It seems like just yesterday. We were all fresh faced, eager, and earnest. It was 2004 and Vakant was on the offensive. First it was Smoke, then Robag, next came Mathias. A roster was developed, a platform born. Since then, so much has happened, so many a strobe light twinkled, and so many people we’ve freaked out globally.
Mathias Kaden is still our eager and earnest Vakant resident from Gera. Stardom has done nothing to spoil this man; he continues to be the nice guy anchor that keeps the rest of us from floating adrift. Mathias carries on his fine tradition of carefully developing each release, a far cry from assembly line production work. Since last year’s massive Myal EP (VA015), he returns to Vakant with this ‘Moron/Shetani’ double A-side EP ahead of his full length album due out next year.
‘Moron’ presents us with Mathias’ continuously evolving huff and puff, heave and ho, badonkadonk sound we have come to know and love. Like the rest of his work, ‘Moron’ is a fusion of influences ranging far and wide. Mathias takes the best bits from African, Latin, and modern German rhythms to move the wall flower directly to the middle of the dance floor. Once there and all settled in, just when you had thought you were in control, the chords come in and Mathias shows you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Too big to be relegated to B-side, AA ‘Shetani’ makes more moves than a collegiate O.J. Simpson. It ducks and weaves from dark to light, paranormal to heartening, unable to be pinned down. It encompasses so much in 9 minutes that all we can do is revel with our hands aloft. Complete with choir, jazz sax, and hovering pads, we are just happy that the mastering engineers were able cut it to acetate.