Ever go to one of those "all you can eat" buffets? Where I live, they are mostly Chinese restaurants where you pay one price and can sample and fill your plate and palate as much as your appetite can take. Well, this CD is a lot like that kind of smorgasbord. "Antimatter" [Waako Records WRCD 2021] by Miguel Nogueira has something for all musical tastes and is very listenable. Fifteen tracks of versatility from someone I've never heard of before, but who apparently is an artist, from photography to producing smooth music like this album.
You get slight funk and a little Hiroshima-style keyboard right off the bat in "Sabor D Amor." Your journey the takes you through the island reggae sound, laid-back tropical beats, club/dance tracks to shake your butt to; music that tastes like a television game show theme, and pseudo Bohannon (track seven, "Blue Sound") from the seventies. The phrase "world music" comes strongly to mind here. For instance, you get a mock-reggae beat on cut two, "Prutt." Then "Calming IMPI" keeps you laid–back in the islands of the tropics. By songs six, "La Nuit," and nine, "Eternidad" (and I wish I could have contacted him for translations of some titles), you are whirling on a nightclub dancefloor; and speaking of that genre, "Instant" is reminiscent of our gal Crystal Waters' hit "Gypsy Woman" from the early 1990s. It is a cute, plucky little ditty with a marimba sound and a good tempo. Then you come across the quiet kinetic power of "Energy" with its purring, sexy vocals setting you up for the jam-hot boogie which is to come next.
Then we have track seven, "Blue Sound" which to my ears is reminiscent of those Middle Eastern mosque chants I've heard on the news documentaries about that region. "B-Lite" just spells college radio in my mind. It too is teasingly cute with its femme-rap, and yes, suitable for mainstream airwaves as well. "Vrsa Major" captures the Afro-Cuban vibe, good as a bed under velvet-voiced tones for all you AD producers out there.
The effort rounds out with a mystery-movie of lost love staccato-style as you can hear the pelting of the Antimatter laid out by a trumpet inside "Plural." Check this new music out – if you dare.
I sense that Miguel is good at many creative tasks, and that he doesn't play just one instrument. It was difficult for me to research him even via the label's website. Instead, the worldly mogul from photogenic Portugal is probably a burgeoning production genius. Only time will tell as always, if more heavenly particles shall bless us. Meanwhile, this good audio rates a slightly timid four stars from your astronomically-friendly critic.
