Matias Aguayo

For some reason I had been led to believe that Leyers was doing the vocals, not Aguayo. Maybe it's just 'cause Dirk sounds more like a frontman's name than Matias.

Three or four good tracks, two or three awful ones. Not the best, overall.

(That is at least the 20th time I've mentioned Wally Badarou on ILM.)

To my non-expert ears it sounds really something. Quite different to Closer Musik, but obviously in the same tradition (minimal yet melodic, slow, sultry tempos & vocals). Kind of a fusion of the best things about traditional style house (Chicago/Deep? I'm barely knowledgable about all this really) & minimal/electro-house (Get Physical-esque foggy synth cloudbursts). The first Kompakt full-length I've been tempted by in a long while really!

Multiplyin shit
Put the dope out your head
If I...
Me stick around got a flesh up in your mouth.

*hovers on 'buy' button*

1. I'm one of the most fickle people on this board.
2. Maybe the lyrics, yes.
3. it only has two half-decent songs on it.

Nowhere near the quality of the Closer Music and Ferenc albums, both of which still baffle me because they're two of the strongest full-lengths in Kompakt's entire catalog, and yet they've both been pretty much ignored (especially the Closer Music album).

But there is no way this is as bad as the recent Justus Kohncke album, i.e. two great tracks surrounded by absolute rubbish....

"Anyone who drives faster than 125 will be pulled over, enjoy the journey around 119 bpm, as the sweat will drench your body equally as much if you were travelling this fantastic road at a faster speed and you are destined to come out of it reeking of great sex"

I'll take a guess at 'De Papel', 'Drums & Feathers' and 'New Life'?

The whole thing sounds almost like the exact opposite of the Closer Musik stuff to me, and in a good way. I'll save the tedious explanations why until I've actually y'know, heard it. I'm not going to write this off. I think it might actually be good and there be wrongness abounding on this thread!.

But that was KaitO. Silly me.

It's the Ferenc album I'm not really getting (I mean it's good but never really leaves an impression.)

both doppelleben and are you really lost? are fantastic though. hard to pick between the two.

kompakt is turning into warp. (if it hasn't already)

Especially if you consider the respective mp3 shops & the other labels they take under their wing or help distribute.

http://www.digfi.com/default.aspx?id=8051

This record is one of the few times where no writer-type seems to have quite nailed and described exactly the same thing I'm hearing in anything I've read, or maybe they have but it's all in bits & pieces.

I dunno, the sweatiness and sexiness is there. In how the slow tempo almost seem to reflect a need to move, but not any kind of hyperactive exertion. That would kill you in the heat. I love how organic this all feels, like it's been made out in the desert, with whatever pots & pans shit was close to hand, far away from any kind of regular electronic studio... in fact the whole thing feels spicy & heat-soaked, burning up, dusty... almost tribal, but without the usual 'banging'-ness. I guess the 'not driving too fast' thing in the press release reflects that 'road movie' feel. I mean 'So In Love' just has that vibe of someone totally losing their shit as some crazy unexpected affair is about to end, or leave that insane level of intial unsustainable pleausure. It hasn't quite happened yet, but it's subconsciously approaching.

I like the Closer Musik stuff I've heard too, but it's SO different to this. When that's minimal it's all cold, considered, worried & twitchy, and what warmth there is, is very much that detroitian electronic kind of 'warmth'. It's a completely urban record, albeit still one with hurt feelings.

Also, what kind of house is this exactly? Is it house? Minimal techno? Is it the trendy Ketamine House? Or a new, sleazier K-Y House? Discuss further please- it's still not clear to me....

Plus, I think maybe Chicago House is to Matias Aguayo as Sounding Sexy is to Trying To Sound Sexy.

But that might be a little harsh.

"Hey have you heard this remix? So fantastic!"

"Yeah, it is."

"Me, too."

It's a v. good album overall I think. I actually think a lot of it would work best though in a mix - I'd love to start a mix with "Are You Really Lost".

can i derail another thread and say that jess is OTM about closer musik being the best artist lp on kompakt.

