Teufelswerk

'teufelswerk' - the german for 'devil's work' is hell's masterpiece, a towering double album follow up to 2004's 'ny muscle' and his breakthrough 1998 opus 'munich machine'. across 16 tracks divided into two themes, 'night' and 'day', hell weaves an intoxicating spell. 'night' sees hell in more familiar nocturnal surroundings as detroit and chicago grooves battle the ghosts of kraftwerk, neu! and daf with notable vocal contributions from bryan ferry and p diddy. on the 'day' half we find celestial vocals cascading around acoustic guitar figures as a motorik rhythm propels it ever skywards, sharing space, spiritually at least, with pink floyd, hawkwind and can. when hell launched his international deejay gigolos empire in 1996, his rebellious creative streak gave the label a punk diy aesthetic. an open-ended techno imprint with a natural pop sensibility, gigolo immediately stood out and attracted like-minded artists such as fischerspooner, vitalic, miss kittin and the hacker, tiga, even the pet shop boys, jeff mills and dopplereffekt. here, on 'teufelswerk' hell, with his old friend peter kruder produced the 'day' half. this is hell's enchanting interpretation of kosmische musik. new single 'the angst' and 'the angst pt 2' join tracks 'germania', 'hell's kitchen' and 'i prefer women to men anyway' unravel with sinuous grace, culminating in a cosmic reading of hawkwind's 'silver machine'. the 'night' album is raw mix of chicago and detroit influences combined with hell's swashbuckling approach to electronics and ultimately for the dance floor. ten-minute jams such as 'wonderland' and 'electronic germany' zoom and thrust with menacing intent. hell hooked up once more with hip-hop superstar p diddy for freestyle jack - track and future single, 'the dj' whilst 'bodyfarm', a sinister cut co-produced by frankfurt's antony rother, was inspired by the unsettling images of taryn simon. however, the most pleasant, eyebrow-raising moment here is the collaboration with bryan ferry on 'u can dance'. this serpentine disco burner is a smouldering highlight of 'teufelswerk'.