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FLOW RECORDS(FLR0412CD) - MATENDA - TUNNEL VISION CD
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homsy
IsraTrance Full Member
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158
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Posted : Jul 25, 2004 21:44
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http://www.psymag.com review:
FLOW RECORDS(FLR0412CD) - MATENDA - TUNNEL VISION CD
Track list:
1. Starlight
2. Tunnel vision
3. Digital highway
4. Pusher
5. Kravata
6. Novo jutro
7. Dream cruiser
8. Force majeure
Released: July 2004
http://www.matenda.com
http://www.flow-records.com
Matenda has been very busy, endorsing his 2 main solo projects, both named Matenda, one serving as the chill out side and the other is the trance side.
This CD, recently released under Flow Rec (PT), is his trance side following the chill out album released prior this year (CHILLCODE RECORDS - CHILLING MATENDA CD - http://www.chillcode.net).
Having been an EX Spiral Trax artist & with ones knowledge of Flow records releases, the expected & received sound is a well polished one, smooth, flowing & highly melodic, with a strong approach to the more full-on aspects than of the expected deep & progressive.
It is easy to notice that Matenda is very much influenced by the old Goa sound & tries to incorporate it softly as much as possible, sometimes trying to much, which sometimes strikes as too similar to its origin.
The CD, IMO, takes the needed interchange while going through track no.5 and proceeding till the end, a more deep tender progressive sound which fits Matenda's elements a lot better. Leaving you with the taste of many different angles...
Matenda delivers a fun album, very easy to listen and adapts well to many, tested, atmospheres, even though it doesn't contain anything which can be considered groundbreaking this still is a valued purchase & a job well done, by both artist & label.
Release information:
For psychedelic and progressive minds!
After the chill-album by Matenda released on Chill-Code records, this beautiful morning trance album is going to hit the summer like a bomb, high quality trance for progressive and psychedelic minds, to hear and feel everywhere anywhere.
The sound of Matenda can easily be described with some few keywords; progressive, morning, atmosphere, groovy and hypnotic.
  Trancelucent Productions
http://www.trancelucent.com
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Boa Distribution
| info@boadistribution.com | http://www.boadistribution.com | FAX: +972-46101463 | Tel: +972-524742297 |
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PSYMAG.COM - GLOBAL TRA |
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Aug 5, 2004 23:42
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Not a full review yet, but since this was languishing near the bottom of the list I wanted to say this CD sounds excellent... quite a few highlights, great diversity of sound... kind of reminded me of Setherian's new one with a much more Scandinavian sound of course. I recommend you check it out if you like the swedish vibes... I sure do. I'll try to post a more in-depth review soon...
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SenstatuX
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
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320
Posted : Aug 7, 2004 14:01
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5. Kravata is really a cool track!!
havent listen enough to the hole album yet but for sure its a killer one! great work here!!
BOOM
i live for this moment here... |
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denis
Matenda
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29
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56
Posted : Aug 10, 2004 19:19
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Thanks, yes it would be nice with some feedback of the tracks. |
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pr0fane
Multiphase
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418
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3816
Posted : Aug 10, 2004 19:26
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Bought it at VooV, but lost my CD-case this weekend, before I got a chance to listen to this one 
Hope to get it back in the weekend, and then I'll write my thoughts. Flow is usually a high quality label.
DJ pr0fane (Iboga Records) | Multiphase
www.sunrisesupplies.com | www.iboga.dk | www.soundcloud.com/pr0fane |
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Acidhive
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
76
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2014
Posted : Aug 10, 2004 22:55
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Hi Denis, I'm going to order this next week so expect my opinion about this a few days after that. The soundbytes I've heard so far sound real good. I also own the Chilling Matenda album and that one is excellent... Ganga and Little Things are my faves on that one. Anyway, keep up your good work and my review on this one soon. 
"Subconscious unravels at the point of death, and all time it has known erupts into a moment. As death extinguishes us, so we become it."
[Esoteric: Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum] |
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Neurologic
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
11
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225
Posted : Aug 19, 2004 08:37
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Flow is one of my favorite psy/prog trance, keep the groove pumping, i have to put my hands on this cd  |
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Acidhive
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
76
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2014
Posted : Aug 20, 2004 18:26
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Just got this and I'm listening to it for the second time now. And I must say: I'm impressed. After the good chilling album I had my doubts about this one, it being so shortly released after the forementioned album, albeit on a different label ofcourse.