(I mean After Love is about as consistent as Touch, and the highs on the latter record (well, "Amabile" at any rate) are even higher!)

Oddly the a-side of the Kontrast record makes it appear that Leyers is moving in a similar direction as Aguayo - slow slow slow and totally trance inducing.

this comparison has inspired me to give are you really lost another try.

HOWEVER

have you ever seen a cover worse than this?

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-523257-1134573193.jpeg

it's really quite amazing is it not?

http://www.soundvenue.com/upload/anmeldelse/2005-12/matiasaguayo_14122005_top.jpg

NEW ALBUM IS A WORK OF SATANIC GENIUS.

Totally combines all the great qualities of the first album with "Minimal" with the output on his label. Starts of hypnotic dance and ends up totally weird - last track "Juanita" is like this epic dancehall number.

:)

when is it out? He was great live when I saw him a month or so ago.

in two weeks.
satanic? does he grunt?

excited abt this

More panting than grunting.

i am incredible excited to hear this. i think mr. aguayo and his comeme label have been my favourite thing about 2009.

incrediblY

Haha is it really called 'Ay Ay Ay'?!

man i thought the single was really boring where it was trying to be inventive

Which single jordan?

"rollerskate" - the "radio edit" was reviewed in pitchfork the other day. i guess the title & review threw me off a bit. i was expecting something a bit more... colorful? more disco? i mean, allowing that the guy is on kompakt and all but the idea of the song sounds cooler to me than the actual song does.

it does sound like the work of someone who might be satanic though

"Rollerskate" is one of the more minimal tracks - but did you like the first album Jordan? It strikes me as no less colourful than that stuff.

this is the first that i've heard of him

!!! Okay Jordan, speaking personally I would say don't be too quick to judge, it took me ages to fully click with matias. Your reaction totally doesn't surprise me, I think I felt the same way about a lot of the Closer Musik material at first and then large swathes of his album at first. Not quite sure when and how it all clicked.

Aguayo is playing live at Fabric on 14th nov (w/ Magda, Jennifer Cardini, Tobias Thomas and Superpitcher)

Jordan - search for 'Minimal' and 'Bo Jack Pop'.

I think what I love about Aguayo is his sense of humour, and not in a wacky Bentley Rhythm Ace way. The discourse around dance music can be so dry sometimes and he cuts through that - by acknowledging the slightly ridiculous side of what people are going to do to this music.

His best records are highly functional tracks that nevertheless seem explicitly designed to subtly accentuate the funny side of watching a room full of people gurning and dancing badly while on drugs (or, alternatively, being one of them).

I think what I love about Aguayo is his sense of humour, and not in a wacky Bentley Rhythm Ace way. The discourse around dance music can be so dry sometimes and he cuts through that - by acknowledging the slightly ridiculous side of what people are going to do to this music.

this makes sense to me, i mean this idea certainly apparent in "rollerskate" regardless of its quality

Jordan, go here and to "De Papel," "New Life," and most especially "So In Love."

http://www.kompakt.fm/releases/are_you_really_lost

only listened to Rollerskate once.. didn't really click with it but I am SO looking forward to this regardless.

"Are You Really Lost" I still like as much as I did when babbling on this thread horribly about it in 2005... I'll probably buy Ay AY Ay blind just 'cos this guy is a total dude basically.

I don't really enjoy trying to be desperately up to the minute about music tthese days either but of what Comeme stuff I've heard i LOVE the new Rebodello. Guerrero!!

I'm super excited about hearing this. I don't guess this will have any of the overt sexiness of Closer Musik?

A different kind of sexiness, less pervy and more hot impromptu party.

I find it really interesting how his sound has evolved (even taking into account that Dirk Leyers probably did most (?) of the music for Closer Musik), there's a real erm "logical progression" with each release, to the point where the vewry live-sounding tribal rhythms on this sound totally natural and comfortable.

