Artist: Matthew Dekay
Title: Second Life
Label: Electronic Elements
By: Andrew Rowland | 7 May 2008
Tracklist:

• 1. MDK Mix
• 2. Tommyboy Mix

Matthew Dekay "Second Life"

Matthew Dekay may not be a name your instantly familiar with if you’ve been brought up on a staple diet of minimal and tech house over the last few years. Four year’s back Matthew was a hot property, with tracks like ‘Space Mountain Tablet’, ‘Bad’ and ‘Timeless,’ alongside a slew of remixes and bootlegs making him a household name.

While many chose to jump ship and join the minimal house revolution taking place on the world’s dance floors, Matthew was one of a few producers/DJs who stuck to his guns keeping faith with his Dutch progressive house sound so beloved by many. This has since seen him forge a successful relationship with Armin Van Buuren and his group of Armada labels, releasing the very well received double CD compilation ‘Trousy’ in 2005.

‘Second Life’ has all the ingredients we’ve come to love from a Dekay track. Highly musical with Matthew’s trademark breakdowns and silky string melodies, funky riffs and a weighty drum track with tons of groove. It’s euphoric and happy sounding bringing a smile to the face. One minor blemish however is the lengthy arrangement. With the introduction of another sonic element or idea, it would have helped to alleviate the track feeling just a little repetitive towards the end.

Tommyboy’s mix departs little from the original other than softening the drums and adding a few extra percussive sounds. His mix is nice and funky and this is achieved in part by reducing the track length down to a more manageable eight minutes. He judges the pace of the track well with its euphoric strings making a welcome appearance three minutes in.

Matthew’s productions are always top notch and this is another fine example, although given his very impressive back catalogue, this may not be his strongest release to date. It does however still come highly recommended!