DESCRIPTION:
The party game is a marathon, not a sprint, and the trajectory of Matt Read's career, as well as the music he produces as Haakonsen, seems to emulate that notion. Hailing from Calgary, he has been on a long, gradual rise in Western Canada since he hit the scene back in 2004, working his way up from his many club nights to dance-floor worshipping sets at internationally recognized festivals such as FozzyFest, Motion Notion, Connect, and Burning Man. His music is a kind of slow-burning house that sparks instant nostalgia in old school tech and garage heads and takes the kids to church, itself becoming more prominent and prolific with each passing year.

Haakonsen signed to East Van Digital back in 2013, and immediately gifted us with a four-track "house and bass" EP called Jyloh. His work has subsequently been featured on Beatport. He also notably released a split EP with Isis Graham on Substation Recordings in 2014, among various remixes and bootlegs. As you would expect, his latest EP, Rubicks, carries all of that momentum forward, without being pushy about it.

Where Jyloh explored the trippy basslines associated with classic garage, Rubicks sees Haakonsen focussing on more straightforward, classic house, with all the sexy 4/4 beats, diced vocal samples, and uplifting melodies you can handle. The title track, "Rubicks" takes you to the bayou care of its swampy field recordings and a glassy electric-piano style deep lead melody that makes it as hypnotizing as a voodoo spell.

"La Fiesta" sounds like something Chris Sheppard might have mixed back in the day. It has an early '90s flavor in its minimal percussion, retro-futuristic synth lead and "woo" vocals, the track's title repeated in a lightly warped tone while children scream joyously around it.

"Wahigan" comes on like a light afternoon breeze, with a glass-like timbre tinkling around claps and a bouncy beat, but it quickly takes a turn to a late-night feel with a feminine sigh, tribal percussion, funky piano stabs, and moaning subbase, lending it a rather serious jazz angle.

Capping off the EP, "Grande Bel" goes for jugular right off the bat with a banging beat, barely there high-pitched string drone, snappy snare, and deeply evil lead, but it hits a more stable techy level as soon as it really starts kicking, a broken vocal syllable flicking the ear as the percussion goes into a tribal groove.

Each of the tracks on Rubicks has a deceptive simplicity. These familiar forms presented in exquisite detail demonstrate a historical knowledge and refined vision that will only continue to appreciate over time. Haakonsen will never stop rising.

Beatport: https://pro.beatport.com/release/rubicks/1628941
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/rubicks-ep/id1047240026
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5VNNENVPE8poxCpUAF6z84