"What makes DJ Metatron a success is the way the elusive All Possible Worlds entity always plays everything straight."
“This is not a perfect party” rings the opening speech of DJ Metatron‘s ‘Loops Of Infinity‘ – cribbed from Jesse Jackson’s 1984 Democratic National Convention address. It’s a fitting introductory sample as ‘Loops Of Infinity (A Rave Loveletter)‘ is not a perfect album.
As one of the many moods of Traumprinz, DJ Metatron is rooted in a fond recollection of a past founded in trance. The first album under this moniker is a four vinyl indulgence on that theme. Setting the scene, ‘A Perfect Mission‘ is subtly progressive, more peak turn of the millennium Bedrock rather than the raucous realm of Gatecrasher. You are warmed up, you are ready, and then your patience is tested.
Stretching across the remainder of side A and the entirety of side B are a series of “loop” tracks. Structurally, for an album, this is weird. Each loop touches on a trance memory, be it a groove or a fleeting riff.
In isolation, there are genuinely lovely moments here, like the half-remembered Paul Van Dyk-ish melody of ‘loop 95‘ or the driving prog ‘loop 97‘. However, without structured tracks to provide a sense of narrative structure, you are left feeling like you are being taken through a succession of false starts. This feels like a sequencing misstep: the loops genuinely do work when they return later in the album as interludes.
Misstep aside, from side C onwards the album is everything you could ever want from DJ Metatron. ‘A Rave Loveletter‘ and ‘Move On‘ picks things up with airy breaks, and a small ambient movement precludes a passage that sees the tempo lifted. Virus synth arpeggios and pads perforate meaty kick-led workouts with amuse bouche-size ambient sorbets that cleanse the eardrums.
The record feels aptly positioned for the increasing progressive revival that is being crafted by a new wave of talent at the moment. We get this in the laser breakdown on ‘Spinning Universe‘, the drifting pads and splashy crashes on ‘We Are Almost There‘, and the tense minimalism of ‘Bonsai‘. I’m tempted to call this outsider progressive trance, if you will.
Woven between these basement shaking tracks are a selection of whimsical “4am and beyond” tracks, like the foamy ‘Eleusia‘ and ‘The Last Days Of Infinity‘, or outro ‘Love With U Is Real‘ with its ever so slight hint of “You’re Better Off Alone“.
What makes DJ Metatron a success is the way the elusive All Possible Worlds entity always plays everything straight. There is no PR machine or overly wrought liner notes: a number of records are simply listed for sale and you race to enter your Paypal details before they are gone.
Without being burdened with the overwrought tedium that made up the post-progressive world, ‘A Rave Loveletter‘ is executed without the knowing looks and nods that comes with a great many of nostalgia angled material. Just perhaps have your finger by the tone-arm for the first vinyl.
‘Loops Of Infinity (A Rave Loveletter)’ is out now. View on Discogs.
TRACKLIST
A1. Not A Perfect Party (Opening Speech)
A2. A Perfect Mission
A3. Chemical Process
A4. Loop’92
B1. Loop’97
B2. Untitled
B3. Loop’93
B4. Loop’91
B5. Loop’95
C1. A Rave Loveletter
C2. Move On
C3. Loop’99
C4. Euphoria
D1. There Is A Million Ways To Come Down
D2. Loop’94
D3. Don’t Be Afraid
D4. Bonsai
D5. Loop’108
E1. Gate Two
E2. Spinning Universe
E3. Untitled
F1. The Arrival
F2. Amnesia
G1. Eleusia
G2. We Are Almost There
H1. Last Days Of Infinity
H2. Escape
H3. Outro
H4. Love With U Is Real