Many many months ago I discovered Matzak's
Life Beginnings on the internet somewhere. I knew it was trancey minimal, which I already love as a genre, but I didn't know anything, and still don't really, about the artist because I am dependent on wikipedia for these sorts of information. He still doesn't have an entry (obscure points +5 if that is important to you). The album itself is truly excellent for it you just want to chill out, either out in the sun reading a book, while driving, or to keep you in a good mood when you are stuck at your crappy summer job greeting bitchy customers. I enjoy it because it is very hypnotic and has its darker moments, but it has so much brightness that at the end you miss having it playing. You can play it on repeat but it keeps sounding fresh. I think I've had this CD since last fall now that I think about it, but it feels like I should have only gotten it in February or something. If you like Air, you should definitely check this out, as should you if you like other chill music genres like reggae or classical. If you already like dancey electro, then you should calm down for a bit and listen to some trance, at least while hung over.
I discovered Matzak has a bunch of free tracks available on the site Soundcloud, which all seem to be more dancey and intense than those on his album. I'm currently enjoying the track
'Who Killed Punky Brewster.' Obviously I couldn't resist such a great name. I think the track needs a minute to get really good, but I dig the funky groove that starts happening. However, the track
African Roots, reminds me of
Ellen Allien's SOOL album too much for me to enjoy it, although there are some extra africany drum rhythms added in. I think
Lion's Charge, and
Madison-Loading-Matzak Rework sound much more original and interesting.
Speaking of Ellen, found a sick track of her's on Soundcloud:
But regardless of if Matzak is your bag, Soundcloud is a really interesting site where artists can post tracks and people can download them. What's really cool, too, is that you can comment so that it will show up when a certain part of the song plays and give much more helpful and specific feedback. The format is much much cleaner than Myspace for example, and doesn't mess up my computer. It seems like it is mostly being used for electro tracks right now, but I don't see why it wouldn't spread to other kinds of music in the future.
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