Anyway, Matenda's style has changed a little from his previous dance effort: Energy Loader. It still remains in the same category, reminding me a little of early Atmos works, yet retaining an original edge. The album starts out immediately with Star Light, which is a great track to get you going. Nice floating pads and sounds and a drilling rhythm to get the feet moving. Nice one! Track 2 is the title track, and contains of the same drilling basslines and some effective percussion works. A nice melody evolves, one that every so often will pop in your head just like that when you're staring outside for a moment...  Good tune. Track 3 and we're on the Digital Highway: The drilling bassline remains, the melodies change, more floating this one. Great work on the background sounds here. That's a good point in most tracks by the way. Track 4 follows. Darker atmosphere, great background sounds. This one has DRIVE people. And I mean that... It's 7:48 long and pumps on and on. One of those tracks that's darker but you like it immediately (at least I did). Nice one as well. Also check http://www.matenda.com to check out the video for that track, which is also cool. Track 5 is up. Strange title by the way: Kravata... hehehe, wonder what it means? The bassline is darker here and there's more of the atmospheric noises. Melody is also present here, although a little darker than the previous songs (with the exception of Pusher, which is also dark).
Going on to number six. Novo Jutro. Anyone know what that means? More relaxed song this time. Great little melodies and a good drive, like in most songs. Number 7 has another great melody in it. I really like this one. It's so clear in sound production also. Freq did a great mastering job here. The last song on this is more driving again and begins with some great pads. Percussion is nicely done here and the bassline grooves along very nicely. Some good melody again and the album finishes off in style this way.
Ok. Final conlusion time: This is definately the best dance effort Matenda has done this far. I have always liked Denis' style and this cd is even better than Energy Loader, which I thought was pretty good also. I'd rate this 9/10 and I give my thumbs up to Denis for coming up with these great tracks.
Here's hoping for some more!! (Ambient & Dance)
Oh, one final comment. As good as it is, I had one negative thought about this, and that was : It's too short! It's only about 63 minutes so there was still room for a bonus track like a remix of one of the tracks maybe?? Hehehe... minor gripes ofcourse! This one is reccomended to all psytrance fans!
"Subconscious unravels at the point of death, and all time it has known erupts into a moment. As death extinguishes us, so we become it."
[Esoteric: Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum] |
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denis
Matenda
Started Topics :
29
Posts :
56
Posted : Aug 27, 2004 20:44
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Thanks for the nice feedback Acidhive. About the meaning of the track Novo Jutro, Its new morning in Croatian language. Sorry if you think the CD is too short. |
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
168
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2984
Posted : Sep 3, 2004 23:20
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I said I'd come out with a larger review, so here it is
Star Light opens the album in fine form with a light atmospheric progressive tune with drums that go on forever, echoing into and out of silence. A cosmic feel permeates the mood here, with little melodies that unfold and subtle haunting chords travelling in the background as the song picks up speed. Tunnel Vision begins in a cosmic setting but wastes no time getting down to business with a driving drum set and psychedelic melodies emerging at a rapid pace. The song becomes a nice easy-going piece of scandinavian trance, elements always on the rise or in flux, scratching little synths barking at your door. Digital Highway really stunned me with its orchestral beauty... a vaguely full-on bass line layered with balanced percussion and the occasional rush of background drums sets the pace, then those euphoric melodies come falling in from out of the high-end. A very touching piece of music, certainly the highlight of the album for me! It has that shiver-down-your-spine characteristic that I don't get to experience all that much these years... Pusher is next, a far more driving track, opening which what sounds like a Dubya sample "We're having a territorial dispute". Nice scandobeat enters, somewhere between Human Blue and 12 Moons. Less elements at play here, the focus is now on the beat, with small sounds erupting now and then to give the sound canvas some texture. Machines are spinning all about in hypnotic fashion for a while and the track starts to wrap up. Kravata gets going with a deep bassy groove soon interjected with a sound that can't help but make me think of travelling underground in Super Mario Bros. I don't think that's what it's supposed to be, but I've got koopas dancing in my head anyway... more hypnotic melodies soon enter and the track propels... there is a sort of slinky Logic Bomb quality at work here in subtle tones, melodies dropping out and returning with a new deviation, bass lines going up a notch at key moments to keep the train moving. The break at nearly five minutes in features a strange sample that I tracked down to WW1 poet Wilfred Owen - very interesting and thought-provoking sample usage here! I will let you find the poem on your own, it is worth looking for. Great song, too - takes on an entirely new character after discovering this just now. Novo Jutro takes us off to more pleasant territories with swaying melodies and a beat like that of the sun warming your back. Mainly relying on simplicity and elements that fade in and out throughout the track's progression, I find this one to be a nice relaxing piece. Dream Cruiser opens and I know it is going to be a brilliant one at that first taste of melody. Thick beat enters and gets the drive going, atmosphere builds, and ethereal hints of that sequence of melodies is slowly teased into the flow. Not even half over and we've been treated to a wide assortment of gorgeous flourishes and melancholic little twists - I really love this kind of trance... it just gets deeper and deeper with fantastic intelligent arrangement! Amazing track! Lastly the listener encounters Force Majeure, more golden sounds with a groovy set of percussion letting melodies slide across the stereo field. There is always something sparkling out there on the fields of snow under that shimmering aurora of sound... a refreshing finale to a fantastic album!
