Largely inspired by Frank Ocean, Drake, James Blake, and Michael Jackson, up-and-coming (and somewhat mysterious) Berlin-based artist DUZT‘s debut single “Space Cowboy” has received quite a bit of attention in the across the EU, as the single recently shot up to #14 on the Music Week Urban Club Chart — and was recently remixed by Marra Kesh whose work has landed in the top 20 of the International DJ Top 100 Charts. (I should also add that Kesh has worked with artists at Universal Music, Warner Brothers and Sony and as a member of renowned German production duo, Interzoo.)
Sonically and production-wise, “Space Cowboy” reminds me a bit of Big Data and Come With Us-era The Chemical Brothers, as DUZT’s sound possesses elements of hip-hop, electronica, R&B and pop as big, room rocking 808 beats are paired with dense layers of pulsing synths, bloops and bleeps, DUZT’s seductively cooed falsetto and incredibly taut and infectious hooks. And as a result, the song swaggers and struts with a b-boy style while revealing that this artist has an uncanny ability to craft a slickly produced, radio-friendly club banger with tight hook.
The official video was produced by Berlin-based film director and photographer Lennart Brede, and it draws on Brede’s work in art, film, commercials, music and fashion while exploring complex human emotions and issues of identity — but in an outlandish way by following a badass, little redheaded boy, who indulges in bad food, smoking, b-boy swaggering and more within the flash of an eye.
