- This record has hands-down the strangest press release I’ve ever read, with some nonsense about Africa bordering on dodgy racial territory that I would avoid if I were German. But when it comes to techno, strange is pretty much always good, so we can forgive them for that. After all there is nothing like strangeness and surprise on the dancefloor - that feeling of being blindsided by a track taking a new and unexpected direction.
Matthias Kaden doesn’t make me spill my drink here but he definitely raises an eyebrow or two. The EP is a deliberate step away from the perky, stripped-down sound you’d expect from this artist and this label towards a swampier, dubbier and more layered approach.
The A-side, ‘Rhythma’ has a world music vibe with a sparse congo-driven groove and lots of echoey delay. The long congo runs are great but might be a little too similar to other tracks out there these days. On the B-side, ‘Obeah’ is a more progressive, atmospheric affair with echoey stabs and African samples that create an ethnic, trancey feel. It’s a decent enough builder, but the rhythm is a little too flat to make you want to move your feet to it.
But the title track is the one to check here. ‘Myal’ uses a simplistic but powerful bassline as it’s foundation and then brings in congo rattles and the occasional bar of funky live drumming to create interest - this cuts in like the biting drums from the ‘Shadow Boxing’ drum n bass track way back in the day. It’s very danceable, if stopping short of anthemic, and certainly ‘different’.
That’s a tally of one good peak time track and two more stylistic exercises for earlier or later in the night. This release shows that in a post-minimal world Vakant is still a label to check on sight, and that Kaden is an artist with longevity and a lot left to offer. I await the next release eagerly.
TracklistA Rhythma
B1 Myal
B2 Obeah