Madteo
-Timesmithing
reviews
Superb slow motion left field House EP
You know when people say “I’ll have what he’s having?” Well, count me out on having even a drop of what’s in Madteo’s cup—sounds like a pretty intense trip, bro—but I’ll certainly keep listening to Matteo Ruzzon’s transmissions from his excellently weird headspace. Like house music stoned out of its gourd, everything feels familiar but totally warped: tempos drag, transients plop rather than pound, and most of his sonic elements seem to wander into the arrangement like sullen teenagers missing their curfew, with very little to report other than that they were “out.” After a substantial profile boost in 2010 following a hookup with Workshop, Madteo returns to Meakusma with five more seriously altered tunes in the form of Timesmithing, leaving one with the sense this buzz isn’t going to wear off anytime soon.
Beginning with “Miss Terry Flavor,” featuring dialog ripped from the George Clooney-directed head trip Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, our producer sounds almost lucid. But things get weird pretty quick. On his latest collaboration with rapper Sensational, who has been warped beyond intelligibility here, Madteo places live drums and guitars in front of a wall of woozy pads. It’s as close to a party as we get, and the B-side soundtracks the ensuing hangover. “Use It, Lose It, Music” features a driving beat that nevertheless can’t stop tripping over itself; for added emphasis, “Do the Wright Thing” throbs like an insurmountable headache, and “Falcao” has a serious case of the shakes. It’s hardly straightforward, and it’s certainly not a club record, but Timesmithing is more than stoned blather: it’s intelligent, and it might just freak you out a little.
Author : Jordan Rothlein
Brooklyn’s Madteo returns to Belgium’s diverse meakusma label with five tracks of hypnagogic House music, including a cut with legendary MC Sensational. There’s a sweet smoked-out psychedelic quality to Madteo’s work which has always endeared his music to us over the course of his Workshop 7″ and that ace Morphine Records album, and this record is no different. Stray film samples and choice melodic hooks drift across languid grooves, the sort of rhythms you’d rarely hear on a ‘floor but are perfect for steering the afterparty in the right direction, or complementing a hazy afternoon with a joint in your gob.
Nach der Workshop 117 kam lange nichts von Madteo, doch an seinen Grundzutaten hat er nicht viel geändert: exzentrischer House mit schleppenden Beats, hier und da ein paar zerschnittene Vocals und eine reichliche Portion Wahnsinn – damit ist eigentlich schon alles über die fünf Tracks auf „Timesmithing“ gesagt. Eine großartig absurde Platte. Ans Herz gelegt seien hiermit noch Madteos „1$treetWax“-Mixe auf Soundcloud, wo er seine wöchentlichen Flohmarkt-Funde in ziemlich geniale Sets verpackt.
Author : Jan Rödger
Eine ziemlich absurde Downtempoplatte, in der ständig neue Szenen entworfen werden, die alle voller Geheimnisse stecken.
Seltsam verdrehte Soundkonstellationen, die einen vielleicht noch an Bakey Ustl erinnern könnten, so sehr sind sie in sich verschlossen und verdreht,
deep aber dennoch abseitig, schön aber irgendwie auch böse und so sehr hinterlassen sie das Gefühl, dass es viel zu wenig Verrückte in der Housemusik gibt,
die ihre ganz eigene Welt erfinden. Gross. Vom ersten Moment an.
Author : Bleed
New York’s Madteo makes heady, slow-motion house tracks, clearly influenced by hip-hop and especially dub in the way their elements sit together and find each other via echo. Timesmithing, his latest EP for Meakusma, keeps with this signature sound. Its five tracks keep a lethargic pace and drag the pervasive vocal samples down with them, the swampy results ranging from vertiginous to vaguely creepy.
“Miss Tery Flavor” sits in the latter category. The track samples dialogue from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind — the scene with the protagonist’s early-pubescent attempt at getting a blowjob: “You wanna lick it? It tastes like strawberry,” and so on. It’s sleazily cute the first time you hear it, but beyond that its chances lie in the listener’s ability to put up with the sexual conversation of 11-year-olds. The track’s humid, low-slung groove could have done with something a little more adult on top. Although “Bangin On The Ceiling” features Sensational, the piece contains no actual lines from the MC. Instead, he repeats the title amid drowsy synth tones and what sounds like live percussion. It’s pleasantly airy, but there isn’t much to hold on to as a result.
Madteo is much tighter on the B-side. “Use It, Lose It, Music” resembles Theo Parrish in an echo chamber; the percussion is slathered in varying amounts of reverb as a murky organ pattern repeats underneath. “Do the Wright Thing” references Do The Right Thing and unlike “Miss Tery Flavor,” the track adeptly captures the mood of its source. Its lumbering bass line, dulled, dissonant organ tones, and distant vocal echoes imply smoldering, head-spinning summer heat. “Falcao” submerges an insistent Latin rhythm underwater, with only shuffling percussive flourishes and warped Portuguese vocals occasionally rising above the surface. Although unassuming at first, it’s thoroughly hypnotic. Madteo is evidently at his best when he keeps things blurry.
Author : Steve Kerr