Matรญas Aguayo: Anenoa review | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month
(Platoon) The Chilean-German producerโs shapeshifting vocals stir Latin rhythms, ghetto house, trance and more into a playful party Over the past two decades, Chilean-German vocalist and producer Matรญas Aguayoโs mutable, instinctive singing has been an instantly identifiable ingredient of leftfield electronic music. On Battlesโ 2011 track Ice Cream, he squealed and tripped through syllables against a thunderous synth backing, while Japanese synth-pop group Crystalโs 2017 track Kimi Wa Monster saw Ayuayo singing a keening, childlike melody over instrumental. His own releases featured layered chants and scatter-gun vocal rhythms over pulsing Afro-Latin beats. While his last record, 2019โs Support Alien Invasion, marked his first foray into instrumental music, Anenoa heralds Aguayoโs welcome return to the mic across a selection of hard-hitting, dancefloor-focused arrangements. The fast-paced syncopated Latin rhythm of opener Sentimientos Encontraos sets the ebullient tone, with Aguayoโs nonchalant repetition of the title creating a hypnotic motif as bubbling and kinetic as the beat. Sprechgesang gives way to soulful falsetto on the ghetto house-influenced Asuka, Rock, Roll, while vocal processing transforms Aguayoโs party chants into a growling baritone on thumping trance number Avestruz en Veracruz. On the 80s-styled synth-pop of La Heredera, he croons delicately alongside featured Latin American singers Iarahei and Camille Mandoki. Continue reading...