It's kinda roughly comparable to the difference between Luciano circa Blind Behaviour and Luciano now, though I think Matias has pushed further than Luciano does on Tribute to the Sun towards a kind of blissed out live party jam feel.

'are you really lost' is a record i def regret not voting for in the 00s poll

btw tim, did you ever post your ballot somewhere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsxV_qNVdec

i like his appearance in this better than the new record, tbh. and i love matias.

also, the BumBumBox parties look so fun. i want one in west oakland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Qmaf4t4wE

this one is from sao paulo...

i love water on my skin, i love to lean against the wind
i love to walk alone at night, i love the city lights
'cos i'm lonely but i'm not the only, 2, 3...
you don't know me - sssh/

I'll never tire of this.

'are you really lost' is a record i def regret not voting for in the 00s poll

^^ Me too, though I'd have to examine to see whether it definitely would have made it (e.g. do I like it more or less than Rhythm & Sound's w/the artists?). I don't want to post my ballot because I'm ashamed of how wrong I got it. Never try to list the 100 best records of the decade in one hour.

haha mine is totally 'wrong' i mean i voted for monster magnet ! but i think a wrong all-over-the-place list is way more fun anyway

f**K an 00's polls in 2009 anyway.

can't wait to hear this! For me, the older Aguayo stuff is all about the polyrhythms and the sounds he uses for his beats. Have not heard the new stuff aside from the youtubes in this thread. I like the random video game-esque themes popping up in tracks this year. You'd think it'd be stale, but it sounds pretty fresh to these ears. That Fabric line-up looks great!!

TS: Minimal (original mix) vs. Minimal (DJ Koze remix)

the original kills the Koze mix, in my opinion, but i've seen other people who prefer the Koze mix. they're wrong though, right?

orignaaaal for me

love both but the OG is so damn greasy in all the best ways

def the original "minimal"

can i just

http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=6257

"Bo Jack," in fact, has more in common with baile funk than house or techno, utilizing cheap synthesizers and drum machines to craft a tune as catchy Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy"—the song he borrows his vocal melody from.

nagl, RA

especially since the title spells it right out

eh?

I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy" is a cover of the Strangeloves' "I Want Candy", which is a note for note rip of one of Bo Diddley's signiture tunes, "Bo Diddley". Aguayo's tune is called "Bo Jack", as in he's jacking themes from Bo Diddley. The RA writer looks rather myopic in his ignorance of this.

Especially since the Bo Diddley beat is one of the most basic building blocks of post-WWII pop music.

ok, well I didn't get it either, sorry. I guess I have to go back to having an encylopeadic knowledge of knowing stuff about music (or face the disdain of some internet guy) school.

I don't expect anything much from a site which sees fit to employ ******** anyway, most of their other reviewers seem to be sourced from blogs, and it's not like they're making any pretensions towards publishing a book or anything.

Naw, don't get me wrong, I'm not begrudging for not knowing that, just the reviewer, so sorry if I came off as condescending toward you. You aren't the one purporting to be an authority on anything.

While we're having a discussion about Matias Aguayo's thefts, where did he get the vocal melody for Walter Neff? It sounds so familiar, i'm certain it's ripped from another song.

For me, the older Aguayo stuff is all about the polyrhythms and the sounds he uses for his beats.

You will like the new album.

First of All, The Koze remix of Minimal destroys the original, which is very good, but it's no Koze remix.

Rollerskate is great, I entirely fail to see how it's not colourful or disco-tinged.

I thought Are You Really Lost was, in a word, good, but not much more than that (I think the problem is I find his sound design to be a bit more on the... dry side, maybe?), it seems Matias has really injected his music with a lot of personality and flavour over the last few years, onto what's already some quality musical aptitude, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if this new album is amazing.

But the Koze mix just sounds like a generic dance track with all the spice taken out in favor of mixability and homogeny. Not one of Koze's best efforts.

The Koze mix is nice enough on it's own terms but it takes out the swanee whistles which is indefensible IMO.

