Keven Maroda ‘Nacht Muzik’

Keven Maroda ‘Nacht Muzik’

30 October, 2007 | 7.16PM

• Written by: amathusmusic
• Filed under: Music News : amathus music

Keven Maroda ‘Nacht Muzik’ review by Dean Ferguson.

Keven Maroda’s new Amathus label album Nacht Muzik starts off with a bang. “Afraid Of The Dark” is the kind of peak-hour tribal we like best, with big, darkly ominous drums that reverberate as powerful rhythmic kicks bounce off both the bassline and the track’s seductive synthesizers with hypnotic, almost sadistic force.  An opening like that sets the bar dangerously high for a debut set, but Maroda succeeds mightily in creating a collection that, as a whole, is a brilliant blend of American tribal and cutting-edge European big room fare.

Maroda’s flair for combo platters works well in nearly every case, even when the ingredients seem obvious.  If “Teknoligik” sounds at first like warmed over Blutonium Boy with a Voodoo & Serano garnish, those influences quickly dissolve into an edgy progressive track defined by its potent percussion. Ingenious if unlikely instrumentation (is that an accordion in “Galapogos”?) gives Maroda’s individual creations a unique flavor that’s as exciting as it is original.

There is plenty to cheer about on Nacht Muzik if global tribal lords like Chus & Ceballos, Danny Tenaglia and Antoine Clamaran are the drummers you march to.  The rhythmic intensity of “Sin Eater” and especially “Over Drums” (with its sly African influences) makes them the kind of tracks that all but compel you to get up and dance no matter where you are.  Meanwhile, more ambitious nuggets like “Phote”, the decidedly rave-centered “Sold Out”, and the dazzling “Miss Yvonne” might’ve been dicey endeavors in less capable hands but Maroda pulls them off masterfully.  His strategic use of trance and techno elements gives these particular tracks an incredible amount of energy that actually enhances their core tribal ferociousness.

I’d hate to be the man responsible for picking a lead single to launch this set, as so many seem worthy of providing Keven Maroda with the breakout ‘hit’ he most certainly deserves.  “Afraid Of The Dark” would seem to be an obvious choice, but I’d vote instead for the haunting “Gamorrah”, a stylized fusion of deep house, tribal and European (particularly Dutch) circuit fare.  It’s powerful, seductive and in its own way as definitive as Barry White’s “My Sweet Summer Suite” was a generation ago.  The future of tribal, particularly American tribal, is secure.  Keven Maroda has seen to that.

Dean Ferguson

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