Despite joking with his friends that his music alias RVDS could be an abbreviation for a number of things such as “Rich Violet Detroit Sound” or “Rude Visions Destroys Science”, it’s relatively easy to see where producer Richard von Der Schulenburg got his inspiration from. Based in Hamburg, Schulenburg has been a resident DJ at the city’s finest club – the Golden Pudel – for oven seven years and has tightly woven himself, alongside other luminaries, into the influential house scene in Hamburg. In the time since commencing his residency at Pudel, Schulenberg started his own label ‘It’s in 2008, roping in talents such as Felix Kubin and A Different Jimi, among a small selection of others, but mainly using it as an outlet for his own fragile ideas and creations. Fellow Hamburg resident and Dial head honcho Lawrence describes him as “an excellent producer playing the keys of deepness all night and day,” a comment which has since seen them team up with fellow Dial member Christian Naujoks for a musical project titled Skywalking. Despite none of their recordings being online yet, the project has been mentioned in interviews as a Krautrock-Jazz-Space band that acts as a ‘musical conversation’ between all three artists. In more recent times Schulenburg released his second full length album Moments and also found his way onto the popular Acid Test series alongside Joey Anderson, having remixed Tin Man’s brilliant “Finger Paint”. With RVDS being such an integral part of the Golden Pudel family and the Hamburg scene, it’s no surprise that his newest release finds him debuting on another of the city’s main attractions; the record shop and label Smallville.
Titled Moon On Milky Way, the release features three tracks that take Schulenburg’s soft touched house approach to even gentler levels. This is immediately observable with opening track “Monday Rain”, which prolongs a simple acid tinged melody for the duration of the track with minor alterations. All this against a background of barely audible rain patter, and it’s very easy to describe the track as therapeutic even. Title track “Moon On Milky Way” and “Winter Moonness” follow a similar approach but on a more traditional four by four beat and are the type of tracks where you can press play, gird yourself in for seven minutes and magically zone out from their effervescent but simplistic appeal. A milestone in the sweetest of analogue house music, dedicated to the moon.
Stream: RVDS – Moon On Milky Way (Smallville Records)
