—So Inagawa comes to mind—you won't find many doing it in today's scene, where weepy pads and chords dominate. Enter Achim Maerz, a low-key but experienced producer from Hamburg. Considering he's from a city famous for streamlined, sample-heavy beats (Smallville and Dial, two labels instrumental to this aesthetic, were both founded there), you'd expect Maerz to release more of the same. But judging by the Experiments EP, he spends more time counting stars than loading samples into an MPC.
The EP's four tunes are melody-rich and calm. Bubbling one minute, hissing the next, the analogue sounds are the kind you hear on early deep house records, but Maerz never leaves them untreated for too long, constantly adding and subtracting elements while keeping the groove steady. The beats are straight and sharp, which puts all the emphasis on the whirs, bleeps and fizzles above. "III" is particularly satisfying, thanks to an evolving chime pattern and an electro-style bassline. Those after something spicier could put the needle on "VI," which also nods to electro with its chords while packing a more active low-end. I'm not sure if Maerz has heard of the acclaimed Japanese producer Suzukiski, but for listeners in 2017 he might be the next best thing.
TracklistA1 III
A2 IV
B1 V
B2 VI