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Matenda - Energy Loader


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Matenda - Energy Loader

 

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Artist: Matenda

Title: Energy Loader

Label: Spiral Trax

Date: 2001

 

Track listing:

 

01. 10'39" Welcome Sunshine

02. 08'24" Adverse Selection

03. 09'04" Creative Destruction

04. 09'02" Energy Loader

05. 08'31" Free Rider

06. 08'17" You Can Run But You ...

07. 09'55" Faros

08. 10'32" Lipo Mare

 

Review:

 

Debut album from Denis Matenda. A swedish guy with croatians parents. After

releasing some stuff on various compils, here it is his album on the

Gothenburg based label : Spiral Trax.

First track, "welcome sunshine" is a typical swedish progressive sound as Atmos

or S-Range can do... very nice ! Track 2, "Adverse Selection" is more morning

sound but always with this swedish touch plus some Goa flavours...great ! T 3

" Creative Destruction" (at this moment you should be dancing with the smile

:-) is a good progressive track, with a groovy and rather fast rythm. Reminds

me a bit Klein Aber Doctor. Track 4 , "Energy Loader" is first half, more dark

and more minimal than the previous tracks. Then come a morning melody....not

the best track of the album. T 5 " Free rider" has nice synthe sounds, very

positive and lighty. Track 6, " You can run but you ..." ;-) has less this

scando touch, a different track from the others.. T8, "Faros" is a great

track..the rythm is not very fast but very powerfull....an hypnotic track !

Last track, " Lipo Mare" is a nice mid-tempo track.

If you like Atmos, S-range or Vibrasphere, you will like Matenda ! His album is

one of the highlight of the begenning of this year 2002. He can make positive

stuff, very lighty or more dark, more minimal. A perfect sound for the dance

floor. No doubt scando sounds is one of the best, and congratulations to

Spiral Trax label for releasing Matenda album ! Rating : 8,5/10 ( or 9 ?)

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Another Atmos like project. Some tracks sounds like in 90% Atmos work, it's too

similar, but some tracks are listenable. Typical good morning trance 6/10

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I think this the most disapointing releases of Spiral Trax sofar. I was looking

out for this one, but there's not one single track on this which is even

remotely interesting to me. It may be inspired by S-range, Atmos etc but those

2 do a far far better job and have much better sounds, skills and ideas. It's

just one cliche after another and it all sounds very 2D, boring and uninspired

to me. Also the production could be much fatter. A pointless release 5/10

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest the OPUL project

wonderful morning trance, throughout the entire album. I keep reading lots of

comparison to Atmos, must say though that quite a few people that I know who

can't stand Atmos still dig this album :-) It is a bit different to Matenda's

12" releases, I expected a bit harder stuff to be on the album, but I am most

certainly not complaining. This is fluffy morning sound as it should be IMO.

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Guest Tomvcarter

I had been waiting for this release for a while now, but am dissapointed now i

have it. It fits about half way between the atnos sound and the s-range sound,

but does not seem to work anywhere near as well as these two. I sounds a bit

old and simple, a 1998/9 release type. The best track in my opinion which

shines above the rest, is "you can run...." which has a really nice deep

groove to it, which just builds throught. If you like the sweedish sound, go

and buy the atmos album, its 10 times better than this. Dissapointing! 5/10

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Guest rokkitz

I agree... I was totally looking forward to this album and it was a total

disappointment... his stuff sounds like a dumbed-down mishmash of vibrasphere,

atmos & srange... absolutely no new musical ideas, just retravelling the path

that others have gone before, and not even well at that... derivative crap

like this is totally pointless when you could just listen to the ideas in

their original form on older releases. BOOOOO!!! 2/10

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Acidhive

Well, I'll have to agree with those people who say he doesn't have his own

unique style, but this cd is still pretty cool in my opinion. At least it's

better than some of the more soulless minimal stuff out there.. Matenda

clearly listened to Atmos really well, but does have a certain warm, pumping

feeling that other releases seem to lack a bit nowadays. I can listen to this

pretty often and not get bored... I'd give it a 8/10 for that matter and there

are no real stand-outs.. just good solid stuff here. Although the Atmos

likeness is uncanny at times, even his sign looks the same, the headphones and

the name between them... Atmos anyone? ;-) Still, besdides that... just good!

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Guest Candlejack

Just listened to this.. fab album!! Atmos style like, but still original...!!

Great grooves also... That song Energy Loader... whooaaa...!! Excellent

stuff....

9/10 ?? Yeah... 9/10 !! Must buy 4 those Atmos likers out there...!

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Guest Freaky Bob

as published in march/april issue of upfront magazine: Title: Energy Loader

Artist: Matenda

Label: Spiral Trax.

Energy Loader is a deep, mindful, meditative and progressive experience. It is

not one of those albums that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you

somewhere weirdly high, it is more of a gentle but firm easing into a

heightened state of awareness. As the various layers gradually combine you

find yourself, all of a sudden, confronted with a sweeping sonic landscape.

freaky bob

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  • 1 month later...
Guest djsupernova[at]goatrance[dot]com

i can't believe people are knocking this album left and right. okay, so it

sounds a bit like atmos and s-range, but i think he definately has his own

style. it takes a little concentration to appreciate this album fully, but

when you do, the reward is wonderful. beautiful soundscapes that would be

killer at a desert party after sunrise. subtle grooves with spacious sounds

that would ooze out of the soundsystem and be carried by the wind. love it!

8.5/10

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  • 2 months later...

Typical Swedish dub-informed atmospheric sounds on top of typical

new-Swedish-school-psytrance percussion. Typical everything - but still there

is a definite unique subtle signature to it that I can't quite put my finger

on. Is it enough to save the release? I vote for no. 6/10.

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  • 3 years later...

Melodic progressive? Well, definitely with a progressive perspective Denis Matenda is keeping matters close to core, but not afraid to go in a more melodic direction when the need calls for it.

 

The ones I like the best here are the classic progressive compositions. Creative Destruction and You Can Run But You Can't Hide drives a dark proggy beat, slowly building the track, but never loosing my attention. On title track Energy Loader Matenda goes almost Atmos. Check out for instance the part from 3:33. This has Atmos written all over it! But not copy/paste like. Matenda has his own way of doing things and it's a great track. Another section I really like is Adverse Selection from 5:30. Why make things any harder than they need to be?

 

Fans of progressive trance bordering minimal land will most certainly get a kick out of this, while the more melodic inspiration here and there may make this album appeal also to the psytrance oriented listener. A strong 3/5 over all, but played at the right time most of the tracks would go 5 stars.

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  • 3 years later...

I found this release to be quite boring. Mind you, it was eight years ago when this was made. It is your basic progressive beat with some light synths and pads. Very near minimal at times. It plods along straight ahead without any evolution or destination. If you compare it to stuff nowadays, well, it just doesn't hold up.

 

Mdk

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