The album is somewhat shorter than I would have liked since the sound is so good... an ambient tune tacked on the end would have filled space nicely, but with the overall quality of songs here being very high and to my liking I wouldn't make a fuss about it. Matenda's album is a bit of a surprise, since I really didn't enjoy the first one at all, but do like this style. I hadn't heard too many singles from this artist that I liked either, so this album was a really wicked surprise. Quality scandinavian trance release, showing a great depth and maturity of production. Competition for best song is between Digital Highway and Dream Cruiser for me, but I'm a sucker for these beautiful tunes when they show this kind of depth! Kravata, Force Majeure and Starlight are also fantastic... actually, not a bad track on the album! Lovers of pure trance, nordic sounds, and any artists I made reference to in this review are well-advised to seek this one out, it's a gem!
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denis
Matenda
Started Topics :
29
Posts :
56
Posted : Sep 13, 2004 20:13
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Really nice and detailed reviews by Acidhive and Basilisk. I will add both reviews to my webpage: www.matenda.com |
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Setherian
Setherian
Started Topics :
41
Posts :
254
Posted : Oct 30, 2004 18:22
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I was in Sweden playing for Denis party early this year and I had the chance to listen some of the stuff from his album, finnally I got one copy from it and I must say its fucking great!
there are not many great progressive releases lately, I was particularly a bit disapointed with the new cds from 12 Moons and Haldolium so its great to refresh my progressiveness with something this good.
I love the way he mixes his tracks, very rough in some way but totally clear at the same time, it sounds perhaps like a mix of hux flux and human blue hehe, wich is a brilliant mix imo hehe .
Matenda`s music has a lot of emotion and he has his own sound for sure, always had. In terrible cliche fullon times, its rare to listen stuff like this that u can surely see it comes from the heart (of a wise man)! This is trance!
Congratulations Denis, ur album is great!
my favs.: 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8.
>Seth
The Devil Is In Detail! |
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denis
Matenda
Started Topics :
29
Posts :
56
Posted : Oct 31, 2004 00:19
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Thank´s Seth, and you kicked ass here in Sweden with your live, dj-sets. |
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pr0fane
Multiphase
Started Topics :
418
Posts :
3816
Posted : Jun 6, 2005 01:02
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Can’t believe I didn’t comment on this one yet. Like I wrote in my previous post I lost it at a party before I even got a chance to listen to it, but luckily my insurance covered it, so I got a new copy early this year
It’s a very pleasant album, which can best be compared to swedish morning-acts like S>Range, Andromeda, Human Blue and 12 Moons. Matendas sound is perhaps a bit more rough though, and the melodies are slightly more deep and subtle than his fellow countrymen. That said, this is a good album consisting of mostly uplifting tunes, but also with a few darker stompers on the tracklist. Very recommended, and actually a bit surprised to see that it didn’t receive much attention.
8/10
Favourites: 1, 3, 6, 7 (!!), 8 DJ pr0fane (Iboga Records) | Multiphase
www.sunrisesupplies.com | www.iboga.dk | www.soundcloud.com/pr0fane |
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