I can't abide the Koze mix: there's something about it that just sounds wrong and makes it really difficult to listen to.

i love water on my skin, i love to lean against the wind
i love to walk alone at night, i love the city lights
'cos i'm lonely but i'm not the only, 2, 3...
you don't know me - sssh/

I'll never tire of this.

OTM! That song is such a thrill. I think it might be my favorite Kompakt single, period.

Also, After Love far surpasses Are You Really Lost. Does anyone really think otherwise? Looking forward to the new one anyway.

For anyone who missed it, there's a lovely little Closer Musik live set from the 2001 Mutek festival here.

Kind of shocked to see so little discussion of Walter Neff on this thread. Best thing he's ever done solo if you ask me.

(Or maybe Pitaya Frenesi with Rebolledo, though that's not "solo" of course)

agree about walter neff. so fabulous it never gets tired.

judgement on new lp currently torn between amazing bumping grooves vs too many comedy voices

i'll prob end up filing it alongside mungolian jet set

a/k/a one of the best dance releases of the year??

ha no, in that the amazing sounds battle with the bits that make me flinch and i end up not going back to it to sort out which are which

best dance release of year sooo omar-s for me, and i think the new redshape may end up alongside it

oh and black meteoric star!!! yes.

i mean if we're talking house/techno end not funky/dubstep/wvs.

srsly this aguayo album could be so much better if the amount of "spooky" voices was halved or possibly quartered, that fluttering synth marimba melody at the end of "desde rusia" is pretty irresistible

they're a lot better when they actually break into a proper vocal chant as on "ritmo juárez" rather than doing that constant sub-beatboxing shite

haven't heard this yet but lex totally otm about the MJS record

The MJS vocals kind of split between awful and intrusive and annoying (Could You Be Loved, Milano Model) and perfect for the record (Creepy, Ocean 0304).

I'm really enjoying this on first listen - I don't hear the vocals as "comedy voices" at all and certainly not in the Mungolian Jet Set way.

anyone go to fabric on saturday?

they're a lot better when they actually break into a proper vocal chant as on "ritmo juárez" rather than doing that constant sub-beatboxing shite

― lex pretend, Tuesday, October 13, 2009 2:08 AM (1 month ago)

Beatboxing is sub-Ay Ay Ay shite imo

sat 12th december
ALLEZ-ALLEZ PRESENTS
MATIAS AGUAYO
SHUMI (KOMPAKT)
CARGO, LONDON

enjoying this record a lot i must say. dew dew dew dew dew dew deeewwww deeeewwww

It's essentially acapella house music, isn't it? I like this record best when there are no instruments involved at all, just the sound of voices imitating the clicks and snaps and detuning pling plong noises you'd treat as standard in minimal. It feeds perfectly into my argument upthread about Aguayo totally getting the inherent silliness and ridiculousness of even the most po-faced European techno.

I like this a lot too. One of the most refreshing records I've heard in a while.

like this a lot but up there with Are you really lost and After Love? Not quite sure.

I don't really think I've given this a fair shake yet but up to now... hasn't really clicked like I would have expected, am a bit on the fence :/

(also)

Mix:

http://soundcloud.com/sampler_podcast01

He does a remix on the new Afro-Colombian comp on Soul Jazz called "Jende Ri Palenge". The whole collection is great, and it's worth much more than a Matias obscurity.

https://soundcloud.com/comeme/sets/matias-aguayo-the-visitor/s-8mEFq

Just released:

http://rionegro.bandcamp.com/album/rionegro-matias-aguayo-sano-gladkazuka

http://remezcla.com/features/rionegro-review-comeme-interview/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9yZsp8CCM

still nuts, then.

Great track

kind of falling off the mati aguayo train in recent years. will give this a listen later

video better than track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2VtWFoUDJk

Been enjoying this one a lot the last few days, it was featured in a Guardian “Songs of the Summer” feature - of all places to find out about a new
Matias Aguayo!